Easy take-for-lunch recipes (hamburger, grilling, barbeque, frozen)

[chiroptera]

I do painting and drywall, usually in occupied homes or businesses, so there's a microwave at work. I got into the (bad! bad!) habit of taking frozen dinners to nuke for lunch, or even worse, running out to the nearest drive-through, but I'm trying to quit eating processed food as much as possible. Also I figure if I eat lots of vegetables and good things for lunch and dinner, I can better justify McMuffins or a frou-frou, 8,000-calorie Starbucks concoction for breakfast.

I'm not really into tossed salads (too fussy to make, not filling enough) or sandwiches (too fussy, too likely to get soggy) for portable lunches.

My current standbys are:
Frittata - excellent for when there's no microwave on the job.
Various soups and stews, I often experiment with soups but that's more of a winter thing, feels like to me.
Chopped cucumber, tomato and garbanzo beans with salad dressing...good but not always filling enough. I do pretty physical work, I need fat and protein.

Any other ideas? I like to share lunch/snacks with my helper and with other folks I frequently work with too so "shareable" food is great.

[7G9C4J2]

I've got a couple of lunch-bag standbys that are pretty much always in play.

I make up a rice-cooker full of brown rice every Sunday evening (just finished this week's, in fact), which I take in one-cup-size plastic ware. It takes about 40 minutes to cook one day's worth of brown rice or five, so I do the whole week's lunches in a single bunch, portion them out in one-cup containers, and toss one in my lunchbox each day. I find brown rice a far, far more filling lunch component than anything else I've ever tried; it'll stick with me most of the afternoon.

I find brown rice by itself to be kind of dry and boring unless I put something on it, and rather than add butter (which is tasty but not part of my food plan), I mix up some chunky tomato sauce on Sunday night also, which lasts me all week long. I take a 12-oz can of diced tomatoes in sauce, mix that with a 6-oz can of plain tomato sauce plus whatever seasonings float my boat that week - some weeks it's Italian, some weeks it's Mexican, sometimes I mix in a spoonful of the spouse's harissa paste - whatever I feel like. Mix that up in a sealing container, and spoon out a third to half a cup into another small plastic ware to dump over the rice when you heat it up.

My lunchtime protein of choice is always grilled fish, usually salmon. I take a 6-oz salmon fillet, thaw it out, rinse it, season it with a sprinkle of ground rosemary and shallot-pepper, or a sprinkle of Tuscan sunset, or a sprinkle of Northwoods seasoning, and let it sit for a few moments. Then I get a small cast-iron pan good and hot, spray the bottom with pan spray, lay the fish skin-side down in the pan, turn the heat down to low and put a cover on. Let it sizzle away for about 10 minutes or so, then take a peek and if it looks mostly done, turn off the burner and let it finish cooking with residual heat. You can peel the skin off the cooked fish very easily, pop it in a plastic bag or tub, and either eat it cold (which I usually do) or reheat it. I generally make a 6-oz portion last for two days, but then my job is much more sedentary than yours is. You'd probably want more than 3 ounces of protein.

If you like garbanzo beans, why not make up some hummus and take that with some pita bread and cucumbers to dip? You can make homemade hummus incredibly easily - it's basically just a drained can of chickpeas with a tablespoon or so of tahini, a couple cloves of garlic, and a good splash of lemon juice all processed in a food processor, adding olive oil once the garbanzos are mushed up until the consistency is right. You can get fancy and add roasted red peppers and all sorts of stuff, but we like the plain version just fine. A cup of that plus pita bread or pita chips, some kalamata olives, some cucumbers slices, and if you want some protein, add crumbled feta cheese over the hummus - a feast for a king.

The other thing I'll sometimes do is to make extra whatever for supper with the intent of sending a lunch-size portion of the leftovers with my spouse for lunch the next day. Did that this evening, in fact; I made some chicken paprikash, intentionally increasing the quantities a little so I'd have leftovers to send with him this week.

And any time you do grilling or barbequeing, toss on an extra pork chop or bratwurst or piece of chicken or two when you've got the coals hot. Take that extra piece of meat along with a good crusty roll with you the next day, and you'll not only have a solid lunch that'll stay with you all afternoon, your co-workers will give you the sad puppy-dog eyes all through lunch because it smells so good.

[chiroptera]

I like the brown rice base idea! Could easily be quinoa, cous-cous, barley, whole wheat....this has given me a different direction to think of for good lunches. Thanks!

I love hummus, haven't made it in ages...I grew a lot of peppers one year and got into roasted pepper hummus, that was excellent. I can't believe how much commercially-made hummus costs because it's so ridiculously cheap to make. Ditto that for tabouli salad.

Off to google "harissa paste" and "Tuscan sunset."

[Gandalara]

OP says they don't like salads, but ...

I always keep small baggies (about 1/2 - 3/4 cup) of cooked hamburger in the freezer. (I fry up 5 to 10 pounds at a time).

Salad -
Tupperware with a lid full of lettuce, some shredded cheese, some black olives, chopped onions and tomatoes if you want them, 3 to 4 tablespoons of your favorite salsa (or 6 or 8 ...). Throw it in your lunch bag. Throw a baggie of frozen hamburger in the bag.

Lunchtime comes, you can nuke the beef for a minute, put on top of the lettuce, and you have a basic taco salad. If you have a bag of tortilla chips laying around, crush 'em up and throw them on top.

Use mayo and ketchup instead of the salsa, use more cheese and maybe some crumbled bacon - and you have a cheese burger salad

[7G9C4J2]

Harissa paste is a hot chili paste that is commonly found in North African cooking, mainly Moroccan, Algerian, and Tunisian cuisine. It can be added to couscous, soups, pastas and other recipes. It's really good in Eggs in Purgatory, and I like it a lot in my tomato-sauce accompaniment to brown rice.

This is the version my spouse made up the last time, though he and I both think it would be better if the coriander were toasted in the oven before getting ground up with the rest of it:

10-12 dried red chili peppers (see notes below)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin

For a very spicy harissa: use a blend of cayenne, chile de arbol, or cayenne with a milder chile like ancho chilies

For a medium spiciness: use a blend of New Mexico chilies with guajillo chilies

He basically ground all that together into a paste, which we keep refrigerated; it'll last a long time if kept cool, and a little will add a very nice zip to a lot of things.

Apologies for the reference to Tuscan sunset - that's a seasoning blend made by our absolute *favorite* spice purveyor, Penzey's Spices. We started shopping from their catalog close to two decades ago when we still lived in Texas, and one of the biggest benefits of moving back to the Midwest is that we now have an actual bricks-and-mortar Penzey's store within a few miles of our home. I do not exaggerate when I say we own at least one of everything they sell; the last time I took inventory and organized the spice cabinet, we had 112 - no, that's not a typo - one hundred twelve different varieties. And we use them all; we make at least one or two shopping trips per month to the Penzey's store to restock.

[chiroptera]

I cannot believe I haven't heard of harissa....I looked it up and it sounds great. I love hot and spicy. Thank you for the recipe!

I spent the first 20-odd years of my life living in the Middle East and Europe and have been back many times...one Turkish dish I recall loving but can't remember how to make correctly involved eggs scrambled with tomatoes and a little sugar...the sugar was key to how it tasted but darned if I can remember how to make them and googling hasn't been helpful. (Your mention of eggs in purgatory reminded me.)

You guys have mad skills with spices.

[jasper12]

I have a problem with taking lunch too, I work out of my car, seeing patients all day long. At lunch, I want to stop, have a cold drink, use the bathroom...and eat lunch...I stopped packing my lunch last year, when I had a bout of food poisoning...I live in South Florida...even with ice...you never know...

[Samana]

My family and I are on vacation next week and we're not going away, but we're doing a few local day trips. In order to cut down on costs, we're planning on having big breakfasts before leaving for our 'excursions' and also packing lunch. My kids are sick and tired of ham, turkey and cheese sandwiches. I would like to get ideas for lunch on the go and lunches that do not require to be heated up. I am planning on taking lots of cold fruits and juices/water..just need ideas for the 'main' lunch. Thanks!!

[AnonChick]

* Peanutbutter and strawberry preserves.
* Green salad with cherry tomatos, sliced mushroom, black olives, leftover grilled chicken chunks, dressing on the side.
* Tuna salad, either on bread, or with ritz crackers, plus a scoop of cottage cheese with chunked pineapple and crispy romaine lettuce
* French baguette, 3 different types of cheese in bite-sized cut chunks, and apple and pear slices.
* Garlic bagel with lox and cream cheese, capers, tomato slice, and raw red onion.

[Samana]

Originally Posted by AnonChick

* Peanutbutter and strawberry preserves.
* Green salad with cherry tomatos, sliced mushroom, black olives, leftover grilled chicken chunks, dressing on the side.
* Tuna salad, either on bread, or with ritz crackers, plus a scoop of cottage cheese with chunked pineapple and crispy romaine lettuce
* French baguette, 3 different types of cheese in bite-sized cut chunks, and apple and pear slices.
* Garlic bagel with lox and cream cheese, capers, tomato slice, and raw red onion.

Yummm...those all sounds delish! I have zero creativity when it comes to food! Definitely writing these down! thanks!