Look, I don't eat meat ALL the time....

So, I'm a student now. And I still don't like spending money on crappy restaurant food (good restaurant food is another thing completely, although it is non-existent on campus).

My week-day schedule has been pretty crazy this term and it's taken a lot of planning to make sure I pack meals to eat between classes at school. I've scoped out all the public microwaves on campus, but sometimes it's nice to be able to nibble on your lunch while doing your studying in the library, (in one of the food approved areas, of course!)
I've been making this whole grain salad a lot this winter - it's yummy, it's filling, and I don't have to worry about keeping it refrigerated.

Plus - with this lunch, the campus vegans don't give me the stink-eye.

This is one of those salads where you don't really need a recipe, and I make it a little differently each time. Here's the basic idea, though:

1/2 cup wheat berries
1/2 cup of barley
1/2 cup of quinoa
1/2 cup of bulgar wheat
...or whatever grains, legumes or beans you have on hand.
I like wheat berries because they have a great chewy texture, but you need to soak them overnight before you cook them, and the cook time can be a good 40 minutes or so. Quinoa, barley and bulgar wheat take the same time to cook, so I mix them together in a pot with 3 cups of water, and cook for about 20 minutes.
Once your cooked grains have cooled, add some shredded carrots, minced onion, finely chopped kale or brussels sprouts. When I have some pickled peppers or capers, they taste pretty good in here too. I like my salad pretty heavy on the grains, so I usually use 1/2 a red onion, one carrot, and a few big leaves of kale.
I make a really strongly flavoured vinaigrette for this salad, and let the salad kind of marinate in it for a day or two. The salad keeps tasting better every day!

Mustardy Vinaigrette
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sumac
1/2 tsp cayenne
Salt and pepper to taste.

This is a general idea only - like I said, it's more of a basic idea than a recipe.