I cannot stress this enough, packed lunches aren’t about the morning of any weekday. A successful packed lunch happens the night before whether it is from dinner leftovers or when you come from work and are cleaning out your lunch bag and filling it back up the next day.
When I scan Twitter at lunchtime, I see tweets complaining about having to go out in the cold to get lunch, not liking the lunch out options or hungry because they don’t have money to eat out, I think if you would just take some time to plan to pack you would be set.
For me, Sundays are when packed lunches happen. My weekday evenings are pretty busy, by choice, so I use Sunday afternoon or evening shop for produce, make an entree and Pyrex everything. Yes, I just used Pyrex as a verb.
I bought a giant box of greens not realizing how much I was really buying and the best used by date. I’ll be eating salads for every lunch and probably dinner. I top it with chicken marinaded in terikayi and dressed with a creamy balsamic vinaigrette that I don’t have to use too much of because once I pour it on and toss the greens, it is enough for me. I could add nuts or carrots, but I’ll save my carrots for my afternoon snack. I always have an apple with lunch.
This is before I tossed my salad (all over my desk hence the fancy placemat). I love cheese with my apple.
Sometimes, I start two lunch bags…I’m not crazy, I’m just very prepared when it comes to the chow wagon.
Ruth
January 28, 2013 at 8:27 pmI have just got the hang of this. Although I defrost my lunch over night and pack the rest.
Bladerunner5
January 29, 2013 at 4:42 pmI sometimes pack two lunch bags at a time too. When we make stew on the weekend, for example, I know I’ll have that a couple of times at work! So I’ll just go ahead and dish it into a couple of plastic containers at the same time. Then I’ll just add my other stuff (for me, it’s yogurt with a bit of jam, possibly utensils, depending on where I’m going to be for the day, and maybe a snack depending on how long I expect my day to go), and throw both bags in the fridge. In the morning, I grab one and go.
My husband works 10-hour days, and has a great employee lounge (i.e., lots of fridge space for everyone, and no one steals anyone else’s lunches), so he takes a huge bag of food on mondays, and just works his way through the bag until it’s gone Thursday afternoons. He can also eat the same thing for days, which makes this an easy strategy for him.
Me, I can only take what fits in my backpack as I’m in different buildings every day, and I don’t drive so I can’t leave stuff in the car either, and honestly, I don’t trust being able keep my lunch safe in the employee fridges.
Tricia @ Take 10
January 30, 2013 at 9:37 amTotally agree! I Pyrex everything as well!
Michele
February 1, 2013 at 12:16 pmI usually pack the left overs from dinner in my pryex bowls and stack them in the refrigerator. In the morning I then choose which left over I’ll take to lunch.
I have had more then one co-worker say they wish they were eating my lunch instead of buying fried cafeteria food.