Looking for a lunch I can pack frozen and eat later, cold

June 2, 2016 1:22 PM

I am looking for fun lunch ideas that I can pack frozen and eat, thawed at room temperature, by lunchtime. I am trying to avoid having to pack an ice pack!

I have two outdoor events for work coming up. I am used to packing my lunch, but I am also used to having access to a fridge and microwave.

These will be picnic-style outdoor days. It is going to be quite hot and I don't want to add extra weight to my bag with tons of ice packs. So I am looking for something I can pack frozen, which will then thaw to room temperature and be edible by lunchtime.

Bonus challenge: I am vegetarian and nuts are not allowed.

posted by JoannaC to Food & Drink (12 answers total)

Just freeze a bunch of grapes (or other fruit) and use them in place of an ice pack, leaving the rest of your foods unfrozen. Most foods don't thaw into super palatable forms, and eating frozen grapes is wonderful.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 1:38 PM on June 2, 2016 [5 favorites]

Grapes is exactly what I was going to suggest!

Hummus freezes well, as does quiche, if you don't mind it cold.
posted by veery at 1:40 PM on June 2, 2016

Frozen berries - pretty good when thawed. Put some frozen berries in a container and top it with yogurt.
posted by lizbunny at 1:42 PM on June 2, 2016

Also, drinks - homemade iced tea, homemade lemonade, juiced gingerade, other juices in general. If you're apprehensive of the weight, make and freeze a concentrate in the bottom of a bottle and add water when you get to work.
posted by lizbunny at 1:45 PM on June 2, 2016 [2 favorites]

I often freeze a bottle of water and then throw it in my lunch cooler. It helps keep things cool, and as it defrosts, you have ice cold water to drink. Plus, once you finish lunch, you can just recycle the empty bottle so you don't have to worry about carrying as much extra weight the rest of the day.
posted by litera scripta manet at 1:50 PM on June 2, 2016 [5 favorites]

Frozen juice packs (the rectangular kind) make excellent disposable freezer packs. They used to do a good job keeping my sandwiches cold as a kid going to outdoor camps without refrigeration.

I'm not sure there's any main course food I'd recommend freezing, just because melt times can vary so much with the weather and being left with partially frozen food would be sad. Cheeses might work, especially thinly sliced so you could separate the pieces to speed up melting if necessary. The afore mentioned grapes are good too but have a lot of surface area which speeds melting - pluck them from the stem so they can be densely packed.

Watermelon soup freezes well - you can package it as ice blocks and with some added salt is amazing on hot days.
posted by Candleman at 1:51 PM on June 2, 2016

I always use a water bottle as an ice pack - you only want it 1/2 or 2/3 full before you put it in the freezer.

Pineapple doesn't really change much after freezing. Grapes, as mentioned, are also pretty tough. If you want to freeze berries, you might consider providing a frozen pound cake platform for them, since they tend to weep as they thaw.

You can make and freeze onigiri, and you might find other clever bento-cooling ideas at that site.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:56 PM on June 2, 2016 [1 favorite]

Without the nut limitation, my go to in this situation are uncrustables. They actually come in various flavors and are a once in a long while treat.
posted by AugustWest at 2:35 PM on June 2, 2016

I bring frozen water and make sandwiches (ok pb and j) on frozen bread. Not exciting but keeps yogurt cold and ice water always nice at work.
posted by bquarters at 2:53 PM on June 2, 2016

If you're going with frozen fruit, frozen blueberries are WONDERFUL. We snack on them all the time.

You could also freeze those individual serving packs of hummus.

Using one or the other as your cold pack, you wouldn't need to freeze any other part of your meal.
posted by vignettist at 3:43 PM on June 2, 2016

Savoury muffins. These freeze really well and taste perfectly fine after thawing.
posted by h00py at 7:19 PM on June 2, 2016 [1 favorite]

Our somewhat insulated canvas lunch box came with an small ice pack weighing a few ounces. The smallest ice pack you can find will be more than sufficient.
posted by SemiSalt at 7:07 AM on June 3, 2016 [1 favorite]