Save Money and Banish Your Sad Desk Lunch | Struggle Meals

are you keeping track of how much money you're spending on work day two lunches it's a lot of money plus the food you're eating probably not super nutritious so that's a lose-lose how are we gonna solve it for just $20 and under an hour of time on Sunday you're gonna have lunches for Monday through Friday you gonna save double the money you're gonna have more nutritious stuff and you're gonna have all different flavors throughout the week because we're gonna add delicious sauces but the best part is that you're gonna be eating nutritious food and that's good for your brain muscle which might mean that you'll get a raise which might mean that you'll make even more money while spending half as much on the lunches because you made them yourself man that'd be great if we could get all that stuff happening [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] life can be a struggle but a good meal doesn't have to be we can make creative nutritious and inventive dishes that won't break the bank well through the struggle meals good sauce can make an otherwise boring lunch something that we look forward to and when your main ingredients are similar a day to day a sauce is what's gonna give you the variety that you need after all variety is the spice of lunches the basics of sauce are really simple you start with a foundation it could be a peanut butter and almond butter it could be an oil like an olive oil or vegetable oil or we could be something as simple as a yogurt on top of that acid so lemon or lime any kind of vinegar there are so many varieties just make it acidic to balance out that acidic miss you need something sweet with a pinch of sugar maybe some honey maybe some maple syrup just use your taste buds top it off with some flavor so think fresh or dried herbs think of crushed red pepper think garlic think ginger think some minced up shallots make it your own add a pinch of salt give it a taste if the sauce is looking too thick just add a little bit of water maybe some oil and there you have it now you've got the perfect blueprint to make a wonderful sauce it's that it's icy it's sweet it's flavor it's Suzie and that's it mix-and-match experiment do the you special every day of the week [Music] it's Tuesday it's time for a salmon wrap let's make a quick sauce I'm gonna start with some lemon today coming in with the lemon seed extractor 45 got some Greek yogurt this is my fat I've always loved Greek yogurt with some acidity and olive oil guess what's next olive oil beautiful maybe a pinch of salt mixing put a little fresh herb chive and cilantro I'm leaving the stems on the cilantro and I'm just gonna cut them with the tribe's mixing it up this is your big opportunity to taste if you don't have it now uh-huh you gonna be Sol at lunchtime if you don't like the flavor separate container for the sauce so that the wrap doesn't get soggy okay you could go completely raw with your tortilla or you could give it a little bit of fire love just like 15 seconds I'm convinced that lots of little things equal up to something tasting a million times better it's not about one ingredient it's about the whole picture much nicer that looks we're gonna go salmon we're gonna go lettuce gonna put a little tomato and some avocado the question is what do I want to do first let's start with the least messy thing that's gonna be the less did you hear how crunchy that was when I was cutting it it maintained its freshness because I didn't decimate it on Sunday night let's come in with our salmon some of you might be asking yourselves salmon two days in a row I mean there's a method to the madness here the reason we're having salmon on Monday and Tuesday is because it's much more perishable than chicken so you got to get it out of the way a little bit of tomato avocado time doing the twist get in the pit I'm only gonna use half an avocado today so here's a trick for saving it I know you all want to know when avocados turn brown it's because they're oxidizing listen to the word oxygen how do you prevent oxygen by drowning put your avocado face down and you add a little bit of water you're preventing the oxygen from touching this flesh you've created an anti oxygen barrier this will hold beautifully in the fridge coming along very nice avocado on top something like that this needs a little bit of salt for sure now the hardest part of lunch assembly coming in top coming up bottom coming over the side hey hey hey this is holding together really really nicely so we've got our wrap fold side down it's holding together beautifully and then I've got my yogurt citrus olive oil dressing on the side so that it doesn't get soggy I'm all ready for work I got to go I got a submarine to catch you've done all the work for meal prep and planning how you pack that food is equally as important have a variety of jars and containers on hand and save any condiment jars they work really great and you don't have to pay for them when meal prep and keep all the components in separate containers that way they'll stay fresher longer and assemble your lunch the night or morning before it only takes a second when packing make sure you put the sturdy stuff at the bottom and the delicate stuff on top just like building a house gotta have a foundation then pack your salad dressings and sauces separately if you can't do that then just put them at the bottom of your lunch meal prep so that your greens don't get soggy bring reusable silverware eating off of metal is so much nicer than plastic and it's better for the oceans here's a good tip if you're packing your lunch the night before make sure you put your keys on top of it so you don't forget it when you leave [Music] it's hump day and today I'm gonna have a jar of noodles it's very important that you get a wide mouth here because this is also your eating vessel you've all had the styrofoam cup with the powdered bag this tastes so much better and it's only a tiny bit more expensive but still cheaper than if you didn't do anything for yourself and you ate out at a restaurant for lunchtime so I've got a piece of my chicken here this is just salt and pepper chicken with garlic and onion powder so the chickens going in the bottom I'm gonna go with the next sturdiest thing that's cabbage I think I'm gonna run my knife through it just just one more time but I want to assemble with like the most moist things at the bottom and the most delicate things at the top come in with a little shredded carrot and some red bell peppers come in with a thin vermicelli noodle very very important that you use an ultra-thin noodle because we're just pouring hot water over top and if this is like a regular pasta or an udon or something like that you're gonna be eating a raw noodle so the noodles aren't going to cook because all the wet ingredients are below and we can cover the top with some fresh herbs why not think in cilantro and chive once again love my herb garden it brings me so much savings and so much flavor I'm just going through a few times and the second I pour my hot water over top at work it's almost gonna be like tea steeping these flavors in from the top down top on we've got all the ingredients for a delicious noodle lunch but hot water ain't gonna be a very delicious broth so let's make a flavor bomb this is going to be concentrated flavor that when diluted with hot water becomes delicious broth start with clove garlic a little bit of ginger now where can we get maximum flavor for minimum cost the packet drawer sriracha soy sauce getting beautiful salty umami getting some hot flavor more salt got some white miso paste I love having it in my fridge because it's a fermented product it lasts like for so long plus if you look at how thick this is this is what really creates a broth when we add hot water otherwise it's just gonna be liquid this makes it broth a little bit rice wine vinegar and a dash or two of sesame oil if you've got it so mix this up if you want to give it a taste right now it should be too intense well it is too intense perfect it's got a flavor bomb jar here we go and then with just a few minutes work every morning I've got a lunch that blows everyone else's away in flavor price and nutrition so let's close our flavor bomb up we've got our noodles we've got our chicken we've got our vegetables and we've got our flavor bomb but there's a missing ingredient the hot water that's what brings the whole thing together obviously you could bring hot water in the thermos to work or school that works great but there are other options you could heat up water in a coffee mug in a microwave you could use a tea kettle and it's a last resort you could just use really really hot sink water you're gonna find a way I have faith in you now I've got to go catch that slowly moving box train that's slowly moving through an open field [Music]

Channel: Struggle Meals

Views: 105,273

Keywords: Tastemade, save money, struggle meals, how to save money, meal prep for work week, meal prep for work lunches, meal prep for working moms, frankie celenza struggle meals, frankie celenza, save money on groceries, save money on food, save money on eating out, how to make lunch for, how to make lunch for work, how to make lunch for school easy, how to make lunch for school, money saving hacks, simple living, how to save money on groceries, easy recipes for lunch

Id: Vhyt-7lMkmA

Length: 9min 38sec (578 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 10 2019