What do you eat for lunch?

[PinkTulip]

I’m in a food rut and need some suggestions. Ideally, I’m looking for something I can pull straight from the fridge or just needs a microwave - I work full-time and can’t cook anything at work. Also, no lettuce or other greens - salads are not my thing. 

[Jenny in Florida]

We are both working from home these days, but lunches aren't a lot different than they were when we actually packed stuff to leave the house. We try to  plan for "intentional leftovers" while making dinners at least a couple of nights a week. I make extras of meals or items that pack and/or microwave well, and we portion them out into individual containers before popping them in the fridge. Favorites around here currently include:

• Mexican casserole (black beans and/or refried beans layered with seasoned rice and whatever appropriate veggies we have kicking around between corn tortillas and then topped with seasoned tomato sauce before baking
• Stir-fried rice 
• Twice-baked potatoes
• Channa masala or dal over basmati

Today, I ate a serving of Japanese-style pan noodles we packed up after dinner a couple of days ago.

If there are no leftovers, my go-to is usually hummus with carrots and gluten-free crackers, sometimes with a few olives on the side. (I also like lettuce wraps with hummus, but you said no greens.)

I keep some upscale "cup-of-soup" type things around for variety. I'm especially fond of the McDougall's spring onion and pad Thai flavors.

My husband usually keeps the freezer stocked with Amy's frozen meals: ravioli, various enchilada flavors, etc. And he goes through phases when he eats sunbutter on toast for days at a time.

[SKL]

Mostly I cobble together some leftovers or other old food nobody else wanted.  Or if available, I'll eat nuts and/or some "healthier" type of chips.  Sometimes a bowl of cereal.

On a good day, I'll eat a fruit or a prepared salad.

Freezer food that really works for me:  Amy's [see amys.com].  They tend to be relatively healthy, small enough for a quick lunch, and ready in under 5 minutes.  I would eat these more often if I wasn't always on a mission to use up other people's leftovers ....

[Guest]

1 hour ago, PinkTulip said:

I’m in a food rut and need some suggestions. Ideally, I’m looking for something I can pull straight from the fridge or just needs a microwave - I work full-time and can’t cook anything at work. Also, no lettuce or other greens - salads are not my thing. 

You must get a Hot Logic! I use this daily to reheat leftovers or some days, to eat a Lean Cuisine. My dh also has one with the car adapter and so he also eats leftovers most days. It is like an insulated lunch box with a plug like a crockpot. Plug it in an hour or so before lunch. In an hour, voila! Hot, delicious lunch! 

There are certain meals which I routinely make too much of: then I separate the lefties into individual containers for Hot Logic lunches. Today for lunch, I had leftie Bucatini Puttanesca - delicious! 

[Tap]

My go to at work:

Frozen Amy's meals (see poster above)

Amy's chili or canned soup ( I keep a bowl and fork in my locker and heat up in the microwave)

Baked potato in the microwave.

Left overs.

Bowl Noodles (ramen that is slightly better than the 20cent packs).

Reheated breakfast sandwich (or burrito) --sausage, English muffin, cheese (I don't like egg but it is a popular addition)

Homemade pizza pocket (calzone).

Left over hamburger. (I reheat the patty and assemble fresh ingredients at work)

 

When I get in a funk, I cruse the frozen food aisle and either pick up microwave food, or make something similar at home. 

 

 

[mmasc]

I like the lemon pepper tuna packs that you don’t have to drain, mixed with a little Mayo, and eaten with crackers. 

 breakfast burritos or refried beans/cheese burritos pre-made and reheated. 

leftover soup. Any kind! I love it leftover and it’s so easy to reheat. 

[Slache]

Tamales, chia fresca and salad.

[KungFuPanda]

We used to do leftovers at co-op in a Lunch Crock.  It's like a baby crockpot that's just for heating up leftovers.  You just need an outlet and the smell doesn't escape until you open it, so nobody has to smell your lunch while it's heating.  The leftovers taste much better than microwaved.  You can also use it to heat thawed frozen meals.  Ds would get creative and do things in it like chili dogs, nachos, or cheesesteaks and just bring his bread/chips separately then assemble at lunch.  I preferred to eat soups, stews, or regular leftovers.  

[mathnerd]

Soups. You could make a lot of it and refrigerate in mason jars.

Another easily microwavable dish is fried rice. I cook rice and quinoa mixture and cool it and then make a large batch of fried rice with it. I pack the leftovers in glass containers for lunch or for freezing.

I make a batch of freezer burritos and take one out on the days when I don't have time for prepping lunch.

Trader Joe's has a lot of frozen meals that are tasty and high in quality. I also buy Amy's frozen meals at costco sometimes.

[math teacher]

Mostly salads-I only get 30 minutes, and I am not allowed to have a microwave in my classroom. I leave the salad in my bag (early lunch) and I can be eating soon after my kids leave out for recess. I make 14 salads at a time, but if I run out, ready made ones are widely available.

[Ausmumof3]

I hate lunch!  It’s the meal I can never figure out.  To make enough leftovers for all of us basically means making another meal and my kids hate leftovers anyway.  But I don’t feel like cooking a whole meal in the middle of school either.

[Wheres Toto]

I have 30 minutes to clean up from one class, prepare for the next, and make and eat lunch.  It also often needs to be things I can eat while doing other things, and stuff I can have at the science center and not have to bring from home every day.  I have a full size fridge/freezer and microwave.  I can't do a lot of prepared foods with seasonings or sauces because some of the ingredients give me headaches.

-the little cups of rice or rice and quinoa that can be microwaved.  I nuke these, mix with salmon from the packets, and add some sesame ginger salad dressing.

-steamer bags of vegetables - nuke, add some dressing for flavor

-prepared salads maybe with hard boiled egg.

[skimomma]

Leftovers from the night before.  I adapt my go to dinner recipes to make enough for a dinner and leftover lunch serving for everyone.  If there is extra because someone didn't eat that meal or just extra, I freeze in individual portions for the occasional time that leftovers are not available.  In the best of times, I have enough in the freezer to not only cover extra lunch needs but to feed the whole house for a few days if I am sick or something.  Since we don't eat lunch on weekends, there are usually enough leftover leftovers to cover lunches that follow a dinner that had no leftover like if we ate out.