New regime
After a particularly glutinous several days wherein I managed to eat bacon three meals in a row (bacon-wrapped roasted chicken for dinner, bacon slices alongside a pile of eggs and hash browns for brunch at the Country Cousin, and half of a bacon-laden Cobb salad with bacon and cheddar mac ‘n cheese for dinner at Mother’s* in Portland), I’ve decided I need to instate some new rules into my life, and pronto. Because even I have a bacon threshold. (And because my pants are fitting a little too snug for comfort these days.)
I’m jotting them down here, for the sake of accountability. Hold me to them, k?
1. You may only eat bacon once per week.
2. No more soda, no more excuses.
3. Replace your twice-weekly (sometimes more often) Starbucks habit with home-brewed/pressed coffee. Enjoy an iced bevvy with the coffee, cubes, vanilla soy and fun bendy straws provided in the office kitchen free of charge.
4. Lunches out are a thing of the past. Bring leftovers, or plan ahead.
5. Since you’ll be eating lunch at the office from now on, use 30 minutes of your break to read from an actual book. (Hurry up and finish You Shall Know Our Velocity! already. It’s too good not to!)
6. If the weather is decent, spend those 30 minutes of your lunch break walking around the office park, to stretch your legs, get the blood pumping and take in some fresh air.
7. After weekend grocery shopping, write and post dinner options on the kitchen message board so there’s no hemming, hawing or hedging.
8. Replace one or two weeknight dinners with a vegetarian meal.
9. Take advantage of that 5-class yoga pass you got on Living Social for a steal. Start going to one class per week.
10. On nights that it’s not rainy, put on your sneakers, strap the kid into the stroller, and walk with Roth for at least 30 minutes. Actually talk to each other, download the events of the day.
This list is probably pretty telling of our habits as of late. I don’t think I need to go into further detail about my superfluous spending, reckless abandon eating, and overall laziness. The good news is, our CSA starts next week, the weather will (by the beard of Zeus!) start cooperating, and I’m all out of nifty excuses as to why I can’t make these positive changes in my life.
The one thing I’m struggling with more than anything else is weekday lunches. Jonniker recently posted about being in a family dinner rut (really, really great suggestions from her readers in the comments) — well, I’m definitely in a lunch rut. Roth is really disciplined about taking leftovers or making himself a sandwich; I … am not. It’s been well documented that I don’t love eating leftovers, save for maybe pasta or potatoes, and I always run out of time in the mornings (excuses!) to make myself a proper sandwich. I go through phases where all I eat for lunch are frozen Lean Cuisines (ick) or cans of soup, but I’m just not feeling those options, especially during the warmer months of summer. I want to feel satisfied and nourished, but I also don’t want to fuss with a lot of preparation, at home or at the office. My office kitchen does have a stove and an oven (as well as microwaves and toasters), but I don’t want to spend a good chunk of my lunch break cooking. So, I feel stuck.
I’m curious, what do you bring to the office for lunch? What about midday snacks?
***
*While we were waiting to be seated for dinner at Mother’s, a restaurant where their philosophy is to make you feel-good food like your mom used to, I loaned a desperate mom a spare diaper for her son, who was just a little older than Rowan. We ended up being seated close by this mom and her husband (her two kids were off playing in the toy area, that’s just how family-friendly this place is), and she pointed me out to him and again thanked me. Of course! I said. I’m not big on karma, but I figured a little karma in the diaper department couldn’t hurt. And lo, much to our surprise, this mom bought our first round of drinks as a thank you! While yes, I might’ve saved this mom’s (or, actually, her son’s) ass, I do believe we got the better end of that deal. So great.
Posted on June 8, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | 17 Comments
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I think it’s awesome that mom bought you a round. That’s manners!
I am a left over girl for lunch. I rarely eat out. I just can’t be bothered to drive anywhere honestly and the places within walking distance kind of suck (I don’t like fast food). I worry that when Mr. Darcy moves in I will have to learn to make bigger portions so that I will still have left overs. I’ve mastered the art of making enough for me for dinner and enough for lunch. Small compromise to make for sharing my home/life with the man I love.
Why not spend part of the weekend doing some prep? So that things are super easy to just grab and go. Prewash lettuce and put it in tupperware. Cut up veggies and put them in baggies. Roast a chicken or easier(!) buy one already roasted or cut up to use for salad. I love quinoa and make a bunch at the start of the week so that I can toss some veggies on top and instant lunch.
June 8th, 2010 @ 10:42 amI am a leftovers girl for lunches, too. My lunch bag contains:
A liter of water
A serving of leftovers for lunch
Fresh fruit (cherries, this week)
Yogurt and half a cup of granola
Whole grain crackers
String cheese
A cup of applesauce
It’s kind of a lot, but it’s breakfast, lunch, and a few snacky items throughout the day. I prep almost all of it ahead of time. I portion leftovers right out of the pan, and I separate the crackers into 50-calorie portions when I buy a new box. I also like to swap in nuts or dried fruit occasionally.
My husband has been doing salads for lunch, by washing a whole head of lettuce on the weekend and storing it in the salad spinner, Alton-Brown-style. But then, we are both okay with eating basically the same thing all week.
What about storing some healthy snacks in bulk at the office? Like a box of crackers or a bag of dried fruit? Then you always know you have something. I have a small jar of emergency peanut butter in my desk drawer.
June 8th, 2010 @ 10:53 amI love your restaurant story! I actually believe quite a lot in karma, overall, and this story made me smile.
Also, there’s a blog I follow called Kath Eats Real Food and she has some really interesting, really GOOD for you, whole-food options for lunches. Might be worth checking out!
(Says the girl who ate a Smart One for lunch.)
June 8th, 2010 @ 11:21 amI kind of like leftovers, so I doubt I’m going to be much inspiration to you, but you can always jazz them up with the additions of fruit and yogurt. Can I make a couple of wee suggestions to your list? Plan your meals before you grocery shop and when you know what’s going to be in your CSA. Then you’re less likely to not have an ingredient and use that as an excuse to bail. Also, maybe you leave in one day a week when you can eat lunch out. Mike and I tried to stop eating lunch out in an effort to be healthier and save money and it backfired because we got so sick of eating in. So we changed it and each of us can each lunch out once a week. It makes it a special treat.
)
June 8th, 2010 @ 11:22 amAnd, now I will crave Mother’s Mac and Cheese. So yummy.
Also, I love the posting dinner options idea. We hem and haw most nights and then end up eating out, thus wasting money and many calories.
June 8th, 2010 @ 12:18 pm[...] New system of administration : a single n jen [...]
June 8th, 2010 @ 5:58 pmwow, i haven’t commented here in a while, i guess, but…i don’t like leftovers much either. i also try to not eat any meat at lunch. today for lunch i had a w.w. pita, warmed in the toaster oven, with some jam and goat cheese, a small cucumber that i cut into strips and dipped in hummus and some fruit. (there’s fiber, protein, and vitamins…plus a little unnecessary sugar) and it was all from stuff i can stash in the fridge for a week at the office. tomorrow i think i’ll have hummus in a pita with some cukes tucked in there. and maybe the next day a cucumber and goat cheese pita. for me, the mix and match makes it less boring. also, i keep a jar of peanut butter stashed in the office fridge, so when it really gets tough, it’s pbj or peanut butter on crackers or just a spoonful of peanut butter. (veggie burgers cook up quick and are easy to gussy up, veggies and hummus and some cheese or nuts are surprisingly filling…couscous with beans and veggies is a pretty complete meal…)
June 8th, 2010 @ 6:09 pmMmmmmm…Mother’s Mac and cheese.
I’m a leftover girl too, but I’ll usually mix it up a bit. I’ll make a crazy awesome salad and then top it with leftover chicken.
June 9th, 2010 @ 8:10 amI don’t snack, so I don’t have a suggestion for that. For lunch, I simply bring leftovers from whatever was cooked for dinner the night before plus a piece of fruit. I only drink water at work (and at home too – or wine or a cocktail after dinner). If I don’t have time to scoop leftovers into a tupperware or just don’t want it, I’ll allow myself the rare eating at the cafeteria on-campus (but only 1-2 times a month). I also attend several lunch-provided meetings each month so those days are easy.
I’ve found it a must to pack Claire’s lunch the night before to avoid the late morning gotta-get-out-of-the-door-freak-out.
June 9th, 2010 @ 8:13 amMy lunch at 12:30 at work was always yogurt with either grape nuts, fruit or both mixed in. Only vanilla or coffee yogurt. Then for a snack at around 3:00 it was a V8 and raw veggies, usually carrots or celery. I always prepare the carrots and celery, right after I buy them, into managable sticks and put them in a zip lock in the fridge and just pull out a few each day. The other snack option is a piece of fruit. But I rarely varied from that lunch unless it was an occasional turkey sandwich with a V8. You can doctor up the turkey sandwich with any veggies you like, it makes it quite filling. NO CHIPS of any kind. The yogurt lunch takes no work at all in the morning; the sandwich lunch can be made the night before.
June 9th, 2010 @ 9:10 amI have been on a healthy eating and weight loss program for a month now and have lost 15 pounds. I’m doing it through a personal coach who is school co-worker of Laurel’s. It’s long distance but all done by email anyway. Let me know if you are interestd in it. It’s different and not for everyone but I’m having no problems with it. It does cost money but not really any more than what you pay for groceries. There’s a hint right there that you won’t be cooking and eating 3 meals every day. You eat 6 small meals a day and only one of them is grocery food and it consists of a lean meat and greens and/or vegetables. All the meals are portable for work, especially if you have a kitchen there.
Lunch is always a struggle for me. I hate leftovers, and I’m so over cans of soup microwaveable meals. I eat lunch out a lot. But sometimes I’ll just grab a random assortment of snacks: pudding cup, grapes, string cheese, granola bar. It’s not so bad except I’m STARVING by the time I get home!
June 9th, 2010 @ 10:06 amI barely have leftovers because my husband eats everything! It is a struggle for me in the mornings too because I now have 2 kids and 2 dogs to feed and I pump in the mornings. So- what do I do? Prepare the night before- I snack on baby carrots- or graham crackers- if I am rushing in the morning and was too lazy the night before then an almond butter sandwich it is. There are these really good chips made here in Austin called “beanitos” so-damn- good! I bring a sandwich bag of those and some salsa too just to shake things up a bit. Preparing a salad the night before is safe and easy- I realize that this is an all over the place comment and I am sorry but I am one hand typing this as I eat lunch at work! Oh and you know what? leave some safe stuff at your desk- like nuts,crackers, peanut butter (not almond because it has to be refrigerated*grumble*) hope this helps.
June 9th, 2010 @ 10:52 amMB and I both take our lunches but we have differing approaches. For his lunches, we cook a huge batch of something (spaghetti, chili, potato soup, etc) and divide it into lunch-portion-sized Tupperware. Then he just grabs one every day.
I have even less time in the mornings since I have baby feeding and baby dropoff to deal with as well as getting my breastpump together each day. So I take a bag on my first day in each week containing a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, a bottle of honey, and a bag of chips. I try to keep a handful of granola bars in there for snacks. Then each morning I put a drink, a yogurt, and 2 or 3 string cheeses into the cooler I use to bring the baby’s milk home in and I’m good to go.
Clearly these plans don’t work if you can’t stand to eat the same thing every day, but I decided a pb sandwich every day was a sacrifice I’m willing to make for fifteen more minutes of sleep.
June 9th, 2010 @ 5:55 pmI think it’s cool that there is a “single n jen” out there. Maybe she is using that since you were first to go by “one n jen”?? Heh..
June 9th, 2010 @ 8:02 pmVincent Vega in Pulp Fiction responding to Jules (“Pigs are filthy animals. I don’t eat filthy animals.”), “Bacon tastes gooood. Pork chops taste goooood.
June 10th, 2010 @ 10:55 amSkip responding to Jenifer’s bacon lament, “Bacon tastes goooood! Just eat less of it less often.”
I may be odd, but I loathe sandwiches, so I try and make big salads with tons of veggies or chopped up chicken breast and try to top it with either hummus or guac. This salad is my current fave because it’s super fast to make and keeps well for days: http://www.cookusinterruptus.com/index.php?video_id=124
I also take an apple or other fruit to go with my lunch and I snack on almonds, string cheese or yogurt during the day.
I found that buying a super cute reusable bag (http://www.builtny.com/relish-lunch-tote-prod.html) and eco-friendly lunch box made it more fun to take my lunch.
June 10th, 2010 @ 4:55 pmMy lunches (dinners?) are usually pretty big because I spend 12 hours on my feet. Usually, I have a sandwich of some sort or some left overs. At least 2 servings of fruit or 1 and a salad. Yogurt and then some other sort of snack like a serving of pretzels, trail mix or a piece of string cheese. I used to bring in frozen Kashi or Amy’s meals to mix it up, but then made the mistake of looking at the sodium content, which pretty much covered an entire day’s allowance.
June 16th, 2010 @ 2:19 pmIf you are sitting at a desk most of the day, you probably don’t need to pack quite as much. I have a really cute reusable lunch bag by Built Gourmet which holds a ton and is pretty durable. I also use little really cute little rubbermaid containers that come in 1/2 cup size to help with portion control.