Last-seocnd meals

[Lissa Kristine]

As a brief introduction, I am fairly familiar with the Whole30 plan, but I only stuck to it for 6 days back in 2012. I am looking at giving this another try in a couple weeks, so in the preparation phase, I've been trying to plan for some "what-if?" scenarios. 

Obviously dining out is one potential roadblock, but I estimate that may occur once or twice during the 30 days, and I'm fairly confident in my ability to manage. 

My main concern are those situations where I may need a last-minute meal. There are times when a friend will ask me to drop something off after work (I work in a grocery store), and I'll be invited to stay for dinner. I've gotten text messages just hours before getting off work asking if I'm available to babysit in the evening. 

These are some of the latest dinner options at friends' houses:

1. Pasta with tomato sauce and vegetarian "chicken" cutlets
2. "Chicken Helper" orange chicken with vegetables  (mixed into sauce) and white rice
3. Chili made with ground beef, corn, beans, and a "salad bar" of sorts with tomatoes, carrots, avocado, and spring mix.
4. Tacos with ground turkey (with McCormick seasoning), tomatoes, corn, peas, cheese, sour cream, etc. 

As you can see, my options are fairly limited, and I don't want to become anti-social OR avoid the extra cash that comes from babysitting jobs. 

Now, my friends are all very understanding, and will be flexible to a degree. If they know that I'm not eating corn or peas, they'll look to see if they have a bag of frozen broccoli, but sometimes, they can't always prepare a compliant meal for me. There's not always time (sometimes, I join them for dinner at the last minute- after dinner is almost done being cooked). 

If I'm coming from work, I have the option of grabbing a couple quick things to make a meal. Depending on the situation, this may HAVE to be something I can microwave, but if I'm babysitting, I may have the option of doing a bit more prep-work (cooking on a stove using any olive or coconut oil they have in their house). However, I also am in search of some options that I can have on-hand just in case I'm stuck with a last-second dinner invitation. I know I won't offend any of my friends if I pair a can of WildPlanet tuna with some of the compliant vegetables they are having with their dinner.

So, I suppose this is a two-part question:

1. What are some good options that I can keep on hand for last second dinner invitations (Car-safe options- especially protein; for the most part, they'll have fruit or vegetables that I can have available)? (Well, other than keeping a packet or two of coconut butter in my purse to throw on a plain baked sweet potato, steak, and/or vegetables if I am eating out haha).

2. What are some quick grab and go options that I can get at my local grocery store if I have a LITTLE more notice of dining situation or babysitting job? (I thought of grabbing a sweet potato, a bag of frozen vegetables, and a package of chicken apple sausages , and topping the veggies and/or potato with my emergency coconut butter if they don't have coconut oil or olive oil in the house, but I would love other ideas).

[missmary]

What are you doing for lunch? One thing I do if my evening is unpredictable is make and bring a second lunch to the office. It sits in the office fridge and, if I end up going home for dinner I just use that for lunch the following day. So basically, if you always have one extra day's worth of lunch in the fridge at work you will be set if you need dinner. Personally, these are usually fully prepped meals that I reheat or eat cold, like a skillet with ground lamb, onion, mushroom, sweet potato chunks (hot) or a salmon salad with celery, capers, onion, homemade mayo, on a giant bed of greens (cold).

 

If I'm scrounging a quick meal at the grocery store, I tend to go for cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, snap peas, avocado + either pre-cooked chicken breast* from the deli or compliant roast turkey. Canned tuna or salmon would work too.

 

That said, considering you have a whole kitchen at your disposal on baby-sitting nights, could you just pick up groceries for any recipe you want to eat? Depending on the age of the kids, etc. I would think you could prep a salad, cook the chicken sausage, bake a sweet potato or whatever you need, just like parents do when they have to eat 

 

*EDIT: this only works at my co-op where they have such a thing without non-compliant ingredients, I'm not sure how common that would be.

[Lissa Kristine]

What are you doing for lunch? One thing I do if my evening is unpredictable is make and bring a second lunch to the office. It sits in the office fridge and, if I end up going home for dinner I just use that for lunch the following day. So basically, if you always have one extra day's worth of lunch in the fridge at work you will be set if you need dinner. Personally, these are usually fully prepped meals that I reheat or eat cold, like a skillet with ground lamb, onion, mushroom, sweet potato chunks (hot) or a salmon salad with celery, capers, onion, homemade mayo, on a giant bed of greens (cold).

 

If I'm scrounging a quick meal at the grocery store, I tend to go for cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, snap peas, avocado + either pre-cooked chicken breast* from the deli or compliant roast turkey. Canned tuna or salmon would work too.

 

That said, considering you have a whole kitchen at your disposal on baby-sitting nights, could you just pick up groceries for any recipe you want to eat? Depending on the age of the kids, etc. I would think you could prep a salad, cook the chicken sausage, bake a sweet potato or whatever you need, just like parents do when they have to eat 

 

*EDIT: this only works at my co-op where they have such a thing without non-compliant ingredients, I'm not sure how common that would be.

My schedule can be fairly hectic. If I know I'm going to have plans, I'll pack a second meal (I can't leave my lunchbox in the work fridge, so it'll come home with me if my plans change- not a big deal). However, there are days when I'm out and about and get invited over for dinner, or realize that I have something to drop off at a friend's house and end up staying etc. I don't always have any advance notice. 

As far as babysitting jobs, the parents usually have food prepared for the kids (and myself if I want it) before I get there. I do have the kitchen to my disposal (both equipment and the food in the kitchen). However, the ability to USE the kitchen isn't always guaranteed. Sometimes, it just requires too much clean-up to get to a pan to cook food, so something I can cook or heat in a microwave is also helpful. 

There are days when I'll get a text message less than two hours before getting out of work asking if I'm available to babysit. Fortunately, my friends are fairly flexible regarding time when they give me such little notice (especially since they're usually compulsively late), but I still don't have a lot of time to do major food prep or shopping. A package of chicken sausage will be a better choice than a package of chicken drumsticks. 

[J.Nardin]

quick & portable...

 

 

salad is wonderfully portable & you can offer to bring enough to share  

costco has canned wild-caught salmon & tuna (I toss on a salad)

 

most useful thing we've done is to put our "finger food veggies" (green beans, snap peas, mini peppers) in a bowl in the fridge; pull it out & fill up a bag/bowl to go with hard boiled eggs  (safeway sells these in 2 packs)