Thread: Brown Baggin' It

I usually grill at least one day on the weekends, so there is often leftover steak/chicken breasts, etc.

Take the leftover salad from dinner, throw it in tupperware, slice the meat and throw it over the top. Lunch is made.

I took a bag of croutons, some flavored onion toppers, and several bottles of salad dressing that I leave at work in the fridge.

i get those semi-disposable gladware-type containers. a nice grilled chicken breast or piece of beef, and some frozen veggies with a little seasoning, and throw them in a microwave for about a minute or two. stew or thick meaty/veggie sauce with some pasta is nice. healthy and pretty inexpensive.

The key for me is mixing it up and avoid driving around too much at lunch. If you are lucky enough to have a fridge at work, nothing beats keeping a loaf of bread (your choice), some PB&J and your regular conidments: Mustard, catsup, mayo(optional), peppers, pickles, salad dressing, etc. Those things are just too inexpensive and a pain to transport back and forth.

I personally hate bringing a made sammich to work. I would rather take the extra 5 minutes to wrap all of the idividual ingredients in their own saran envelope and reassable at lunch....just seems more human. (onions, tomatos, pickle slices or wedges, lettuce, cold cuts, avocado, artichoke hearts, fava beans, chianti, etc.)

Side note: We recently got a toaster oven to enance our microwave at work. Damn that thing is the bomb!! Left over pizza has never been better...just toss it in about 30 minutes before your lunch at about 300 and have everything hot and crispy (vs. gooey and soggy from a nuker).

variety is the key. Make Friday special or make one day a week buy lunch day. Take the money you would have spent on lunch and put it in a jar. Use it to take your wife out once every other week. You will be shocked at how quickly 5-7 dollars a day adds up

Originally Posted by davndea

variety is the key. Make Friday special or make one day a week buy lunch day. Take the money you would have spent on lunch and put it in a jar. Use it to take your wife out once every other week. You will be shocked at how quickly 5-7 dollars a day adds up

After tonight's news, I'm not taking her out for awhile...

My problem is the activity of my job prevents me from using a microwave. Sure, I "might" be able to warm something up in one at a 7-11 or what not, but I can't guarantee that it will work, and I might get a 911 call at anytime. So I try to bring stuff that holds me over. My favorite thing is homemade trail-mix. I get raw nuts and dried fruit, and mix it all up. Thats always good. Also, don't forget your fruits and vegetables. Granola bars are good, and so are mini-salads. When I had a microwave readily available, i would make myself something the night before, usually involving something I had with dinner (for instance, I would make an extra chicken breast) and then I would create something with it. I would make my own currys and with already steamed rice (which warms up great btw)...theres a lot of variety you can choose from.

A good, "different" sandwich is this: (all ingredients at trader joes) 3 cheese sourdough bread. Sun dried tomato pesto, medium cheddar cheese, and some hot salami (it's not hot). it's a great sandwich cold, but if you have the toaster oven, grill, and it's GREAT!