Brown Bag Lunch

[Adillo303]

I started making my lunch for work. Since I bake my bread myself, add a little lunch meat and I like what I make better than what I buy. I added a granola bar for snack and some fruit to go with the sammy.

The wife unit saw what I was doing and asked me to make a lunch for her. No problem with that, kind of flattering. Same setup for her. She wanted some Yogurt for a snack, so, I got plain Yougur to which I ad fruit and a little Splenda and run it around the chopper, fresh fruited Yogute. tastes pretty good.

Now the fun starts. She says that a sammy every day is boring. I disagree, I change the tyoe of bread and the luch meats often and I am quite happy, but I want to accomodate her. I am short on ideas and would appreciate some suggestions. I am thinking I can kake up some of Jeeks pasta salid for a day or two. I make lunch in the morning and would like to mimimize prep time in the AM. I am not adverse to making up stuff that I can keep in the fridge for a few days and just dole out.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any ideas that y'all might have.
AC

 

[elaine l]

I am not a sandwich lover and also no a fan of lunch meats. I take hummus, cottage cheese with fruit, crackers, cheese, salad with tuna or chicken, leftover whatever I had for dinner, refried beans with chips or soft tortilla.

 

[GhettoRacingKid]

Seems like your going healthy for the most part.

I bring lunc h as often as possible but my problem is that I make it the night before or what ever and then when its lunch time here at work i jsut dont want it or ill jsut snack on it. not good things. Im a sucker i like things crunchy, I like my food ala minute. not good when you only have a microwave.

What about a nice mixed salad. have her bring the dressing so she can add it when she is ready. you can cop some lettuce, tomoato, cucumber. black olives, roasted red peppers and what ever else. and you can roll and slice the cold cuts. maybe make the vinagrette the night before sine that holds extremely well.

maybe a wrap.

ok i know you dont like have alot of stuff t dole out in the fridge but I think having some "prep" in the fridge will help you out in the long run.

What about maybe making some soup.

what kind of heat sources do you have access to?

ask her what she wants, tell her you need some ideas or input from her.

 

[pacanis]

I used to pack my lunch and the only way I found to make a sandwich less boring, aside from changing the makings or the bread, was to get away from it entirely. For me that was various crackers and cheeses. Also, sliced pepperoni (mmm, triscuit, swiss cheese and pepperoni). Have you tried substituing lunchmeat with leftover chicken, homemade chicken salad, meatloaf, egg salad....?

 

[suziquzie]

When I had a real job I tried to make enough dinner to have leftovers the next day...
DH was a little more tricky, he was driving the whole day so he couldn't heat stuff up.
He got really sick of sandwiches too...
I started a thread... I'll go find it.
http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f12/healthy-portable-lunch-40372.html
There's a bunch of good ideas in there.

 

[Adillo303]

All good, I will give some thought to making up kits that I can quickly turn into her lunch. I'm fine with sammy's. Best I can get out of her is "something different". She's a I'll kjnow it when I see it type.

I can make a basic salid kit, pack dressing separately, that should work for a day or two, the cottage cheese and fruit should work for a day or so, and a sammy one day. Now to translate all this intoa agrocery list, and plan it for early AM (4:00) prep.

If any other ideas come up, please pass them on. I do make chicken soup and Beef stew, that she does like. I hve them frozen in meal size portions, I am doing them for a couple days.

Thank You all

 

[lulu]

Soup in a thermos is good, I like that, or taken from the freezer to heat at work in the freezer container.

I used to make jello/jelly and drop fruit in too, divide between a few cups to set and voila, a treat/snack each day. (Vodka jeelies best avoided for lunchtime though)

What woud your wife normally have if NOT taking abron bag, what are the cooking facilities like?

 

[Adillo303]

Thank you suzi - Not only good ideas, but, a great read. Lunch as it applies

 

[bowlingshirt]

I always bring my lunch to work, including a couple a sammys a week, but every day seems a bit much.

The wife unit saw what I was doing and asked me to make a lunch for her.

hmmm.....I guess I'm not the only one who refers to the DW as the "wife unit"

 

[Adillo303]

Wife unit - Husband unit - are standards in our house. Our two labs are "The Boys". All together, we are "The dog pack" after all, "The Boys" are really the ones in charge.

 

[Jeff G.]

Some of my variations..
Bruschetta (tomatoes, olive oil, onion, basil.... on french bread slices)..

French bread and a hunk of cheese, usually swiss.

Yogurt with granola

2 or three mixed salads.. macaroni, potato, slaw.. etc(make it a meal).

A fruit plate with cheese.

A cheese plate, with a little fruit...

sashimi with ginger and wasabi.

meat rollups...

 

[attie]

One of my apprentice carpenters used to make sandwiches with these, different days, different flavours. Quick and easy and not to bad for a change.

 

[GotGarlic]

When I cook chicken, I try to make more than we will eat, and use the leftovers in a wrap - grilled chicken with a slice of Havarti or provolone, roasted red peppers, lettuce, fresh tomatoes if I have them, light mayo, and mustard. I also make tuna pasta salad or add diced cooked chicken to other pasta salad recipes I have. Then I have a piece of fruit and a yogurt. I also often make enough dinner for four, so I have leftovers for lunch for the next day or two.

 

[luvs]

you could put food into a thermos & make chili, chix stew, etc.