Lunch: It's complicated.

March 1, 2013 10:41 AM

I need help figuring out hearty sandwiches, a sandwich + a single-item side, or make-ahead one-dish lunches. Difficulty: Low-oxalate diet, extremely pressed for time, despise food prep.

I'm on this incredibly annoying low-oxalate diet by doctor's orders. (Don't google it: most lists are nonsensical and contradictory.) So you don't have to guess at it, here are some of the restrictions--sorry for the length!

Among the things I should virtually never eat are spinach, almonds (and most other nuts), turmeric, curry powder, soy milk, almond milk, and miso (except in tiny servings).

Among the things I should avoid or eat very, very infrequently (and only in combination with calcium-rich foods if possible) are tomato paste, yellow squash, eggplant, green beans, parsley, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, swiss chard, chocolate (!), tempeh, TVP, virtually all beans, and EVERY WHOLE GRAIN EVER (oats, wheat, buckwheat, quinoa, etc.).

Things that are more OK to eat include acorn squash, arugula, dino kale (in moderation), onions, zucchini squash, avocado, peeled apples, melons, bananas, sweet/bing cherries, citrus (but not the peel), wild rice, peas, coconut, most stone fruit, pineapple, certain lettuces (romaine, bibb, butter, Boston, iceberg), cabbages (but not brussels sprouts), rapini (in moderation), broccoli, flax, mushrooms, butternut squash, kabocha, and virtually all cheeses, yogurts, other dairy products, meat of all kinds, and fish.

Things that are iffy but are OK sometimes or with calcium-rich ingredients: collard greens, mustard greens, split peas, barley, shallots, Belgian endive, corn, asparagus, brussels sprouts, fresh tomatoes, and tofu.

Given that in the past 5 years I've been shifting to a very low meat, vegetable heavy, whole grain only diet, this has been quite a blow. The oats-and-almond-butter breakfast that I've mentioned a few times on MeFi, which helped me lose weight and survive mornings better, is out and might have helped cause my problem in the first place (so expect a breakfast help post at some point!). My go-to easy meals that create leftovers for lunch were a meatless bean-based chili, which is right out, and pasta with jarred tomato sauce (fresh tomato sauce takes a lot longer because of all the chopping). I'm feeling frustrated, negative, and sort of angry about the whole thing.

I need a filling lunch because I eat it before work and don't eat again until much later in the evening, and I do not have time for snacks at work (I am a teacher). Please help me figure out how to make hearty sandwiches (or a sandwich + a no-effort side) that I can prepare mostly or entirely the night before (I have about 2 minutes for lunch prep in the morning) or one-dish meals that I can make on Sunday and eat again on Monday or Tuesday. But because I'm a teacher, the scant time that I have on weekends that doesn't involve unpaid work is extremely precious, and I don't want to spend it all chopping and cooking. The easier the better! Finally, I do have access to both a fridge and microwave at work.

Thanks!

posted by wintersweet to food & drink (16 answers total)

How open are you to including more meat in your diet? With your particular diet, you could do really well with a lot of Paleo type recipes (nom nom paleo is my favorite), just cutting out the vegetables and nuts that you can't eat. MeMail me if you're interested and I can send you some recipe lists from my bookmarks folder.

A fairly low prep bread substitute for you could be flax bread (popular in the low carb community)

Here's a recipe that takes about 30 minutes including bake time - you could make large batches and freeze them in slices. You can top with cheese, veggies and meat if you're feeling like it.

Another thing to do would be to buy either peeled&chopped butternut squash or acorn, kabocha or delicata squash (which you can just cut in half and take out the seeds - the peel is edible so it's less prep) and roast for 40-50 minutes at 400 degrees with some oil and spices of your choice until soft. If you can eat sesame seeds you can put some tahini on top, otherwise you could do goat cheese or feta for protein or just butter for fat. For my lunches I usually bake some chicken breasts (put on salt+pepper+olive oil, bake at 350 for about 30 minutes) and roast the squash separately, throw some butter on the squash while it's hot, portion it into tupperwares for the fridge or freezer, and reheat at school.
posted by permiechickie at 10:57 AM on March 1 [2 favorites]

It sounds like you're ok to eat wild rice with various toppings? I make a lot of meat based sauces of the beef stroganoff variety, except not beef because I don't like it. Basically vegetables sauteed then cooked with pre browned meat in a sauce made from stock+flour or other thickening agent for 10 minutes or so. When it's done just toss in some butter or sour cream or cheese and stir. Works with fish too. Super easy, tasty, and gives well over anything.
posted by fshgrl at 11:06 AM on March 1 [1 favorite]

Because it'll make other answers easier, yes, I'm resigned to including more meat in my diet as long as I can afford more sustainable, more ethically-raised stuff. I hate cooking meat at home, but I'll figure it out (a roast chicken last week was ... not fun, but maybe I can buy chicken parts).

Sesame is on the bad list -- sesame oil is OK, but paste is not. (I love sesame!)

Wild rice is not okay, sorry. I just didn't think to list it. :/ White rice of any variety is OK, and brown rice in moderation.

White breads vary between high and low, so I can have bread on my sandwiches except for that whole lack of fiber/high carb thing. Due to my annoyance with everything else, I think I might as well just enjoy some fluffy bread.

Hope this helps with other answers!
posted by wintersweet at 11:28 AM on March 1

Broccoli-cheese soup is pretty filling. This recipe is quick, low-prep, and tasty. You could substitute another allowable veggie (like cauliflower?) for variety. You can make a big batch, freeze it in portions and thaw for lunch.

Good luck! It must be really hard to make such a drastic switch but hopefully it will make you feel better.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:43 AM on March 1 [1 favorite]

Ugh, sorry, I see that I put wild rice in the "OK" list in my post, probably because initial reports made me think it was and I'd forgotten to take it off. Sorry, fshgrl! My fault. I don't want to bother a mod about editing it, and also fshgrl's (still helpful!) comment makes more sense if I leave it in. :/
posted by wintersweet at 11:50 AM on March 1

I'm on a restricted diet and my lunch is almost always leftovers from dinner. (Not sure if you've figured out what to eat for dinner yet!)

What about salads bulked up with cheese and some protein like shredded chicken, eggs, avocado or smoked salmon? Maybe beet, avocado and citrus salad with goat cheese. Sometimes I make guacamole (leave the pit in) and have it with corn chips for lunch.

What about smoothies made more filling with avocado or silken tofu? Or maybe protein powder? I know very little about that. I have a magic bullet type blender and I use it all the time.

Bread opens up a lot of options, I would think. (I'm gluten free). Egg or pasta salad? Home-made pizza? Soup with bread, like carrot soup or borscht. Risotto (I have just learned that this is super quick in a pressure cooker)? Fried rice?

Tomato sauce sounds like the kind of thing you could make a massive batch of at once and then freeze. For pasta there is a recipe I love from Supernatural Every Day, which is just grated zucchini sauteed with garlic and chili flakes then tossed with pasta and parmesan.
posted by carolr at 11:50 AM on March 1 [2 favorites]

(Can you have egg?)

For lunch I typically bring one fruit (or fruit with cheese), one salad, and leftovers. This is easy for me because I just buy fruits that are edible whole, and premixed salad greens. You could do the same to get more variety in your lunches.

If I was restricted to just the list of stuff that's definitely ok, and didn't like meat, I would make:

Coconut milk curry (using only allowed seasonings, not curry powder) with some combo of peas, onion, zucchini, avocado, mushrooms, broccoli, and paneer cheese, over rice

Fried rice, with any of the stuff that could go in the curry, plus pineapple chunks

Rice noodles, with any of the stuff from the curry, plus greens, and eggs if they're allowed

Any of the squashes and any of the cookable greens, sauteed together, with onion

Squash and avocado sandwiches with cheese and salad greens

Squash and caramelized onion sandwiches (the onions can be made in a slow cooker with minimal effort), plus cheese

Yogurt with any of the fruits plus flax on top

Smoothies, which could include dairy/yogurt, avocado, flax, greens, and any of the fruits but especially bananas
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:58 AM on March 1 [1 favorite]

I don't eat rice or much pasta but I still make the sauces I described and eat them alone or with a tiny bit of pasta or bread. Very filling. Most people want the starch tho.

Paneer is dead easy to make and can be subbed for meat almost everywhere.

And breakfast is cottage cheese or yogurt and defrosted dark berries almost every day for me. I can pick enough berries in the fall to last all year so it's cheap too.
posted by fshgrl at 12:06 PM on March 1 [1 favorite]

Even though you're allowed to eat white rice, as an alternative, you can try riced cauliflower instead.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:19 PM on March 1

For sides, dried fruit or easy to prepare fresh fruit. I like dried cherries a lot and if you buy grapes and take them off the stem and rinse them promptly upon getting home, they keep well and make a handy snack. You can also buy things like precut watermelon to reduce prep time. Or greek style salad: lettuce with feta cheese and any other acceptable ingredients that you like. Feta and fresh grapes go really well together.

If you can eat yellow or red potatoes, they don't need to be peeled. If you buy "new" (baby sized) red or yellow potatoes, you can rinse them, cut out any questionable spots and toss the smallest ones in a baking dish with frozen chicken parts. The larger ones can be cut in half or quarters. If you can do butter or ghee, use that plus pepper and paprika to taste. Alternately, add water instead of butter before sticking it in the oven. If you preheat the water, you will speed up the cooking time. With butter, it is crispier. With water, softer. Both are delicious. (You might need to add the potatoes after the meat is half cooked. Small extra step, but not a big deal. I generally added them to start if I used water, added them later with butter only.)

My main issue with bread is yeast. I do better with flat breads. You can top them with cheese and veggies to taste, with or without a smidgeon of instant pizza sauce. (One is a cheese sandwich, the other a mini pizza.) If corn is acceptable, flat bread with a hearty corn salsa and jack cheese is kind of vegetarian taco -ish.

Flat bread is not hard to make if you get over some need to make it "pretty." Lumpy, ugly, not very thin flat bread tastes just fine if it is thoroughly cooked. You could experiment with substituting rice flour for part of the bread flour. A batch doesn't take long to make and should last a single person a few days if stored in a ziploc bag after it has cooled (so you don't get condensation inside the bag from the warm bread). A double batch might get you through the week, though you might need to freeze half of it.

I limit my consumption of meat and also try to stick to organic, grass-fed, etc. I have done better here lately with kosher meat. If there is a kosher deli or similar available, you could try that route and see if that works for you. It has made it possible for me to eat meat more regularly.
posted by Michele in California at 12:53 PM on March 1 [1 favorite]

Here's what I make for my lunch almost every day. I lay a tortilla flat, spread mayo on it, layer on a couple handfulls of whatever greens I have, then add leftovers from my previous night's dinner. It doesn't matter what left overs -- if it's soup, I drain it, if it's meat, I chop it, if it's stir fry with rice, I stuff it in. If I feel like there's not much protein, I add cheese. Then fold the tortilla up this way and you'll have a fancy "wrap" for your lunchbox.

This is super easy to make the night before. In fact, I often make it while I'm making dinner.
posted by OrangeDisk at 1:10 PM on March 1 [1 favorite]

Yes, eggs are OK. :)

New red potatoes are about the only ones that are on the OK list.
posted by wintersweet at 1:34 PM on March 1

I have multiple food allergies (including the grains and chocolate), so I can empathize. It's really hard to have a special diet and *not* spend a bit of your weekend prepping meals for the coming week, but some cook/freeze/nuke ones are quicker to prep than others. You need stuff that will keep you full (or at least prevent gnawing on the leg of your desk by 4:00), so focus on foods you know fill you up, make a lot of whatever you're making and freeze lunch portions. If you don't have one already, consider purchasing a slow cooker, as it's really nice to throw stuff in a pot in the morning and come home to a done dinner (and enough leftovers to serve as lunch).

A couple quick-but-filling things I rely on:

Hearty soups will likely be your friend - Split pea soup came to mind from your allowed list - you can find Beeler's Pork in most health food stores if you like the flavor ham or a ham bone adds.

Roasted root veg: preheat oven to 375F. Oil a roasting pan with olive or canola (or whatever safe oil you can use) oil. Wash baby red potatoes(use whole if they are truly small or halve or quarter if they are larger) toss in a bowl. Add roughly chopped onion, and (I don't see them on your list) peeled carrots chopped into one-inch pieces. Toss with oil, sea salt and cracked pepper and whatever herb you like and can eat - I use rosemary. Dump into the roasting pan and cook for 70 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through. Portion out, freeze, nuke on high for 3 or 4 minutes for lunch. Delish, filling and you can vary the recipe by adding whatever veggies you like roasted - cauliflower, cubed squash, etc. Also excellent to add cubed ham to roast along with.

Avocado, minced garlic and lemon juice. Mincing the garlic takes the most time. Mix ingredients, to taste. Excellent after the flavors meld (the second day), so make the night before. Have with Rice Thins (or equivalent; 3 ingredients: rice, water, salt) or Flax Seed crackers and whatever fruit you like on the side. I am partial to apple slices with this, and since you're looking for filling, I would add sharp cheddar slices to have with the apples. For even more filling, I'd add bacon, either crumbled on top of the mashed avocado or broken into bits to have with the apple and cheddar slices.

Rice topped with darn near anything I am allowed to eat. Anything you previously would consider a pasta topping (and that works for you now) works equally well on rice or baked spaghetti squash. I am also a huge fan of rice, roasted or poached chicken and a fruit juice-based sauce (thicken with tapioca or arrowroot, not wheat flour). Portion cooked rice into lunch containers, add the shredded cooked chicken, frozen veg of choice, sauce, and freeze. Nuke on high 3-4 minutes. Add a salad on the side, and presto, a filling and tasty lunch.

Hope those few ideas are of help. Good luck!
posted by faineant at 3:50 PM on March 1 [2 favorites]

Do you have a toaster oven at work? Saute mushrooms ahead of time and refrigerate, pack a big roll or a bun, a good thick slice of fresh mozzarella, some basil pesto, and anything else that sounds good (pepper, maybe). Open up the roll/bun, put the mushrooms on one half, the mozzarella on the other half, toast until the bread is toasty, the mozzarella is melty, and the mushrooms are warm (this is "medium" toast on my work toaster and only takes a minute or two), apply toppings, consume.

Guacamole (should be OK as it's mostly avocado) and hummus (not listed, maybe OK?) are good for making almost anything more substantial (although--probably not both at once).
posted by anaelith at 8:03 PM on March 1 [1 favorite]

There's a toaster oven of questionable cleanliness (because it's mostly used by the students), but that's a thought. I do love toasted things.
posted by wintersweet at 4:20 PM on March 2

I used to order this at lunch at work:

A baked chicken breast on ciabatta roll with sliced red peppers and pepper jack cheese. Put it through the toaster oven thing they had at the cafeteria to toast the bread and melt the cheese. Add fresh lettuce after toasting so it doesn't wilt.

I cannot find anything online that looks quite like the square rolls they called ciabatta bread at the cafeteria. Googling tells me it's a rustic Italian white bread. I am not crazy about most bread but this was great. Substitute whatever good bread works for you.

I am not crazy about sandwiches, in part because I have trouble eating bread. But this was something I happily ate regularly for a while. If you have access to a toaster oven, you could bring in the ingredients stored separately in ziploc bags or whatever, assemble and toast at work so you aren't eating a soggy roll and wilted lettuce and cold meat. I think it would come close to the quality of freshly made without being much work. Then start doing variations, like trying other meats, other cheeses, other veggies.

I am super picky about meats and can't eat most stuff intended as sandwich meat. But a baked chicken breast was fine. I think another possibility would be leftover steak. I also like lamb. I almost never eat pork, with the exception of liking very, very crisp bacon. If you can find a way to bring good quality meat, not "sandwich meat," and other ingredients and toast it at work, that sounds very do-able to me. I am not a fan of microwaves and they turn even good meat into rubber.

You can also bring flat bread, cheese, a ziploc bag of diced toppings and organic Pizza Quick sauce and toast little pizzas. I like a combo of green peppers, onion, pineapple and pepperoni with parmesan instead of mozarella. (Not sure if all those are safe for you.)

I might start cleaning the toaster oven at work once a week if I thought no one would care.

Best of luck.
posted by Michele in California at 5:25 PM on March 2