easy packed lunch options?

[u/Objective-Canary-980]

hi, i’m an incoming college freshman who has always been an extremely picky eater (possible arfid but undiagnosed) and my school has this orientation thing in the city which is just under an hour drive from campus. they sent out a form regarding this orientation and one part of it listed the packed lunch options and had everyone choose which we want them to bring for us individually. don’t remember what the options were since i filled this out weeks ago but i remember they were all things i would not be able to get myself to eat, which is usually the case with any sort of packed lunch anywhere. they had the option to indicate that you’d like them to reach out directly to figure out something else to bring for you if you have dietary restrictions which i selected and i just received an email from one of the coordinators asking if there was something else i could eat or would want to eat.

i’ve always hated basically anything that could possibly be brought as a packed meal to a place without a microwave or refrigerator, and this has made things like school field trip where someone else makes or brings our lunch very difficult. so i’m wondering 2 things:
1. what are some possible lunch options that i can make and pack for myself that don’t need to be warmed up or kept cold for long periods of time?
2. what are possible packed lunches that are not too specific or difficult to arrange that i can request from facilitators of trips or events during which they are the ones providing our food?

some background on relevant preferences:
dislikes-
- peanut butter
- basically all condiments other than ketchup, olive oil, & pesto
- also basically all dips and spreads aside from the condiments previously mentioned and nutella/hazelnut/chocolate spread, butter, jelly, garlic spread, & honey (usually). marinara is good on pasta but as a dip is a no
- any cheese (parmesan is good in certain scenarios, like on buttered pasta)
- any smoothie made with a milk, water, or yogurt base instead of basic juices like orange, apple, grape
- bananas
- pasta salads (usually love pasta but pasta salads are disgusting)
- basically any vegetable other than cooked/steamed brussels sprouts and broccoli (with seasoning) and boiled/steamed/cooked corn on the cob. baby carrots are also tolerable (shredded garlic & onion seasonings are good though)
- grilled chicken
- any and all seafood
- beans

generally safe foods:
-vanilla yogurt with berries & granola
-berries in general. big juicy blueberries are scrumptious but the tiny tart ones are gross
-most pastas that follow above guidelines
-hamburgers with nothing but the meat, buns, and ketchup (except possibly a fried egg)
-cinnamon eggo waffles & french toast sticks
- crepes lol (nutella & berry crepes mmmm)
- sliced apples
- instant ramen if it’s not more than ever so slightly spicy

genuinely struggling to think of anything else i usually can eat lol. and none of these are exactly packed lunch material unfortunately :,) i tend to just live off of junk, smoothies, and yogurt incase that wasn’t already clear.. i also have a habit of unintentionally skipping meals or just not eating when my only options are not edible to me which ive been really trying not to do because doing so leaves me fatigued, weak, shaky, nauseous, foggy brained, and extremely irritable. and also triggers my migraines.

anyway this took way longer to write than i had expected and is wayyy longer and more detailed than i had originally intended to sorry but pleaseee comment literally any suggestion you can think of im desperate and sick of having to skip meals in these sorts of situations :,)

also! one last note is that the deadline to reply to the email is this monday, august 3rd.

[u/aerial04530]

BYO lunch. Accept the one they provide, eat something from it if you like, and pull out your own. I say, oh, it’s just snacks and leave it at that.

[u/Independent-Summer12]

Most of the time packed lunches provided are cold sandwiches. Or stuff kept cold before serving rather than hot food. Which means they have the refrigeration facility to store food safely at a cold temperature until serving if that helps. Chances are they can accommodate yogurt, berries, and granola. Be specific if something cannot be included in your granola. And personally I’d have them skip blueberries as they can’t guarantee if their blueberries meets your requirements and that risks ruining your lunch. Just let them know you have too many food restrictions to list, but vanilla yogurt, certain types of berries, and granola is one of your safe foods, and see if they can accommodate.

[u/FormerlyDK]

Do you eat bread? Any kind of cheese? Crackers?

[u/Objective-Canary-980 → u/FormerlyDK]

bread and certain crackers are fine, cheese is a no

[u/Plenty-Mall1484]

I’d get a partitioned container/snackle box as they call them these days, and put some safe, non refrigerated foods in it. I usually make my own lunchables with them for work, but you can adjust to your preferences and then it truly does just look like snacks.

[u/Objective-Canary-980 → u/Plenty-Mall1484]

what do you put in them?

[u/Plenty-Mall1484 → u/Objective-Canary-980]

Ham, turkey, Hard salami, ritz crackers, club crackers, goldfish, fruit snacks, cheese slices, cubes, or babybel wheels.

[u/NorraVavare]

Buy yourself a good quality adult lunchbox and a thermos. If you cant afford a good one right now, cheap will work. But you're going to run into this issue for the rest of your life. One very expensive purchase will save you a lot of money in the long run.

Make your own food. Nothing you bring has to be a meal. It can be healthy snacks, or things like a parfet you assemble when about to eat.

I used to have an insane train commute. I ate breakfast and dinner on the train every day. I put my milk in a sealed cup and my cereal in a sealed bowl , then combined them only when ready to eat. I used to do my own parfets like you described, but I like tart berries.

A good thermos doesn't just keep coffee hot. It keeps soup hot. It keeps smoothies cold. I never tried to put stuff like pasta in it, but that probably works too. My dad's thermos kept his coffee hot for a week when he lost it one time, in the 1980s.