Hi all,

I'm going to be going to school / working, with no "at home time" in between -- I'll have a lunch time at school and a dinner time at work. The problem is, I don't have a cool place to store lunch/dinner while I'm in school, so I need to come up with ideas for things that can sit in a lunch bag in my car (in FL heat) from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm without spoiling or going bad (frozen dinners are NOT going to work!). I'm having trouble coming up with ideas -- can anyone help?

Due to money constraints, I'd really like to avoid relying on the cafeteria food, and I literally have just enough time to drive from school to work, so I can't stop and pick stuff up at a store or fast food (which isn't conducive to the diet anyway). So...what do I do?

Hi!,
I travel alot also and am not at home for breakfast or lunch, I purchased a cooler to keep in my car so I can take salads, yogart, sandwiches....ect.
I bring almost everything, also since you are in Florida I'd make my own Ice to carry in the cooler it doesnt melt as fast as those ice packs you buy in the store. I have a pretty big cooler so i can put alot of ice in it. I freeze plastic milk jugs and then you can just grab them and put in the freezer at the end of the day. Hope this gives you a idea.

~bayb

Shelf stable dinners are an option, though the quality of these can vary alot, some are pretty high in sodium. Dinty Moore has quite a few and there are other brands. Some are soups and chilis (in a microwaveable pop top can). Then there are dinners that are heat processed (canned, but in plastic) these are usually things like stew, pasta dishes... Canned tuna, chicken or other salads (may not be very appetizing warm).

One thing I would recommend, to give you some flexibility (so you could include salads, which with careful ingredients might not go bad, but wouldn't be very appealing warm and wilty) and foods that can't withstand the heat without a bit of assistance is an insulated lunch bag or two and a few freezer packs (the plastic blue squares that you freeze and reuse), and a larger, cooler (a white styrofoam cheapy is fine).

Put your ice pack in your insulated lunch bag(s) (there's usually a little net pouch in the lid to hold the ice pack and then put the insulated lunch bag(s) in the larger styofoam cooler, and throw a wool blanket or a comforter over the cooler. For added protection, you can freeze plastic bottles of water (12 oz to 2 liters, up to you) or Crystal Light (leave some headroom so freezing doesn't break the bottle) and put in in the larger cooler with the lunch bag(s). You could then probably have a cold beverage by dinner time, but a salad would stay nice and crisp and you could refill and refreeze for the next day. Before trying to add anything that can't withstand the heat, you'd want to see how well this is working for you. How long the little makeshift cooling system works for you.

I did this when I was in graduate school in Illinois, and it sounds a lot more of a nuisance and more time consuming than it is. Illinois summers aren't as consistently hot as florida, but I remember that my system worked pretty well even at temperatures over 90 degrees, though on the hottest days, I would be a little more careful of what I put in the cooler. Usually I would say that the blanket or comforter was unnecessary, but I liked the extra insurance.

If you can swing it, you may want to check into purchasing 2 Funtainers (made by Thermos brand). They keep hot foods hot up to 5 hours and cold foods cold for up to 7 hours. I bought these for my DS's and DH's lunches and they work great. They are about $14.99 (WalMart/Target) each, but well worth the investment. You may also want to check the Funtainer website sometomes they run certain designs on clearance.

Oh - forgot to say - we live in the Houston area and DH keeps these in his car and they still keep the cold/hot foods at the right temp.

You have a lot of great ideas here ALso don't forget some fruit. A lot of fruit you do not need to refrigerate. Also check out www.hungrygirl.com for ideas.

Packaged Snacks, Bars, Cookies, Crackers, Chips & Popcorn

Quaker Rice Snacks
Quaker Rice Cakes
Quaker Quakes
Multigrain Minis
Quaker Mini Delights

Sugar-free or no-sugar-added pudding cups
Jell-O Sugar Free Pudding Snacks, Sugar Free Handi-Snacks,
South Beach Diet Pudding Cups (with fiber!), Hunt's No
Sugar Added Snack Packs
Kozy Shack No Sugar Added Rice Pudding and Tapioca Pudding

100-calorie-or-less snack packs and treats
Nabisco 100 Calorie Packs (any variety)
100 Calorie Right Bites and 100 Calorie Mini Bites
Hostess 100 Calorie Packs
Special K Snack Bites
100-calorie packs of Blue Diamond Almonds
Hershey's, Reese's, and York 100 Calorie Bars
Entenmann's Little Bites 100 Calorie Packs
Weight Watchers Snack Cakes (look for the new
Twinkie-like ones!)
VitaMuffins (freezer aisle!)
Chex Mix 100 Calorie Snacks
Pringles Stix

Bite-worthy bars
South Beach Living Snack Bar Delights
Fiber One Chewy Bars (new flavors out!)
Kashi GoLean Bars
Curves Bars
Quaker Sweet & Salty Crunch Granola Bars
Quaker Chewy 90 Calorie Granola Bars
Quaker Chewy Granola Bars with Protein
Special K Cereal Bars and Bliss Bars
Chex Mix Bars
Kraft LiveActive Chewy Granola Bars
Promax 70 Calorie Bars

Low-fat chips
Guiltless Gourmet Tortilla Chips
Kettle Bakes Potato, Pretzel, and Pita Chips
Popchips (or Popped Chips)
Baked! Potato Crisps
Brothers-All-Natural Potato Crisps

Soy crisps
Quaker, Genisoy, Glenny's

94% fat-free mini microwave popcorn bags
Jolly Time Healthy Pop Mini Bags, Orville Redenbacher's Smart
Pop! Mini Bags, Pop Secret 94% Fat Free Snack Size

Freeze-dried fruit
Gerber Mini Fruits, Just Tomatoes, Trader Joe's, Sensible Foods
Crunch Dried Snacks, Funky Monkey, Cereal Toppers

Assorted guilt-free snack foods
Gerber Fruit Puffs and Veggie Puffs
Everybody's Nuts! California Pistachios
Sunkist Almond Accents
Jell-O Sugar Free Gelatin Snacks
Krinkle Sticks

Breads

Light english muffins
Weight Watchers, Thomas' Light Multi Grain or 100 Calorie
Original, Western Bagel Alternative, Fiber One

Low-fat flour tortillas (with around 110 calories each and high
in fiber)
La Tortilla Factory Smart & Delicious Low Carb High Fiber Tortillas
(previously labeled Whole Wheat Low-Carb/Low-Fat),
Mission Carb Balance (Soft Taco Size), Tumaro’s 8” Low in
Carbs or Healthy Flour Tortillas, Flatout Light Wraps

Light bread (low in calories and high in fiber)
Wonder Light, Weight Watchers, Nature's Own Light, Nature's
Own Double Fiber, Arnold's Bakery Light, Pepperidge Farm
(Light Style, Very Thin, Classic Whole Grain), Sara Lee
Delightful Bread, Fiber One breads

Light buns
Wonder Light Hamburger and Hot Dog Buns, Nature's Own
Double Fiber Buns, Pepperidge Farm Classic Whole Grain
White Hamburger Buns and Hot Dog Buns

Low-calorie bagels
Western Bagel Alternative, Weight Watchers, Kim's Light Bagels

High-fiber pita bread
Western Bagel Alternative, Weight Watchers

And don't forget Peanut Butter & Jelly and Fruit

I definitely second (or third or whatever) the idea of a cooler and some freezer packs. It won't allow you to keep frozen food, but it will allow you to keep things like boiled eggs, a container of yogurt, etc. w/out spoiling.

In the meanwhile, things like 1/2 a peanut butter sandwich (1 slice of bread, 1 serving pb, maybe some fruit jam or preserves), a can of v8 juice, oat bars, dry cereal (like fiber one or kashi or even just Cheerios), Wasa crackers, an apple, things like that ... those would keep well if you tucked them under the seat in the shade.

.

One thing I do when we go places for the day is tuna salad. I just buy the little kits at costco but you could make your own with the pouches of tuna and whatever crackers/vegetable/side you want.

I second tuna pouches and coolers. I've also found pop-top canned salmon which has saved me in a pinch.

what about investing in a cooler? you could then make sandwhichs and keep them cool.