Don’t your colleges provide meals for you anyway? It is the insufferable question, constantly posed towards me and, more than likely, other Oxford students. But when you’re having a busy week with a crammed schedule, and you constantly miss the lunch window, a grab-and-go meal is the perfect option. This is especially true if you’re a scientist and have only a quick and in exible break to grab lunch before powering through an afternoon of labs.
My solution would be to spend some time preparing large quantities of different foods, then assembling a ‘pick and mix’ in the morning or even on a Sunday evening. Healthy options and fast food aren’t normally associated, but the combination is by no means unobtainable.
For example, cook a whole pot of quinoa and box it up in Tupperware. Then, chop up two heads of lettuce, a pack of tomatoes, spinach, one cucumber and two bell peppers. Store this salad in this in a separate box of Tupperware. Then, make your protein. This can be some beans or meat. Try marinating some chopped up chicken breasts in a dressing of your choice, and keep it in a zip-locked bag overnight or for one hour in the fridge. Pan fry this, and put it in a third Tupperware box. With all these options, in the morning it is then easy to assemble the meal you fancy that day. Usually I pack a salad at lunch, and will heat up chicken with a carb or grain that I make that evening. If I get hungry between meals, I buy a pot of humous, and eat it with leftover peppers or cucumber from my salad, reducing food waste.
The range of options available with this strategy means that you don’t have to eat the same meal that you whipped up on Sunday night every day of that week, and you can still be healthy. Prepping in advance also turns out to be a lot cheaper and, of course, less time-consuming than cooking a new meal each day; perfect for anyone trying to keep to their New Year’s resolutions and juggling essay deadlines!
