Cheap brown-bag bulk lunch suggestions

[MartyNeilan]

For a few weeks, I was eating Aldi peanut butter on whole wheat. Reasonably nutritious, but the Aldi PB was really nasty, and I tend to get heartburn from peanut butter, anyway. I am looking for something that probably does not need to be refrigerated (so no bologna) and that I can buy a few weeks' worth at a time. Something I can eat as my desk (although I do have access to a microwave.) Something palatable. And, hopefully something that is at least remotely nutritious.

[Uncle Buck]

If you pick up one of those tiny refrigerators (used/cheap) at a pawn shop or thrift store, your "nutritious foods" options will open right up...Just put it underneath your trash can, so it doesn't take up any extra floorspace.

Even if you can't find a used one, they come pretty cheap new these days. Pays for itself over what you would otherwise spend on lunches pretty quick.

[lgb&dtuba]

Go to the nearest Oriental supermarket or even the ethnic section of your local megamart and look for instant bowl noodles. Lots of different flavors are available. All you need to do is open the included packages into the included bowl, add hot water, and start eating. Prices range from about .99-1.99 around here.

I keep at least a half dozen at work. It's what I had for lunch today.

[Donn]

look for instant bowl noodles.

Mmm, "vegetal"!

Around here, maybe thanks to the Asian student population, these can be found in the corner drugstore. A person with a delicate stomach should probably shop around though for what brands might be available locally, look at where they're made etc. I've eaten this stuff once or twice. It didn't cause any kind of digestive catastrophe, but there's a difference between surviving your lunch and truly benefiting from it.

[ken k]

if you don't have access to a refrigerator (why to I feel the urge to write a Haiku?)

you could use a small cooler or insulated lunch bag and a small freezer pack to keep the spam and cheese cool. Use lots of mustard and you won't mind the taste.

k

[MartyNeilan]

Go to the nearest Oriental supermarket or even the ethnic section of your local megamart and look for instant bowl noodles. Lots of different flavors are available. All you need to do is open the included packages into the included bowl, add hot water, and start eating. Prices range from about .99-1.99 around here.

Yeah, but those things are crazy high in sodium!

Bloke's idea about the fridge is on track. We actually have (had) one for our department at work, but a bunch of old ladies just moved onto the same floor as IS and basically took it over, hence my need to find something alternative. I don't think work would like me plugging a mini fridge in my cube. I already keep a CC tuba, an F tuba, and a gym bag in it!
(Of course, half the cubes in the IT department are filled with guitars or motorcycle gear, so they don't say too much about the tubas.)

[SplatterTone]

Lots of different varieties of trail mix out there. Terriaki beef jerky. Wide variety of "granola" type cereal and fruit bars. If you have a microwave oven handy, soup. I like Campbell's beef stroganof and turkey pot pie. Throw in some Austin cheese and crackers (they have PB too).

[LoyalTubist]

[LoyalTubist]

Around here, maybe thanks to the Asian student population, these can be found in the corner drugstore...

I've been in 20 countries in the past ten years and you can get those Cup Noodles (or one of any number of different local brand names) in every one of them, even if there aren't any Asian students. (I'm talking about places in Europe and South America, too.)

The story of ramen noodles is interesting. In 1958, there was a Taiwanese noodle shop owner in Tokyo, named Wu Pai Fu (1910-2007), who was trying to figure how to sell more noodles and he came up with the idea of drying them and selling them to be enjoyed anywhere. Many Japanese think ramen is the greatest Japanese invention of the twentieth century. Wu Pai Fu changed his name to Momofuku Ando and started Nissin Foods.

[tubatooter1940]

My grandfather, who helped build the first transcontinental railroad, told a story about Italian immigrants who would, in the early morning, roll raw pasta noodles into a towel and tie the towel over their shoulder with the pasta hanging under their arm pit.
After four hours of swinging a pickaxe or shoveling in the hot sun, the pasta was soft and steamy warm and the flavor, oo la la.

[LoyalTubist]

It might seem strange but I miss TV dinners!

[Uncle Buck]

These are not as cheap as the cup noodles, but are still priced pretty reasonably, and are healthier. Great if you have a microwave and no fridge. In fact, at times when I'm counting my Weight Watchers points, I can still usually fit two of these into a pretty low-point lunch.

Even better, cheaper, and healthier, though is to make homemade soup, freeze in serving-sized microwaveable containers, and take a frozen one to work. Microwave it at lunch time. Should be fine without a fridge. In fact, that's what I just finished for lunch (lentil - very yummy).

[SplatterTone]

BeachCliff sardines

Put 'em in the microwave at the office. They will love you for it.

[MartyNeilan]

Here's what this trashy ol' truck driver does. I have a soft-sided cooler that's big enough to hold two six packs.

You should have just stopped there, Schlepp. Let's go for a triple digit ride!