Hi Everyone,
Although I am not in NS yet, I am about to send out my applications this fall. In the mean time, I will be working toward an AA in Spanish,volunteering, and finishing up the BS requirements so I can bridge once I complete my AA in nursing.
Besides my passion for science, I have a huge passion for cooking. As a mom of 3 kids and a hungry husband, I guess I have learned to love cooking over the years.
While in school, I am always trying to think of great food to bring to school for breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks depending on my current schedule! I would much rather eat a yummy, home cooked, fresh meal as it makes me feel I am taking extra care of myself. My classmates have been known to tease me of the big lunchbox I bring to school but at the same time they are always interested in what is in the bag!
Mostly I cook big dinners as my husband is a convert of taking his lunch to work and at least one of the 3 of our kids likes a homecooked hot lunch too. I am not a sandwich and granola bar girl although I do have the stuff on hand in a pinch.
I am looking for your ideas on your very favorite things to bring to school or clinicals. I'll share a few of mine. But, like I said, cooking is also a big passion and I realize not everyone will think my ideas are quick and easy.
Favorites for breakfast:
greek yogurt 0% fat, sprinkled with granola, sliced figs or blueberries, drizzled with honey and some lemon zest.
I have round zip lock container and I build it there and screw the lid on.
oatmeal with brown sugar and walnuts. I put it in my thermos and eat when I get to class or on early break.
Lunch or dinner:
I use my crockpot and add a bag of anytype of bean. My favorite are either pink beans, white beans, or pinto beans. Add a hamhock (at Whole foods they sell nitrate free hocks with lots of meat and little fat). I put that in the crock with water and cook all night on high. If I have time I add sliced carrots or onion. Maybe a can of diced tomatoes. But many times it is just the bean and hock and that is it. SO GOOD!!! In the morning the beans are soft and the meat falls off the bone. Put it in the thermos. I also make cornbread (I am a Jiffy cornbread fan) and take a slice to eat with my beans. If you are going to be gone all day, just turn that crock to low and keep cooking them till you get home. Talk about yummy beans. My dh or kids can come home and the beans are hot and cornbread is ready to slice. EASY!
I usually make an easy homemade spagetti once a week. I heat leftovers and put in my thermos, add a slice of garlic bread on the side and a small salad. If you have your salad fixins diced and put in the fridge in small containers on sunday, it is easy to throw together a small salad. Also, keep in mind these are small, lunch portions. I don't want to go to sleep after lunch, just enjoy a great meal.
Homemade mac and cheese (i have an easy recipe). Put in the thermos, add some diced roma tomatoes on top and side salad.
Left over couscous with a small piece of bbq chicken and leftover grilled veggies.
Main dish salad with protien of some sort. I will usually pick one type of salad and have a few times a week and so will dh so i am not reinventing the wheel each time. I am a big fan of the chopped bbq chicken salad. I'll grill a bunch of chicken for one of our dinners and dice the leftovers and put in a container ready to add. Drain a can of black beans and put in a container, frozen corn in the container, diced red pepper, jicama diced, monterry jack cheese, washed romaine, tortilla chips, cilantro. In the morning, i will pull out all of the containers and assemble a quick salad. it takes 5 minutes. then i have a small container for dressing and i pop it in lunchbox. The lids go back on my ingredients and back in the fridge in no time. No clean up or mess left in the kitchen. I do a fattoush salad this way or greek salad too and they are so much better than the salad bar salads.
Broccoli slaw salads are also good. You can get broccoli slaw at the store already made. I add walnuts, chicken, diced apple or grapes, tomatoes and any type of dressing. Very good and easy.
Quiche! I make mini quiche alot bc they are easy to take but more effort has to go into the front end. My favorite is asparagus and grueyere cheese. My kids also love to grab these for snack or a quick breakfast.
Snacks:
nothing beats a homemade chocolate chip cookie
homemade hummus, a few olives, pita, carrot sticks or red pepper strips
i am on the quest for great muffin recipes bc they make a nice snack too.
cheese sticks with a piece of ham or a few crackers.
diced cantelope, blueberries, or strawberries
I gave up coffee a few years ago (yes it was very hard) but i switched to tea because it is so yummy and good for you. I am a huge fan of tevana (www.tevana.com) bc they make it easy to bring tea along. I have a big thermos and make a mini "pot" to take each day. I love the white teas, rooibos and herbal teas from there. And yes, I do add some of the german rock sugar (just a little). My thermos keeps it hot all day. It I am there all day, i have one with a green or whitle tea and have the other for late afternoon or night with herbal chamomille (sp?). That way I am not stuck on a high and low of caffeine all day.
Part of the lunch packing is to have all the right tools on hand to make it easy to bring a hot lunch. I have several sizes of thermos for both food and teas, gel pacs in the freezer (enough for the whole family), a big enough lunch box for whatever I am bringing, ziploc bags, or tuperware big enough for my salads and the small ones for dressings. I have wipes ready to go, silverware and napkins nearby and then it goes pretty fast.
Last semester a few of my studymates and I would bring the occasional snack to share. It was so nice to show up for class and be given a juicy tangerine or fresh baked muffin. We did this back and forth all semester and it was really nice.
Ok, not sure if this is the place for this type of thread but thought since eating food is part of our school day it may work here.
I look forward to hearing your family favorites and yes, i do share recipes in case anyone wants any of the ones I mentioned.
Bon Apetit! MammaNurse2be
turnforthenurse, MSN, NP
3,364 Posts
Oh yum!!! Please keep posting ideas
This is making my "nursing school" lunches sound so lame lol...I usually brought a sandwich of some type with a lot of fresh fruit, some yogurt and something crunchy (like crackers or something). Some favorite "snacks" included sliced apples & PB, granola/cereal bars or string cheese :)