electric lunch box

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I felt pretty productive today; finishing off a bunch of books, returning them, clearing away space on my desk, and making sure I have a healthy lunch and prepped what I wanna make for dinner… And I was able to get my heart rate up enough to make me feel like some good calorie burn happened.

Now, I was talking about the electric lunchbox I use at work – where my co-workers get mad it’s not a buffet and don’t bring enough to share – and the steamed meals I make in them.

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These are the raw ingredients before I started cooking. Those are small bits of sliced chicken in soy sauce with my usual spices: paprika, cumin and red pepper. I use plain noodles and break the block in half. One pack is over 400 calories, no way I’m eating the whole thing. The greens are bok choy, sliced garlic, white onion, and ginger. I end up having to cook in stages; the chicken first for 15 minutes, add the bok choy in the top section at the 15 minute mark, and the noodles in hot water at the 20 minute mark. At 25 minutes, it’s all done. wp-1663292941402

Sometimes (as in most of the time), I end up over packing the vegetables. I eat what’s cooked and let the rest steam a bit longer. I don’t like my veggies too soggy. I like the crunch. When I do broccoli, I leave the veggies in the entire time since that takes much longer to cook than the bok choy. The water I use to cook the noodles dilutes the soy sauce (I try to use low sodium but that’s not always on sale and I’m a cheap bitch) and the chili crunch is just delicious and fun.

This is a filling dinner that is so satisfying (even though the red pepper makes my nose run, which is gross but worth it). If I get one pack of chicken tenders from Trader Joe’s or Butcher Box, that makes two of these types of meals. I change up the vegetables (I already ranted about my issues with the broccoli from Misfits Market here) and those ramen packs are so cheap when they’re on discount and also last two meals. If I don’t have any noodles, I just add more veggies.

One of these days, I’ll post the version of this I make with lemon chicken and peppers (unless I did that already and fuck it, I’ll do it again) which I have had mixed results adding rice but for that, I just skip the carbs entirely. Rice is hit or miss for me with the electric lunch box. Or at least this kind of electric lunch box because I backed a different one on Kickstarter (yeah, not sponsored or an affiliate for anything I have linked here) that I’ll have to play around with when I get it to see what kinds of meals I can make or if it’s best for just reheating things. Either one would help me out since the microwave can kill food sometimes.

So… I went on a tangent about my food and the geeky products I own. If I put this meal into MyFitnessPal, it’s about 500 calories total; which is good for me since I don’t feel the need to snack at all hours after eating this. If I make this for lunch, I don’t even need dinner. That’s probably the Saxenda as a factor as well but a good workout and getting my steps in burns all this off no problem.

Uhm… I don’t have anything clever to say to end this. I’m tired and going to bed.

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I’m doing a bunch of training this week and I’m doing a big push at home with my writing and needlework so, I figured biking at work would be best. Once I hit the house, I hang up my coat, snarf down some food, then go to the side work.

But speaking of food, I thought I’d share an example of how I prep and cook my food at work.

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I use my Itaki electric lunch box. What I do is use the containers and prep the ingredients at home.

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I use different meats (I haven’t successfully tried fish yet) and this time was some steak. I slice it up small and marinate it in soy sauce, cumin, paprika, and red pepper. Either I prep it in the morning or the night before but it gets to sit in those seasonings for awhile in the fridge. I’ve also experimented making chicken marinated in lemon juice and lemon pepper seasoning. That’s a refreshing meal.

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This box has more capacity so I fill those spots with vegetables. I tried noodles a couple times and rice but on the Saxenda, the carbs are too much and I can’t finish it. This time is bok choy but my go to is broccoli. Mostly because I like my veggies crunchy and it takes about 20-25 minutes for the meat to be done. That makes the broccoli perfect for me but the bok choy ends up too soggy. I keep those off until the tail end of the cooking.

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As you can see, I also add sliced garlic and onions. Sometimes I get fancy and add some ginger. This is my go to when I have time to prep and cook at work. Not every day gives me enough time so I bring leftovers or a salad.

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I also love to add this stuff. It’s amazing.

The caloric intake varies on what ingredients I use and hovers around 290-350 calories. It’s hearty and filling for me, even before I was on the Saxenda. I think I tried tofu once (I vaguely recall this) and it wasn’t as satisfying. I may try it again but I found a great concoction that works for me.

Obviously, this means I have a place to plug this in and a lunch hour long enough to cook and eat this without feeling like I’m shoveling the food down my throat. There are other combinations I’d like to try, too. I’ve seen some impressive meals floating around on YouTube. It’s a fun little gadget to have.

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