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I like to bring sandwiches, wraps, bagels. Also leftovers, salads, veggie plates. Sometimes even yogurt and fruit, or cottage cheese, even instant oatmeal.
As far as tupperware, for salads we have one of those cylinder shaped containers that holds the dressing in a reservoir in the lid.
just pack the salad, pour the dressing in the lid and when it is time to eat, you are good to go with a press of a button! I really like the stainshield tupperware - especially with pasta or chili.
I always bring a big nalgene of water to drink too.
I am already inspired with so many different possibly ways to fill it.
I'm thinking salad in the "rice bowl" and maybe some meat balls, cut up fruit, and pita bread, or beef stew, french bread and fruit.. or naturally, for me, taco bar in a lunch thermos... I could go on....
I bought big bags of trail mix at BJ's, then came home and divvied it up into about 20 zip lock bags.
My husband likes sandwiches. Sometimes I buy a Rotisserie chicken at costco, then slice it for sandwiches during the week. Make soup with the carcass. You can take that too. Zip lock now makes some nice round containers with screw on lids that are perfect for soup, chili, anything really.
If I don't do sliced chicken I do chicken salad, tuna salad, or deli meats.
If I grill chicken, I grill extra. When thats cold, it's easy to thinly slice and make sandwiches. Arnold's bread now makes some very good multi grain sandwich rounds, kind of like a pita but cut all the way through, only 100 calories. They are good.
Soup is great, bring along a buttered roll to eat with it.
I also have misc chips and other snacks on hand that I put in the kids lunch. If I run out of the "food should taste good" chips my husband likes, I'll throw in a bag of chips for him. We keep raisins, fruit cups, yogurt, good quality granola bars on hand to add to lunches. Of course fruit is a staple, an apple or bannana are easiest. Baby carrots, you can cut up a green pepper.
The key is, unless you are a very picky eater and don't like to eat the same thing more than one day in a row, is to do the job once and eat several times. Why cut up a green pepper for your lunch every day? Wash and cut 2 peppers, wash a bag of baby carrots, and a pkg grape tomatoes, and then divide that into 3, 4, or 5 bags. Then you've got cut up veggies for each day of the week, and you only had to do it once. If you can make up a bag for kids lunches at the same time, do that too.
I love leftovers. Get single serving size containers and before dinner is served, make up a lunch. (rubbermaid makes a good sized square container, usually available at walmart for $2, you get four containers I think)
I also used to have cup of soup, and oatmeal packets at work just in case I had an emergency and missed breakfast or lunch. At least I wouldn't starve.
If your the type that needs a chocolate pick me up, buy snack size bars, leave them at home, and throw one in the lunch bag every day.
If you like bottled water or soda at work, just bring in a case and keep it under your desk. Then you don't have to keep bringing one in every day. This way, if you do end up ordering out because you didn't bring your lunch, at least you have a drink.
If you eat out, as for a to go contianer and make up your lunch for the next day before you eat. The servings are usually too big anyway.
Good luck with your new job. My husband just started a new job in August and this is why he is now taking lunch. Take out places are just not convenient in that location, and he is very busy. So, I have been trying to come up with ideas myself.
I am already inspired with so many different possibly ways to fill it.
I'm thinking salad in the "rice bowl" and maybe some meat balls, cut up fruit, and pita bread, or beef stew, french bread and fruit.. or naturally, for me, taco bar in a lunch thermos... I could go on....
OMG, you're going to have to let us know how this goes. It looks very nice.......lol. I want one for myself!
We always cook extra food for dinner and I take the leftovers for lunch. I always make a pot of soup a week and take that. Also when we do Chinese take-out, leftovers. A quick fill in is a yogurt and a banana.
My oldest son has decided that he won't eat sandwiches for lunch anymore and if I allow him to buy lunch at school he would only eat hamburgers everyday, so I have been packing him leftovers for awhile now.
Anything we make for dinner a portion is set aside for his lunch. Big hits have been, stirfry, beef stew (you can make a big pot and have several meals out of it), chicken and rice.
I have access to a freezer and microwave at work. I've started bringing Banquet frozen meals to work. They're not bad for the price. One store here has the meals for $0.88 per meal. Their select recipe line is just a little more than a dollar per meal. I work rotating shifts; first two shifts are 7 days straight with only two days off and the third shift is 6 days straight with four days off (our one weekend off a month) before starting the rotation all over again. I can buy enough meals for two weeks and not eat the same meal twice in that two week time period. If you're on a low sodium diet then they'll be out of your reach. However, they are low in calories and some of the meals come with steamed vegetables along with the meat. Let's say you work 5 days a week, you can have all five meals for $4.40 before taxes.
I am already inspired with so many different possibly ways to fill it.
I'm thinking salad in the "rice bowl" and maybe some meat balls, cut up fruit, and pita bread, or beef stew, french bread and fruit.. or naturally, for me, taco bar in a lunch thermos... I could go on....
My wife is Japanese, so we have a lot of Zojirushi products around the house; they're all of VERY high quality.
Mr. Bento, LOL.. Very fitting.. "Bento" is the Japanese word for a small, packed lunch.
Last edited by Synopsis; 10-19-2008 at 08:38 AM..
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