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I'm sure we had this before but I couldn't see it.
We're spending a fortune on DH's lunches - not just his lunch but also because every time he leaves the office to get it the 2 guys who work in our office (plus anyone else hanging around) expect him to buy for them as well. Takeway for 3 men 5 days a week is expensive!!!
We want to make it up the night before so things that go soggy aren't really an option.
Ohhhh I will be keeping a eye on this one cause DH is starting to get sick of sandwiches everyday!! Lol....
Ditto.. my Dh buys his lunch every day.. aswell as smokos & coffees.... not a good look.. he works on sites all the time & would easily blow $100PW !!!!!
my hubby has a sandwich press at work so he makes his own foccacias for work every day.
if they at the office, i would suggest doing this, or makign over the night before and reheat, we do this with most meals so sandwiches dont become a bore.
if htey eat salads, they are good too...
but he takes fruit and munchies aswell so always has tons of food on him
also with sandwiches what i do, if theres tomato or somethign to go in it, i wrap the tomato separately so that he has to put in in himself and no soggy sandwiches! plus tuna, give him a small tin instead of puttign the tuna in the sandwich...
dont know if that helps, but its what we do for his lunches!
Are hot dogs classed as a sandwich? We freeze buttered hot dog rolls from the bakery in groups of 2 or 3 (depending on how hungry he is) and in the mornings he just grabs a some of these with a few frozen footy franks and heats the footy franks up at work in the microwave with a bit of water. He has a bottle of tomato sauce which he keeps at work for his hot dogs.
We also have lunch-size portions of spag bol and different curries in the freezer in disposable chinese food containers which can be easily heated up at work in the microwave as well as Lean Cuisine/Weight Watchers meals. In the past (before our diet days) we used to buy a packet of Four n' Twenty Steak Pies and DH used to take these to work and heat up too.
DH loves his sangas so lately I have been making 10 x corned meat and pickle sandwiches and freezing them and he just grabs two of these each morning.
I'm lucky that DH loves cooking so sometimes he will make a HUGE pot full of stew or curry or curried sausages which he will freeze and this will do for his lunches for a few months.
DH gets either left overs from the night before, or sandwiches with fruit, muesli bar & cake.
Leftovers are things like spag bol, chicken/rice dish or something similar.
Sandwiches are ham & salad. Like LisaBear, I put the tomato to the side so it doesn't go soggy.
DH loves his cakes, so he gets a piece of chocolate cake each day too!
Saturday is his 'tuckshop day' where he splurges on takeaway.
What options does he have in the way of reheating food? A typical nightshift meal for my DH is usually meat and veg (I cook it before he goes to work and do enough for the kids and I too - just like we would normally have), a dessert (usually custard and pudding or something like that) and smoko is normally either a cheese and bacon roll, buttered that he heats up or a sandwich that he can toast, a piece of cake and some biscuits. He eats better when he is at work LOL.
During day shifts he has leftovers from the previous nights meal or I will make him a salad and cold meat or cook sausages that he can reheat and put the dressing in a small container so the salad doesn't go soggy. I will make him pizza, lasagne, pasta/potato bake etc and then he usually always has the same smoko.
It saves us an absolute bundle of money doing it this way too - some blokes he works with who buy their food can spend up to $20 a day to buy enough to get them through.
DH is doing rigging at a refinery shut-down so really can't go out to get lunch without showering first (they're working with an area that has had toxic chemicals) - so I have to make him enough to sustain him during the day
This is what I do for him (he starts at 6:30 & finishes at 5:30pm so needs arvo/morning tea plus lunch) - this is what tomorrow's food will be:
Lunch
500ml Tupperware container with:
ham (about 5 slices from the deli sliced into thin strips)
cheese (about 2cm thick diced into chunks)
2 mushrooms sliced
1 tomato diced
handful of mix lettuce leaves (largish handful)
mix of sprouts (mung bean etc)
Morning Tea/Arvo Tea:
muffin/cookies
cheese & bikkies
today he got steamed veges from last night (all organic) with rosemary & lamb organic sausages for lunch, a couple of muesli bars and a tub of yoghurt
I do similar for me but on a much smaller scale - I also make up toasty packets on the weekends and freeze them - I wrap the bread with filling in glad-bake and then put them in the freezer - which means I don't have to make the sandwich in a dirty sandwich maker as it is encased in glad-bake.
My DH gets a variety of things when I make his lunch; some of the things he gets are:
Home made sausage rolls (I make a big batch and freeze them)
Chicken pieces or wings (if I'm cooking wings or pieces I buy enough to put in the freezer for his lunches)
"Nachos" - I make a mix of tomato, avacado, corn kernels etc and add some sakata's on the side
Pasta salad
Caesar Salad
Soup (in winter) - again, I make a big batch and freeze individual serves
Sometimes I send him with a variety of cold meats, sundried tomatoes, olives etc.
And on the days I don't make his lunch - he raids the pantry at work. He is currently contracted to the head office of a major supermarket chain and so they always have a heap of foods for them to eat. At the moment he is chowing his way through a carton of LCM bars...
HTH
schaz some great ideas there...
Dh often will take a container with a handful of lettuce, a carrot sliced up and another vege and then ham or other sandwich meat. Sometimes if I make things like chicken wings or leg or thai burgers etc, I will make extra for his lunches & I will freeze in lots of 2.
He buys a loaf of bread & 2 tins of tuna, ham, and a bag of apples at the beginning of the week & leaves it at work for the week if he forgets to pack a lunch.
Every week I make something for DH's and Matilda's lunches. Either vege muffins, or pikelets, or biscuits for DH not Matilda lol. So they can have them in their lunches. This week I have pikelets and vege muffins. DH took 6 to work today & ate them all today :rolleyes: he said that they were perfect.
My DH is on the road most of the day... and will not stop to even eat!
So when I put things in his 'lunch bag' that required a spoon to eat... he said not to bother with those!
So he gets two sandwiches:
usually strass & cheese - and an Israeli chocolate spread (which I can make in advance and freeze)
Then I put lots of snacks:
fruit, small chips, LCM or muesli bar, biscuits, chocolate, chuppa chups, a fruit drink...
Wish he had the ability to heat things up!!
this had got me thinking how we are organised with lunches to a point but DH is so busy making my lunch and get me out of the house everyday (normally sandwich, fruit and yoghurt or left overs from dinner) that he often forgets to make his own which can be expensive if he isn't at home (he works from home and at an office sometimes). he really should just make himself something at the same time and take it with him if he goes out or eat it later that day at home which is so easy.
thanks for raising this topic and you have all come up with great ideas for my lunch! i like the glad bake idea schaz.
dusty
If possible I try and make more of or save some of the previous nights dinner for DP to take and reheat. It's been good in winter with soups and casseroles left over and does not cost anything extra. In summer with salads I get wrap bread with hommus and fill with things cut up the night before. They dont get as soggy if you wrap them tight!
Marc has in the freezer atm...
Pasta, Pizza, Sheps Pie...
We make up tupperware containers of leftovers so he can take it. He should take mid morning snacks which he doesn't, but he very rarely buys lunch. Chloe I've seen some of your recipes they'd make great lunches! We sometimes buy the wingette packs and I'll do a kg on the weekend and some flavoured steamed rice and put them in containers so Marc can take it to work, 1 kg does just over 5 or around 5 I think from memory.
*hugs*
Cailin
something I do as well is have a coles bag (just the plastic ones) for all the "extras" for each day's lunch (like the muffin, the drink, the cheese etc) at the bottom of the fridge (I've snaffled the bottom shelf), when I make DH's lunchbox at night I put it in the bag for that day - so when I stumble out of bed at 5.30am to get his lunch, I just grab the bag & put the contents in his cooler bag (along with a freezer brick and a frozen bottle of water) and put this near the back door.
Then I stumble to the kettle (which was turned on as I headed to the fridge) & make his "take out" mug of coffee (one of those thermal mugs), pour some cereal into a bowl and leave the milk sitting next to the bowl - then I crawl back into bed.
All of this takes no more than about 4 mins (the time it takes him to have a shower), so by the time he's dressed and out of the bathroom I'm back curled up in bed. He gives me a kiss as he's leaving (usually around 5:50am) and then rings me when he gets to work at 6.30am to get me up and out of bed. As it is getting lighter in the mornings I probably won't go back to bed when I've done his breakfast.
My Dh is a creature of habit so likes the same things most days.
He gets a sandwhich with Ham, cheese, salami, lettuce and tom sauce (sometimes I put it in a pita wrap) and yoghurt, an apple, a can of pepsi max and either a few choc cookies or a muffin.
If he is feeling game he will just take left overs from what we had the night before but that isn't often the case. I keep asking him if he wants variety but he is happy as is.
Spring
Oh Schaz you are a good girl... Marc packs his bag himself LOL! And as for breakfast he has it when he gets to work... no such thing as a "take out" coffee LOL! You put me to shame, and I have to get up to take Paris to school, and only get up at 7-7:30 if I can push it LOL!
*hugs*
Cailin
depends what shift my DH is on as to what he gets I suppose.
* Salad with tuna (usually lemon pepper) and mayo
* steamed vegies with sliced steak and bbq sauce.
* piece of steak with some lettuce leaves, sliced tomato, sometimes some boiled eggs and mayo.
nightshift he likes hot dogs. I butter the bun, put the sausage in, some sliced cheese on top, wrap it up. he then puts sauce on it at work and heats it up out there.
* toasted salami sandwiches is another favourite.
* crumbed steak sandwich with sliced tomates and onions and sometimes cheese. sounds funny, but is so scrummy!
DH rarely takes leftovers, last leftover he took was corned meat sandwich i think
On their last nightshift, they boys usually all put in $6 each and one of them goes to the shops and buys supplies for them to have a bbq.
For snacks he usually takes a green apple and a small bag of almonds.
Nic
I am in same situation...
My DH works on building sites, but, 99% of them are powered, so, he takes a breville maker with him, and a couple of ham and cheese sandwichs. I butter the outside of them, so they dont stick, and wrap them in greaseproof paper.
My DH has a sweet tooth so, his lunch box is generally:
2 ham & cheese sandwichs
3 museli bars
1 50-60gm (normal size) choc bar, OR 2 10-15gm (treat size) choc bars
2 cans coke
1 600ml mocha
1 container of some form of cake or slice that i make
& a bottle of water.
occassionaly, as an extra treat, small packet of biscuits, or some saos with vegemite.