Packing breakfast, lunch and dinner
I'm a grad student and working full time so I often need to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner (and snacks) away from home and away from a stove with only a microwave. I need some ideas for things that are (ideally) affordable, yummy and can be prepared quickly. I'm pretty sick of soup and salads but creative ideas are welcome. Thanks in advance!
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For breakfast I would suggest a granola full of nuts, seeds and dried fruit with yoghurt that you can transport in a jar. Or a granola bar (preferably homemade) if that doesn't work. Possibly oatmeal too (easy to prepare, travels well) but I don't find it lasts as long as granola.
Then eggs and tortillas make a great starting point for another meal. Basically you scramble eggs, add onions / green onions / beans / cheese (feta, cheddar, anything tasty) / rice / anything that isn't' wet or runny and roll or fold the tortilla. You can lightly toast /brown the tortilla in a fry pan once filled and it crisps it a bit and makes it a little tidier to eat - or you can skip this. Wrap in foil and eat when ready. You could add other vegetable but try and avoid anything with moisture, it could make the tortilla soggy.
I would have rice and baked potatoes prepared as they can be added to meals or eaten on their own - you can add beans, veggies, meat or fish. Cooked chicken works with all of the above and you can have it in wraps, salads, sandwiches. And one of my staples would be meatloaf. A slice with 2 pieces of bread is a meal, you can just eat it alone and it is filling. And of course there is soup, or ramen. However, as much as I love soup it is a tad tedious to transport when you have so many other things to carry but you can buy quite good quality packet soups that only need boiled water for any cold days or when you need that cup of warmth.
I would often roast a big pan of veggies (squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, broccoli, etc) and then pack them topped with chickpeas or black beans and hummus. You can also cook up some wheat berries or other grain and top with the roasted veggies and beans and then a tahini dressing.
Pasties are a classic "bag lunch" item. I'm not sure if they would be available in stores where you are at but they are not difficult to make - every recipe I've seen makes several dozen of them though so they take a little bit of time commitment to make them. They do freeze well though.
If you have a blender or food processor, this recipe can be mixed up in minutes (it does have to bake as well) and I've had no problems keeping individually wrapped pieces in the fridge for 2 weeks (we've never had any left after that long): https://food52.com/recipes/34869-chewy-granola-bars
I tried not to pack things with too many components that needed to be assembled prior to eating because that required more containers to bring with and more time to eat. I also normally carried around good tea bags and/or coffee in a thermos. And napkins. Bringing with a cloth napkin can make you feel like you really packed a great meal.
Also, I agree with scruz, that one of the easiest things to do is simply cook extra when you have time to actually cook a meal and then eat the leftovers for several days.