Need Cold Lunch Ideas To Eat On The Run

[Redsd]

I am going to start school soon, and Monday classes will be 9-12, 12-3, 3-6, UGH! I can bail out early from the 9-12 class, but need to eat in the car while driving to the noon class. No microwave or anything available. Must be gluten, soy, dairy, sugar free, and my doctors would prefer no grains at all. Any ideas other than cold chicken?

Thanks!

[HAK1031]

I bring a cold lunch to school every day. Here are examples of what I normally have:

-lunchmeat lettuce wraps

-salads

-nature valley nut crunch granola bars (ingredients: peanuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, corn syrup, salt...doesn't get much easier than that!)

-fruit...a lot of it!

-not grain free, but corn chips or dry cereal

-celery w/ peanut butter

-dinner leaftovers (you would be suprised how much is good cold!)

[mamaw]

Wild caught salmon with tortilla chips, you can get in a small can..fruits,nuts,goat milk yougurt (many tht can't do cow products do fine with goat milk products. veggies, gluten-free jerky, sardines & gluten-free crackers. soup in a thermos with a fat straw ....

hth

[Juliebove]

Daughter and I sometimes eat Goraw Pumpkin seed bars. They're quick to eat and filling.

[lpellegr]

This is tough if you have to eat with one hand while you drive - kind of eliminates anything that takes utensils or is wet. I think rolled up lunchmeat or strips of precooked chicken or ham are going to be your best bet for filling, nutrient dense finger food, accompanied by fruits and veggies that are precut so all you have to do is open a container and leave it on the seat next to you and reach in.

Apples, plain or sliced and spread with peanut butter. Bananas, pre-peeled. Sweet pepper rings, baby carrots, cucumbers, grapes, grape tomatoes, quartered hard boiled eggs, raw broccoli or cauliflower bites, celery chunks. I don't recommend dipping in dressing while you drive, though.

Takes a little thinking the night before or in the morning, but some of these things can be cut up and bagged on the weekend, just grab and go.

Carry Larabars or other energy bars for when you forget. Toss in little individually packaged cups of fruit or tuna or Bush's beans (not bad cold) with plastic utensils to take to your next class if you need more and can eat there. Stow some bags of peanuts and raisins for snacks.

It's all healthy stuff, no dairy, no soy, no grains, no gluten. Oh, okay, a Snickers bar once in a while. Find some fruits, veggies, and meats that you like and spend an hour Sunday cutting and bagging and you'll be set for the week.

[aaron&sam]

Lunch ideas continue to frustrate me as well! My teenage children get very tired of eating the same types of lunches everyday, usually leftovers from the night before. I would love ideas for lunch that are gluten free and good for teenage kids to eat!

[RiceGuy]

Well, you can make muffins, and other bread-type items without grains, so you need not eliminate all such products. For instance, buckwheat isn't actually a grain (though this fact doesn't mean you'll have no problem with it), and plenty of other flours are derived from things other than grains too. Flour from root crops such as cassava, potato, etc can work well in various bread items, as does coconut flour, nut meals, bean flours, and probably other things I'm not thinking of ATM. Also, millet is one of the least allergenic grains known to man, so you might want to see if you can have that.

Carrot muffins, zucchini bread, sweet potato bread...the list goes on. So this can help you to also get some veggies in a handy, delicious, portable food.

In place of sugar, I'd suggest Open Original Shared Link, which is a natural sweetener from an herb indigenous to Paraguay. The pure Stevia powder has zero calories, carbs, and sugars, and is zero on the glycemic index too. Just give yourself time to adjust to using it, as it is extremely concentrated. Depending on what you add it to, as little as 1 teaspoon can take the place of a cup of sugar. To put it another way, a single serving is said to be only 0.002 oz.

[Guest digmom1014]

As a salesperson, I often eat in my car on the way to my next meeting. I have a stash in that storage area between the seats with Lara Bars, bags of nuts, Trio Bars (Costco), and Nature Valley Nut Bars. Also, I bought the Burt's Bee's spray on hand sanitizer and keep in there.

I also pack a small insulated bag with a cloth napkin,very important for wiping your hands after eating; grape tomatoes, baby carrots, celery, fruit, turkey slices, small dill pickles, V-8, bottled water and string cheese.

[monadawn]

I am going to start school soon, and Monday classes will be 9-12, 12-3, 3-6, UGH! I can bail out early from the 9-12 class, but need to eat in the car while driving to the noon class. No microwave or anything available. Must be gluten, soy, dairy, sugar free, and my doctors would prefer no grains at all. Any ideas other than cold chicken?

Thanks!

Hi. I found a good gluten free bread called kinnikinnick. I toast it about 3 times and then make a sandwich and take it to work with me. That makes it so the bread doesn't fall apart as some rice breads. I carry a little soft cooler (made from padded nylon) with blue ice to keep stuff cold, so if I am on the run meats and such will not go bad. If you cut the sandwich in half an put it in a plastic sandwich bag then you can eat it while driving.

My first post here, so hello to the gluten-free community and thanks for this information source.

[Green12]

You can make sandwich wraps using lettuce leaves for the "wrapper" part, there are all kinds of varieties of lettuce. Layer gluten-free thinly sliced deli meats of your choice, or if you will be making your own meats, with whatever other sandwich toppings you like on top of the lettuce and then roll it up tightly, put into a sandwich baggie and a lunch size cooler bag. (I usually do turkey meat with sliced avocado, shredded carrot, and cucumber slices. )

What about tuna salad with canned tuna and soy free mayo, or egg salad with hard boiled eggs and soy free mayo?

Things like grapes, raw nuts, baby carrots, and lara bars or other fruti/nut/seed bars work really well on the go.

To add to the muffin idea, there are also many recipes out there for muffins using nut meals in place of the flours, and fruit purees.

[bakingbarb]

I am in the process of looking for a job so I was wondering also what could be taken for lunch. UGH I hate to even think about getting a job as the last one was such a nightmare. BUT not being hungry will help

[Redsd]

I am in the process of looking for a job so I was wondering also what could be taken for lunch. UGH I hate to even think about getting a job as the last one was such a nightmare. BUT not being hungry will help

I've had access to a 'frig & microwave oven when I was working, so I would take leftovers from dinner: chicken with potatoes or vegetables or salad a lot of the time. When I cook up hamburger patties, I make one or more extras with lots of sauteed mushrooms & onions, eat with goat cheddar melted over and sliced avocado. Yum! I also know everywhere around town that serves gluten free chicken, including Costco which was right by my office. There are some gluten free frozen meals you can get - from Amy's for example, but they contain other things I don't digest well (grains, dairy). If you like soup, there are some (Tradere Joes) that are gluten free and tasty. I would usually have a banana mid morning, and keep Larabars in the desk.

Good luck on your job hunt. For now, I'm not bothering to look because of the housing downturn.

Lori

[Redsd]

What about BCB

Brazilian Cheese Breadroll

I'll have to try that recipe. I've made Chebe bread several times, and I like it fresh and hot, but not once it's cold or reheated. Hot it's a diet buster!!!

[gheidie]

hi, this can be difficult, but one that my family loves is lunch meat with cream cheese (dont'they make something similare that is dairy free) and a sliver of dill pickle then roll it up.... mmmmmm also tons of fresh fruit!!

I also like to make a hearty salad, with broccoli, chicken, cashews and a bit of mayo and vinegar with just a touch of sweetner in it. OR I make pizza beans, these are good cold.... I make a big pot of lima beans (2 lbs) and cook them till almost done. Then I drain them, and mix 2 jars of brueschetta and a with 2 jars of water and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil mix well (you can throw in any other "pizza toppings" you like or just leave as is) and bake it covered for at least 2 hours at 350. You can dish it up and put cheese on it, it is great hot or cold!