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make ahead meals to carry to work?


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Since dh has a new job :D:D:D I need to start cooking him breakfast and making him a lunch. Right now he skips breakfast and lunch, then has a free meal and snack everyday at work. I'm hoping he'll get to start eating better now.

 

He'll leave really early in the mornings, so I'm trying to think of things I can either make ahead, or would be easy to fix that early. He's diabetic, so no sweet breakfast... cereals, muffins, fruit, things like that he wouldn't eat.

He'll be driving around in a company truck all day, so what can I fix he take to eat but would be OK sitting in a truck?

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If you have a cold pack, a really really big green salad is great. I'm talking salad for 6. Send along the dressing in a little bottle, just the right amount for that day. Send along some protein to pour in right before eating--frozen cooked chicken thigh meat would thaw nicely just in time for lunch. Canned black beans are a fave of my DH on salads. I prefer kidney beans myself. Water packed tuna or salmon is great for this. If you go with little chunks of diced cheese, put it in the bottom of the bowl before you add the lettuce. Doctor the salads up with almond slices, walnuts, pecans, yellow pepper slices, chunks of fennel, chunks of jicama, carrot slices, radishes, celery, things like that to make it seem more filling.

 

When I make meal size salads I make the dressing fresh in the bottom of a big Tupperware bowl, and then put in the chunky stuff, and then the washed, dried salad greens. I put the lid on, and it keeps in the fridge or even at room temperature for about a day and a half, if the greens are well dried. I toss the dressing up into the salad right before I eat it. It's handy and really, really good. (Note: nuts should be added after tossing. They are horrible when soggy.) I would not keep this in the cab of a truck, but it would probably stay fresh in the trunk of a car, or if you have it in a cooler or one of those insulated Pyrex contraptions with the big ice pack.

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If he is not eating breakfast right now then you could try starting him off in the morning with a smoothie. You could use coconut milk or dairy milk as a base to boost up the protein content, add a scoop of protein powder, baby spinach and ice.

 

How about dinner left overs for lunch with a big salad? You can use a thermos for hot things and reheat the leftovers in the morning. If you warm up the thermos with boiling water the leftovers will stay hot until lunch time.

 

My mom is diabetic and she eats a salad with most her lunch/dinner meals.

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cold meat like roasted chicken or turkey

boiled eggs

raw veges like celery sticks, baby carrots

cubed cheeses/sliced cheese

whole wheat wraps with spinach, etc

 

you can put shredded cheese on a griddle and let it melt then cool... makes a great little cracker type cheese snack... I use cheddar and parmesan

 

hope you get great ideas!

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I usually make a little extra when making dinner. Dh will then bring those to work with him.

 

 

I thought about doing this, but wasn't sure about him carrying it on a truck in this heat. And he wouldn't have a way to heat things up. And I need to come up with some sort of lunch box for him to carry his lunch in too.

Edited by SeekingSimplicity
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Yesterday I just put some odd and ends of stuff in his bag. He ate 2 muffins, drank a gatorade and a monster shot then he said his sugar was 350 so he skipped lunch. He said it was so hot he couldn't have eaten lunch anyhow, and would rather bring munchies than a lunch. His idea of munchies is vienna sausages and fritos :/

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Yesterday I just put some odd and ends of stuff in his bag. He ate 2 muffins, drank a gatorade and a monster shot then he said his sugar was 350 so he skipped lunch. He said it was so hot he couldn't have eaten lunch anyhow, and would rather bring munchies than a lunch. His idea of munchies is vienna sausages and fritos :/

 

This is a terrible for his health. You should consult a nutritionist with aim to come up with some meals your husband is willing to eat. Purchase a small/travel/day cooler and a thermos, and you will have some flexibility in meal preparation. It is important for diabetics to eat regularly and stay away from junk items.

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Yesterday I just put some odd and ends of stuff in his bag. He ate 2 muffins, drank a gatorade and a monster shot then he said his sugar was 350 so he skipped lunch. He said it was so hot he couldn't have eaten lunch anyhow, and would rather bring munchies than a lunch. His idea of munchies is vienna sausages and fritos :/

 

We must have the same dh's although mine really likes potato chips. I am TRYING to cook healthy and provide diabetic friendly meals but I can't control what he eats when he is not here.

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Yesterday I just put some odd and ends of stuff in his bag. He ate 2 muffins, drank a gatorade and a monster shot then he said his sugar was 350 so he skipped lunch. He said it was so hot he couldn't have eaten lunch anyhow, and would rather bring munchies than a lunch. His idea of munchies is vienna sausages and fritos :/

 

He's drinking gatorade and he's diabetic? That is just plain crazy.

Isn't there some lean protein-based food that he likes as a snack? Vienna sausages are OK once in a while, but of course they are loaded with fat and salt.

 

This is really an alarming post. I'm very concerned.

 

Has he ever taken a diabetic nutrition class? For one thing, they teach portion size and it's probably better that he gets that from someone 'else' IYKWIM. For another, you see all these diabetics with advanced forms of the disease, and see clearly how things end up if you don't take care of yourself. That can be very sobering. When you see the stick thin 50 year old who has already had a heart attack, and the woman who is morbidly obese who can't feel her feet, and the man who is losing his sight, it really makes you think. And those are just the side effects, not even the primary blood sugar excursion symptoms, which are appalling and dangerous in and of themselves.

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PS The right response to that high of a blood sugar is to go for a walk RIGHT AWAY. That improves insulin resistance immediately and also consumes some of that glucose before it causes more damage. Any time you have blood sugar levels above about 170, you're hurting your circulation. It's subtle at first but cummulatively very bad.

 

The other thing to make an absolute RULE is never to eat carbs by themselves. Never, never, never.

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His job is very physical, he had been outside sweating all day in 100* weather so that's why the gatorade. I got some other stuff yesterday while I was out which is much lower on carbs, it counts as 0servings on his meal plan.

 

He's been diabetic for 25 years and knows the right and wrong ways to take care of himself. He has been to nutritionist, he knows how to eat right it's just has not always convenient for him to (it bordered on impossible at his previous job as he had no breaks even for meals, and now we're trying to correct this). :)

 

Soooo....I have to go shopping soon and up on healthy things that are easy to take with him. Lunch box ideas? Something healthy that's good for munching but wont give him food poisoning in this hot weather?

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You can store some of the following in a small cooler, "cool bag," or thermos: gazpacho, guacamole (store in small airtight container with plastic wrap or wax paper pressed into the guac) with some kind of baked chip or cracker, hummus, chicken salad or tuna salad on an avocado or tomato, fruit salad w/ acceptable fruit (blueberries, kiwi, peaches, etc.), pasta and veggie salad cooked to diabetes specs), or bean chili.

 

You can also try veggie quesadillas (wheat tortillas), veggie pitas, or baked potatoes (wrapped in foil) with lots of suitable toppings.

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Soooo....I have to go shopping soon and up on healthy things that are easy to take with him. Lunch box ideas? Something healthy that's good for munching but wont give him food poisoning in this hot weather?

 

Canned meats would be good. Especially fish. So, canned tuna, canned salmon, canned clams even. They don't spoil in the heat, and you can store them in the refridgerator until you pack them so that they are cold when you put them in the insulated lunch bag. Get one of those padded, insulated carriers for a 12 pack of beer--that's a great size for a big cold lunch plus a snack, and get some of those reusable, thick ice packs as well--3-4 should do it even in really hot weather. So in the bag you put in two of the packs. Then on top of that you put in a big, flat, wide Tupperware full of premade salad that is already cold from the fridge--big collection of greens, maybe some cut up chewy veggies that make you feel full, like fennel, radishes, carrots, peppers, cucumbers, etc. You tuck in a little bottle of cheese chunks or strawberries (low glycemic index carbs) for a snack. Then on top of that you put in two more ice packs. This keeps all this cold until lunch. Then over that you put the chilled can of tuna, and any chilled beverage you might be planning on--diet iced tea or soda or water. If you pack tea or water, you can freeze it and let it slowly thaw until lunch. These will make everything stay colder longer as well. Then over that you put in the stuff that doesn't really have to be dead cold, like bread or crackers, in a plastic bag so it doesn't get soggy, or an apple or orange. Also this is where to put a little tiny jar of salad dressing that seals absolutely tightly.

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Look into Bento lunches. You can make even the most boring lunch look gourgeous and include a love letter for your DH :D

 

I used to drool over some of the stuff people came up with

 

I agree- I work two days a week and bentos are easy, fun, and use up every little scrap of leftovers. I've been amazed at how fast they are to make AND how many things I really like to eat cold.

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I freeze some leftovers like sliced chicken breast then put in a cooler with a frozen H20 bottle. They are perfect at lunch and I just eat them with my fingers.

 

I eat leftovers for dinner. I love my little cooler. Yard Sale .50 cents filled with frozen water bottles to keep it cold.

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