Trivial Question: What do you usually bring for lunch?

CountryMomma, ASN, RN · Sep 3, 2015

I pack non perishable items because our fridge is skeevy lol. I like the tuna salad kits, soups in cups, sandwiches, lean cuisines, oatmeals, and annie's mac n cheese cups. Add in fruit cups and breakfast biscuits for snacks, and a couple different crystal light squeeze flavors for my water.

weirdscience · Sep 3, 2015

Salad, nuts, string cheese, yogurt, hot/cold tea, water, sometimes leftovers.

cocoa_puff · Sep 4, 2015

I bring something like pasta salad with tuna, chicken/rice/vegetables; with yogurt, cheese, fruit, protein shakes, pop tarts (lol), and PB crackers. I like to bring a packed lunch (with snacks!) because I often will eat at 5:30am (breakfast), then 10am (snack), 2:30pm (lunch), and then 7:30pm (dinner). I eat small things at home, so at work I need something good to keep up my energy for at least 5 hours until I eat again.

Now I'm hungry :sniff:

shenanigans_RN · Sep 4, 2015

I always pack my lunch box the night before. I bring either yogurt/granola or a protein shake for morning snack, fruit, veggies, and a sandwich for lunch (either homemade with coldcuts or uncrustables PB&J), and some sort of packaged cracker or snack cake for my afternoon pick-me-up. Plus a huge bottle of water and plenty of coffee all throughout the day. I rarely buy anything from the cafeteria.

jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B · Sep 5, 2015

Shake for the morning. Leftovers for lunch. Water. Little baggies of snacks like pretzels...that can stay in my lunch bag if I don't eat them--use baggies with the zipper closure, as then you can let all the air out of them so things can stay fresh...

bluegeegoo2, LPN · Sep 6, 2015

I have a handy little lunch bag that has built-in freezer packs so my stuff stays cold. (No need for the community fridge.) Anyway, I usually bring some combo of: Oscar Mayer P3 snacks, yogurt, Clif Bar, water, water enhancer, instant oatmeal. I tend toward what I can eat one-handed or in 60 seconds or less. Got stuff to do, y'know?

T-Bird78 · Sep 7, 2015

Leftovers. What I found strange, though, is my facility's time management page has a note that (blank health system) is not required by law to provide any meal or rest breaks but does so anyway. I always thought it was federal or OSHA law that you get a minimum 30 minute off-the-clock break if you work over 5 consecutive hours. We only get a 30 minute lunch break, which is more than some people get, but this is a scheduled clinic setting.

greenandsilver · Sep 10, 2015

I try to bring things I can set down and come back to since I often don't get an uninterrupted meal break. I cut apples into quarters and put two pieces in each baggie. That way I can eat some of it. I get large containers of yogurt and put it into a glass jar each day. Much less than the individual cups. Casseroles and soup because they can be eaten with a spoon. Sandwiches are iffy because I may not be able to get away to get in a good hand washing before I eat. Cheese sticks, celery and peanut butter, carrot sticks.

audreysmagic, RN · Sep 12, 2015

I work nights, and the cafeteria's closed, so it's definitely bring my lunch or pay for delivery - which I try not to do often, except as a treat after payday! We didn't have a staff fridge in my department until recently at work, and I'd worked a number of home care jobs where I didn't feel comfortable asking to use the family's kitchen to store stuff, so I got very used to grabbing non-perishables, preferably those that didn't even require heating. Since getting a staff fridge at my current job, I've slid a bit about making stuff at home and there's a grocery store with a hot food bar/meals to go I tend to grab stuff from, especially since it's literally next door to the train station (I take public transit most days). Tuesday night is chicken night, though; it's a tradition (when it's not so busy we forget!). The pizza joint down the street from the hospital has 50 cent wings Tuesday nights, so my department always does an order. They know us by name down there.

alyinct · Sep 17, 2015

Lunch is usually a PB&J sandwich, and homemade fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt. Because of weird cafeteria hours, I also make sure to pack an extra-quick snack for when I'm crashing -- banana, granola bar, cheese-its, pickle, etc. Good luck in your new job! :-)

springchick1, ADN, RN · Sep 20, 2015

I pack lunch the night before and it is usually leftovers from dinner or a sandwich with veggies and humus.

I also keep an emergency stash in my locker. (A freak snow storm two years ago taught me the importance of this). I usually have some easy mac and granola bars that I keep saved in there. They are perfect for the days that cases run late and I don't get to leave in time.