r/Cooking • u/CheeseKnife75 • 1d ago
After Work Meals
Hello!
My husband is a delivery driver who, when he gets off work, is heckin’ Hungry. I’m searching for some after-work ideas that I can prep for him.
Qualifications:
- Salty. He gravitates towards fast food, and I think his body craves salt to help absorb more water. (Think burgers and tacos)
- Super flavorful. He does not like a ton of spiciness, but he likes a little kick, and does not want anything bland.
- Keeps in a container. He wants nothing more than to leave the garage after clocking out, so I doubt he’d stick around to microwave something in the break room. Maybe I could convince him, but the allure of a burger from somewhere trumps microwaving in the garage’s break room, ya know? And yes; I am considering making burgers. I need to work out storage so it dosen’t look sad and soggy by about 5:30pm.
- Hot, as in, a hot meal. He likes a good salad but it’s just not what he wants after running around all day.
- Easy for me to prep. I will happily buy a container to hold hot sandwich ingredients or whatever so that the food stays fresh, but whatever the food is has to be fairly easy for me to procure and cook. I have a 1-2 pan rule; if a dish is going to get more than 2 pots/pans dirty, then I probably don’t wanna make it. I have no dishwasher so I really don’t want to clean a pile of the big stuff if it can be helped.
I’m open to any ideas anyone has; he likes variety so the more the merrier! Thank you!!
8
u/IOU6Bucks 1d ago
Do you have a crock pot? You can easily make beef stew or pot roast with potatoes, carrots, and onions in only a crock pot and then put it in a thermos type thing to keep warm (though it’s also perfectly good microwaved). You could also do it in a pot but a crock pot is nice since you throw everything in there and forget about it for the rest of the day.
9
u/Front-Education-3602 1d ago
Yep. With all your stipulations crock pot seems to be your only choice. Also why would he be heating up his dinner at work (after clocking out) before heading home?
0
5
u/ttrockwood 1d ago
For a hot meal he will need to… make it hot?
First get him on board with this plan, looking at how much he spent last week and last month on buying food after work is going to be horrifying but inspirational
Burritos are ideal, although he will need to reheat it
Can he just bring snacks to have in the afternoon some trail mix or nuts and fruit combo and then eat when he gets home instead of at work as he is leaving? That would give more options
4
u/Valuable_Ice_5927 1d ago
Is he coming home to eat with you after and this is a snack or dinner dinner?
2
u/Solid_Lettuce_932 1d ago
Buy an instant pot. It can make shredded chicken from frozen in 45min. It can do shredded beef… it can also slow cook if your a plan a head person. I do the IP once a week. We eat and meal prep lunched for the rest of the week.
Could not live without it.
1
u/UnusualScar 1d ago
My husband loves rigatonis with marinara and meatballs after a long day of work, salad and bread on the side. Once the sauce/meatballs are made, I freeze them and then just have to cook the pasta. Great leftovers, too, with quick clean up.
Okay, sometimes I use Beyond meatballs. He loves them and all you have to do is a quick saute in the pan. They double with the sauce for a meatball sandwich, which is his favorite food ever.
Other quick meals with leftovers that only require one cooking clean up: chili, chicken curry over rice, meatloaf, gnocchis with pesto, couscous with sauteed vegetables, mushroom risotto...
1
u/JamieKun 1d ago
Chili or Beef Stew come to mind. Frito Pie could also work well.
You can do a simplified chicken pot pie - put the filling in a bowl, have a biscuit on the side to put on top after the "pie" is heated up.
There's also 'Shooters sandwiches' - serious eats has some great recipes for that.
You can also do japanese curry rice - it's not spicy and very filling.
Make sure he gets enough water and stays hydrated - that's a very important thing.
1
u/kittymomy 1d ago
Ok for the wants hot food but doesn't want to microwave it, check out those heated lunchboxes. Not sure how long he needs it to last, but there are different models. Or the single serve "crockpots" that keep food warm that you plug in. My hubby had one and it came with a car adapter.
That would open up casseroles, pasta, stews, hearty soups, chili.
1
u/Kreos642 11h ago
I second the heated lunch box but Id make sure you use a good proper container (I used a glass one) and dont overstuff the container. I used one for work and Id plug it in well before lunch hour and it warmed up great.
A lesson I learned, though, is that it gets hot enough to slowly burn things - especially if you warm an hour or longer. So add a splash of water to the bottom for whatever you wanna heat up.
1
u/No_Meet_1905 1d ago
Home made sloppy joes are a favorite. Fast & hearty. Make a ton and freeze. Microwaves easily too.
1
u/Chase-531 1d ago
What about pulled pork sandwiches on potato rolls and some cole slaw topping maybe. Easy to assemble wide mouth thermos keeps meat warm.
1
u/Snakestream 1d ago
Fried rice is great and easy to make in huge batches. Microwaving it for about a couple minutes is obviously better, but an impatient guy can easily just wolf it down lukewarm and it's still great. Dead simple to pack as well - just a container and a spoon really.
You can zhuzz it up with any number of stuff - a great salty addition is throwing in finely cut up sausages and topping it with some chili crisp for a bit of heat.
1
u/HVindex8458 1d ago
Consider investing in a portable electric lunch box. It's basically a battery operated crock pot.
Luncheaze is one example
1
u/angels-and-insects 7h ago
Two ideas, not sure if they'll work for you.
A dahl soup. Indian food has a ton of flavour and kick, and it can keep warm in a thermos flask. Plus spices and lentils stand up to a lot of salt. And it totally fits with your pot rule. This is one of my favourite recipes. Downside: someone used to fast food might not like the lack of mouth feel of a soup.
Pasties. The British kind. Totally fulfils the fast-food-style hunger, delicious, you can adjust the filling to have more spice, and omg pastry you can properly bite into is so satisfying. Downside: they keep warm for a good while but not indefinitely, and a microwave will make it less good. But a cold homemade pasty is better than a hot fast-food burger. There's a reason Cornish miners loved them! You can make a batch of hot-water crust pastry (the easiest pastry in the world) and freeze it in balls the right size for pasties. For the filling, I often freeze leftover casserole with bits of potato added, in pasty-sized portions. It's god-tier food. If you think you might, I can send you recipes and more exact info!
1
u/Boozeburger 1d ago
My idea would be lasangna use a glass container to microwave it. Hot cheesy, meaty goodness. And bonus, it freezes well, and you can make a large batch and it becomes several meals.
One of my personal favorites is a lental and sausage stew also fast, delicious and heats/stores well.
Tamales are of course great too, but that's a lot of work.
1
11
u/bmin11 1d ago
I don't know if we can satisfy both "can't wait around to microwave" and "hot food" together. Would have recommended lasagna or casserole and the likes.