Are you a Desk Diner?

What was for lunch today? Did you eat at your desk like me?!?!?!? Yes, I am guilty of occasionally making this huge mistake. I simply get caught up with what I am working on and I eat my lunch in the middle of answering emails, calls, and navigating around on my computer. In this weeks episode of the Food Factor Mississippi State Extension Services Natasha Haynes shows you how to be a responsible Desk Diner. 

 

In hopes of saving a little cash I try to take my lunch to work whenever possible. I simply need to step away from my desk and eat my meal, or I need to use some of Natasha's helpful tips!

Eating out is expensive, but so it cooking. Here are a few tips to make packing your lunch easy.

1. Plan. Plan. Plan. Get the most out of your food budget by planning your meals out. Plan all meals including breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Plan before you shop. 
2. Purchase items when they are on sale to get the best price.
3. Plan on making meals to stretch food dollars instead of adding to your budget. 
4. Plan cooking enough dinner so you are able to take your lunch the following day. Or plan so you possibly have a planned over meal the following day. A leftover meal is the exact same meal eaten again. A planned over meal is a meal you recreate into a new meal that tastes and looks totally different. For example baked chicken can be a planned over meal by using the chicken in a salad the next day or roast beef can be a planned over meal by having barbecue sandwiches or quesadillas. Try these planned over ideas from Alice Henneman with the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, "Cook Once Eat Twice".  
5. Think fresh. Fresh foods are lower in sodium, have more vitamins and minerals, and they are the original fast foods. 
6. Buy in season to save money while you enjoy the freshness! 
7. Spurge on a new lunch bag or box to take your lunch in. Not only will the new lunch bag or box be food safe but the new item might motivate you to pack your lunch. 
8. Keeping food at a safe temperature is important when carrying your lunch. Bacteria multiply rapidly if food is held in the "danger zone" of 40 F to 140 F for more than 2 hours (1 hour when the temperature is above 90 F). Keep cold foods cold and hot foods cold until you reheat them. 
9. If  you are reheating foods in the microwave at work, reheat until they are steaming hot throughout.
10. Make packing your lunch a part of your nightly or morning routine. If it is a part of your routine then you will not chance running off and forgetting it at home.