Can I have my lunch to go????
If you work or go to school you should prepare your meals in advance.
Eating in the cafeteria is expensive; why not bring a hearty and affordable
lunch with you?
We suggest you prepare MORE THAN ONE MEAL AT A TIME and
then portion and freeze or refrigerate portions for the next few days.
The best way to start is with a meal plan. For
beginners I suggest making a list of your 3 favorite dishes. Something
you like to have when you go out but don't normally order since it's too
expensive. A rack of ribs; tabooli, roast beef, a big steak, whatever.
You already have in mind how those meals are going to look and taste since
you have already had it somewhere else. This makes it much easier to
make it yourself. Much easier than some recipe that you have never
tried before and can't visualize. Once you become more experienced and
have more spices in the kitchen just buy what's on sale and work your meal
plan around it.
A suggested meal plan is 2 entrees, a salad or rough
cut veggies with 2 desserts created all once.
There
is an important concept in catering known as "carry-over cooking"
This is the process whereby something that has been
previously heated and cooked continues to be heated during the reheating
process.
You see this all the time in large scale catering
events serving roast of beef au jus. All the plates are prepared in
advance with par-boiled (or 1/2 cooked vegetables) and almost raw beef.
The plates are left in electronic or gas heated "warmers" at about 250 for
an hour or so until ready to serve. In some cases a sauce will be
added just before serving to disguise the beef; which was literally cooked
to a standard "medium" in the warmers.
Using this same concept when preparing food for
consumption later after freezing it then makes sense to undercook your
portions since the process of cooking will continue during the reheating
stage. If you want to add vegetables such as peas, carrots to your
plates I suggest adding still frozen vegetables. When the plate is
reheated the meat and potatoes are warmed, and the vegetables are cooked;
everything is ready at the same time. As long as it is warmed and
cooked a bit means that the veggies will still be crunchy.
Make it better than what they offer at the
cafeteria. I never scrimp on the salt or sugar when preparing
these meals. and always have a nice dessert. If the sauce is not salty
and the potatoes don’t look right I may be inclined to keep going to the
cafeteria. If the potatoes have that great cheese crust that I like
and the sauce is nice and spicy; I may continue enjoying a satisfying meal
prepared (mostly) by my own hands.
Packing it to Go
So you would require containers to create frozen or
refrigerated "portions" of your meals for 4 days later in the week.
Presentation is important! Having attractive
packaging and a bit or extra cheese or garnish on your future lunch goes a
long way to making it something to look forward to.
For containers, you have a few options:
1. Reusable: Tupperware, microwavable
china, etc. Far superior since can be reused again and again and does
not tend to stain like plastic. Bring your Corning ware bowl with you
in a lunch bag. Even frozen soup or pasta travels fine to the fridge
at the office to be reheated later. This is the best choice if you
have a dishwasher since cost's alot less money in disposable containers.
2. Disposable: There are many options out
there ranging from single use Styrofoam to reusable plastic containers.
Don't forget the importance of recycling.
When you turn $100.00 of raw ingredients into $300.00 worth of lunches and
dinners you tend to create alot of garbage along the way. Do your part
and remember to recycle.