Easy Packed Lunch

I'm really busy during the day and eating out is expensive, but if I don't eat a full meal I just go kaput. I figured out a way to get all my food groups into one tupperware while being really good.  And it's  quick to throw together.

It's actually really good

Ingredients

• Farro (three-fourths cup, dry)
• Trader Joe's chicken tenderloins (two tenders)
• Baby spinach (handfull) 
• rinsed red grapes (one cup)
• Feta cheese (3 tablespoons)
• Salt and pepper
• Vinegar and oil
• Spring onion (3 shoots, sliced; optional but kicks it up) 

Directions

1. Bring a cup and a half of water to boil with a pinch of salt.  Once boiling, pour in the barley and let it simmer.  There are two kinds of barley--normal barley takes 40 minutes to cook.  You can also get pre-cooked barley that only takes 10 minutes; you can get this from Trader Joe's.  Pour the cooked barley into the bottom of the tupperware.  Pepper the barley.
2. Put the chicken tenders over the barley.
3. Place the spinach over the chicken, grapes over the spinach, and feta over the spinach. 
4. Season with vinegar and oil.  

Feeds just one...

Nutrition 

This lunch has it all: it's got grains, protein, lipids, vegetables, fruit, and dairy.  Everything is good and good for you. 

Budget

If you buy one bag of chicken, one carton of grapes, one bag of baby spinach, one block of feta, and two bags of barley, that would make 5 lunches. 


Chicken: $8
Grapes: $3
Spinach: $1.50
Feta: $2.5
Barley: $4.5
Per-lunch total: $4.10, not bad