What do you take to work each day? Snacks + lunch, drinks, etc.

[Diana Cda]

I'm geared up now to try the grazing method of eating where you eat frequent, small meals. I've never done this as with raw food it's been a pain to just get the lunch thing going. But now I have a slightly bigger apartment and a bigger fridge and can get better organized. Also, found out recently that all my troubles were related to wrong meds. I've been on wrong meds for years; so last 2 months have been much, much easier since I got meds and dosage corrected, so I can now get down to taking care of business properly! <g>

I saw a program on food network or one of those specialty channels this week and they talked about frequent meals that are between 200-500 calories. I know we don't worry so much about calories on raw (and rely on our appestats, instead, which are reliable when on raw). But I figure it's a good form of _guideline_ to follow, and gives me a starting point re the planning of each day till I get the hang of things.

I'm figuring that since I start work at 09:00 a.m., that I should think about having a snack at around 10:30 or so, then my regular lunch at 12:30 and then a snack at around 2:30 with something to munch on the road when I leave work, which is usu. right about now, between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m.

What do you all do? I'm curious to see what solutions and recipes others have come up with to help in following a grazing way of eating yet where we need to carry our food pretty much for the entire day.

One plus is that refrigeration is usu. not a problem now. Most workplaces have one wherever I go now. So although the food should be such that can sit out for a few hours for all the transit and travel time before and after work, during work refrigeration not a problem.

Cheers! :)

[beckx]

when i'm in the office for the day i usually bring either whole fruits and veggies (things like oranges, cucumbers, peppers, apples, berries grapefruits and cherry tomatoes) or stuff to make salads. sometimes i bring raw bread and a little jar of nut butter and some berries and have an openface 'pbj'. also sometimes green smoothies or juice in mason jars. my office has a blender but its really loud; i've only used it once.

[Rawlicious]

Some great things to snack on are bananas, pears, carrot sticks, cucumbers, nuts and dried fruit. I take a huge salad for lunch. I try to keep the faux donut holes handy for the afternoons. I'm always grazing on something. I try to keep the organic Wholly Guacamole in the fridge at work to eat as a dip for veggies. I try to drink mostly water during the day, smoothies before work and juice after work.

[Blazin'Jane]

I pack a big salad every day. I make a huge one over the weekend and then put some into 3 cup containers during the week, adding a few tiny tomatoes each day,abut a cup of sprouts and a litttle container of homemade dressing. I also take some dehydrated crackers and some sort of pate` or cheese to spread on them, and some fruit---straberries, grapes, an orange. That holds me pretty well until I leave at 4:30 to go swimming. I eat a cut up apple in the car on the way, adn sometimes my banana. Otherwise I eat it on the way home from swimming. Sometimes I get hungry at 3:00, so I eat my apple or the banana early or go for a raw bar which I have stashed in my desk. 'works pretty well for me. After I finally get home in the evening, I just have some dates and maybe a few nuts.

[Morn]

I eat a garden salad just about every day with my own raspberry dressing I make. Sometimes I will bring raw grawnola or a raw trailmix that I make. I also eat lara bars for convenience, bananas, other fresh fruit like apples. sliced veggies, etc. Sometimes I will bring a leftover soup, or broccoli salad, hummus, etc.

[jacsam]

When I'm going to be gone for the day and want more than just snacks, I'll make a big salad but I'll put the dressing in the bottom of the container then add my big salad on top, put a fork on top of the salad and close the top. When I'm ready for it, I just mix and eat. I love this because the salad doesn't get wilted and I don't have to bring dressing etc.

[Diana Cda]

All these ideas are great everyone, thanks!


...
and a litttle container of homemade dressing.
...Just out of curiousity, can you share the recipe for this homemade dresssing? Thx.

[rawmonkey]

I pack my husband's lunch daily. He is a Type 1 Diabetic and needs to eat every 2 or 3 hours to maintain his sugar levels on raw foods. I purchased three Bento lunch boxes (http://www.laptoplunches.com/products.html) that are perfect size for small snack meals. Since you can remove the "compartments" any combination of raw foods can fit. I also love that it reduces waste of plastic bags, etc. and keeps each snack/meal together :D .

Some ideas include:

Sweet Potato Dip (with apple slices to dip)
2 C. peeled, chunked sweet potato
1/2 C. almond butter
2-3 dates
1 tsp cinamon
1/4 tsp. dry ginger or 1/2 tsp fresh grated
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Sweet Potato Chips

Hummus or Guacamole with lots of Veggies
Try Alissa's guacamole or hummus recipe...I have substituted soaked almonds for the garbanzo beans, and it turned out wonderfully (if you need a quick dip).

Cucumber Dill Salad
cucumbers sliced
red onion sliced thin and quartered
2 Tbls. apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. olive oil
1 Tbls. water
agave nectar to taste
sea salt to taste
dry dill or fresh to taste

Honey/Cinnamon Flax Crackers with Almond Butter and Banana
Use Alissa's flax cracker recipe and sub all the savory ingredients for honey and cinnamon to taste. Dehydrate until still soft and cut into 4 x 6 in. rectangles. Spread a thin layer of raw almond butter on the cracker and cut a banana in a lengthwise chunk. Then roll it up and eat later.

Tomato Salsa with Dill Flax Crackers or White Raddish

Salsa
5 medium tomatoes
1 small red onion
2-4 cloves garlic (to taste)
hand full of fresh cilantro
raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar
juice of 1 lime
celtic sea salt
black pepper (optional)
jalapenos (optional)


The way this salsa tastes best is if you chop everything by hand. You can use a food processor and pulse chop, but the tomatoes get mushy and the salsa loses a great deal of it's flair.

Dice the tomatoes as big or small as you fancy them and place them in a medium sized bowl. Then dice the onions as fine as you like and add them to the tomatoes. Press only two cloves of fresh garlic into the tomatoes (you can add more later if needed). De-stem and chop the cilantro and add to bowl. Pour enough apple cider vinegar so that the liquid is level with the amount of tomatoes. Juice one lime and add to salsa. Mix thoroughly. Taste and add salt, pepper and more garlic or jalapenos if desired.

The apple cider vinegar amplifies the kick of the onions and garlic. The finer you dice the onions and the more garlic you add, the hotter the salsa becomes without jalapenos. I fixed this salsa with my mom once, and she was convinced that we needed jalapenos; I told her to try a little first. After trying a few bites, we both started to tear and sweat because she had diced the onions so fine. I've never tried this with the jalapenos, but beware it could get pretty spicy!

Dill Flax Crackers
1 C. DRY flax seeds (brown or golden...golden looks very pretty)
2 C. water
granulated garlic to taste
dry dill to taste
sea salt to taste (sorry I never thought to measure the spices)

Place the flax seeds in a blender and make them into a rough "flour." Next add water and spices and blend on high until it resembles pancake batter. At this point taste the batter to see if it needs any more spices. Spread on teflex sheets approx 1/8 in. thick (will make about 2 trays in an Excalibur). Dehydrate at 105 degrees for about 8-12 hours). These are great with other dips and just plain too.

Lettuce or Cabbage Wraps
Boston lettuce leaves or cabbage leaves (I love red)
favorite fresh veggies sliced thin
favorite dip (hummus, onion dip, guacamole, etc--from Alissa's book)

Put all ingredients in the leaf and fold in half...eat later.

Green Salad
I love to add Alissa's green powder to a large salad with lots of favorite veggies as well as pumpkin and sunflower seeds to give it extra crunch.

Packing lunches is so much easier with the Bento boxes. I just start filling the compartments with fresh fruits, veggies, dips, salads, flatbreads, crackers, etc. I will try to post pictures soon :D .

Hope this helps,

Christina

[mountaintop]

Most days I just make extra green smoothie with fresh kale for breakfast & put the extra in a chilled stainless steel thermos and carry it in a bag that includes fresh fruit. This works well for me when I'm working.

[subbacultcha]

From time to time I pack myself a salad but most of the time I just bring fruit. Usually grapes, apples or bananas. If I was more organised I'd bring smoothies and salads every day.

[Diana Cda]

Thanks to everyone for their responses! Great ideas to work on.


Cucumber Dill Salad
cucumbers sliced
red onion sliced thin and quartered
2 Tbls. apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. olive oil
1 Tbls. water
agave nectar to taste
sea salt to taste
dry dill or fresh to taste

...
Hope this helps,

ChristinaChristina, all really great ideas, thanks! I right away gravitated towards this cucumber salad because I know how well cucumbers, dill and lemon juice taste (came up with my own dill pickle recipe a few years ago). Made this for lunch today and I'm in the process of eating it right now! Man, it's so good!

I didn't have red onion so substituted with sweet white and used, as always, lemon juice instead of vinegar, a combination of dulse and kelp instead of salt. Boy, delish, delish!! <g>

Thanks. :)

[rawmonkey]

So glad you took my base idea and made it yours :D . I LOVE RAW!!! I would also LOVE to have your pickle recipe if you have the time to post it.

Thanks :)

Christina

[Vivafree2]

In the morning at home i have just orange juice and some flax seed.
I am bringing a big jar of my green soup to work , 2-3 fruits and sometimes carrots or sliced veggies, occasionally I take also guacamole, hummus or patte.

I am at home around 5.30 so i eat again my soup (my version of green smoothie, with few nuts and in the evening a fruit ( recently oranges in the past bananas) and if i need to a home made sweet snack - especially when i go to the movies or to school. No more lara bars - i make my own!

I eat more blended greens than salads, less sweet snacks than in the past and less sweet fruits.
On weekends i eat more elaborate salads and experiment with new receipes.
My favourites are cucumbers with dill and onion, tomatoes with onion, mung beans tomato and avocado. I feel like i eat all the time.

[MZ B]

I find that it's easy for me to equip myself with all kinds of on the go fruits:bananas,pears,apples,oranges,grapefruits and raisins. For lunch I usually pack a salad. Although I may not eat it all it's better for me to have a choice of things to graze on when that craving hits.

[Diana Cda]

So glad you took my base idea and made it yours :D . I LOVE RAW!!! I would also LOVE to have your pickle recipe if you have the time to post it.

Thanks :)

ChristinaMade it again for today, loved it so much <g>.

I looked on my USB flash drive but I don't have the recipe for my pickles there so will get from home tonight. thx