Lunch

You woke up late and didn’t have time to throw anything together before rushing out the door. Or — much worse — you made a great lunch the night before and forgot it at home. Whatever the reason, now you’re at work and the clock is inching towards lunch time. Not to worry! If you keep these five essentials in your desk, you’ll always have an emergency work lunch on hand.

Snacks get a bad rap, but this year I have managed to fill my pantry with an arsenal of good choices. As my kids geared up for back to school over the fall my snack mission was find treats that were easy, health conscious, actually taste good, and make my kids feel like I am spoiling them. This was no easy task. We’ve been back to school for a few months now and packing snacks can get to be a real pain. I’m a packer — a lunch and snack packer.

With all of the work and time put into preparing holiday meals, family feasts and friendly gatherings, sometimes you just need a break — something simple to prepare, something that satisfies your most basic cravings, something that makes use of all that fresh baked bread that has found its way to your kitchen table. As far as American cravings go, there’s just something about a simple hamburger.

This past week I’ve been exploring St. Ives in Cornwall, England. It’s a good-size town full of museums and galleries to explore, and of course a pasty shop practically on every block. It’s been chilly and rainy here, which is why I’ve been gravitating towards these delicious variations of the savory pastry. True Cornish pasties (pronounced PAST-ees) include beef, potatoes, and turnips.

I try out a lot of recipes in the kitchen — some good, some bad, some worth filing into a digital locker of some sort. Like wine, I rarely try the same thing twice: there simply are too many new tastes to explore. Sometimes, though, a recipe speaks to you on an emotional level. And sometimes, making it costs you $500. How did this recipe cost me $500, you ask? The cost of the ingredients totaled no more than about $10.

A can of chickpeas, an avocado, whole wheat couscous, a tube of harissa paste — these probably weren’t your mother’s pantry staples, but they have become the new basics in many home kitchens. They are also the foundation for quick, flavorful and healthy lunches that keep well, and today chef and author Aida Mollenkamp tells us how to turn a handful of these modern pantry staples into appealing and affordable lunches that come together in about ten minutes.

Admit it: Part of the charm of buying your lunch is eating a fancy sandwich. Sure, you know you could make it at home, but when it comes down to it, time is short and it just seems easier to fork over a small handful of cash at that adorable gourmet deli near work. Homemade mayo is a whole other story (a very delicious story!), but even a store bought jar combined with the right ingredients can do wonders to spice up that sorry excuse for a turkey sandwich thrown together in the morning.

Most mornings when I’m frantically scouring through the fridge and cursing my lack of night-before lunch preparedness, I end up grabbing a single-serve Greek yogurt, throwing a handful of granola in a ziplock, and snagging a ripe banana from the fruit vendor outside my work. As much as I love this little routine, I hate to admit it, but I’m a little fresh fruit and granola’d out. Luckily, this fruit-and-granola routine is a pretty satisfying lunch packed with protein and fiber.

In a recent piece about frittatas for The Washington Post, food writer Joe Yonan discussed deciding which cheese to use for his spring frittata. He favors a salty feta, although he recognizes that not everyone agrees. For instance, he mentions that chef and cookbook writer Lidia Bastianich reaches for a rich, whole-milk ricotta (which I’d never thought to do).

Roasted beets are a mainstay in our house. As with most roasted vegetables, they’re simple enough that I can put them in the oven and forget about them, and they’re versatile enough that they make their way into salads, dips, grain dishes or even sandwiches. But with summer barbecue season on its way, I’ve begun to see a number of recipes out there celebrating the grilled beet. And an excuse to spend more time outdoors is something I can really get behind these days.

I always keep a bag of whole wheat pita rounds in the freezer for last minute lunches; they can be stuffed with salad, eaten with hummus and vegetables, or even topped with avocado and egg. But how to transform a rock-hard piece of frozen pita into a soft, warm pocket? Here’s a method that is fast and foolproof. On a gas stove, turn the flame on medium-low and place the frozen pita directly on the burner.

A ploughman’s lunch doesn’t have to be something that’s only done in England. Because really, shouldn’t making cheese the centerpiece of a meal be a universal concept? Think of it as a deconstructed sandwich.A ploughman’s lunch is a simple template: pair cheese with some bread, chutney, and maybe some meat or pickles or hard-boiled egg, and call it a lunch. But what about getting a little creative with it?

I usually tuck some type of whole fruit in my bag to eat with lunch or snack on later in the day. It might roll around a bit or — if I put it directly into my backpack or purse — encounter who-knows-what at the bottom of my bag. To protect apples, pears and other fruit with edible peels, I’ve come up with an quick way to keep them clean and protected from bruises.When I pack my lunch in the morning, I use a cloth napkin to tie up the fruit in its own little protective pouch.

Is it any wonder why we are crazy for canning jars? They are cheap, easy to find, and leak-proof. They can be frozen, microwaved (minus the lids, of course), and even baked in the oven. And they make great containers for lunches prepared in bulk, individually portioned, and stored in the refrigerator or freezer, so it’s easy to grab a wholesome, homemade meal on even the busiest afternoon.

When did lunchboxes get so stylish? (I mean, I know you used to rock that Care Bears lunchbox back in the first grade, and yes, it is hard to top that.) But in case you thought your best lunchbox days were behind you, you should know that there are quite a few sturdy, stylish boxes designed for adults on the go. In celebration of Lunch Week here on The Kitchn, we’re highlighting a few of our favorites. Today’s pick? The Monbento.

The internet told me that if I shook my uncooked egg before boiling that it would come out with a beautiful yellow color and creamy texture. No whites, no yolks, just a pale yellow. Sounds cool, right? I saw multiple people liking the idea, so I hopped on board and tried it with the hard-boiled eggs I like for lunch. Folks, some ideas we should not try at home. Want to know what happens when you shake an egg before cooking?

I am currently a full-time graduate student and often have to bring lunch to school — sometimes even lunch and dinner. Usually this means I have at least two or three containers or jars of food, along with snacks like fruit, granola bars and trail mix. I usually carry everything in a Baggu bag, which doesn’t keep the containers upright and is kind of a hassle, but I like that it folds completely flat, is washable and is easy to carry in my already-stuffed backpack.

If you’re looking for a quick snack or weeknight meal, don’t forget about the humble egg wrapper! Did you know you can bake egg rolls? It’s easy and far healthier than deep frying, and the filling options are almost endless. Here are a few favorites: 1. Reuben Sandwich Filling: This classic combo can be easily wrapped up and dipped in Thousand Island dressing instead of including it inside. 2.

I have a few friends who own a macaroni and cheese restaurant in Oakland, CA called Homeroom. Now that I live in Seattle, I miss it dearly. While everything is delicious there, what stays with me is the memory of how creamy and delicious their vegan mac and cheese was. I couldn’t believe it was dairy-free! I’ve been looking to duplicate the recipe at home and started searching online for some tips and tricks on achieving a creamy, cheesy dish without … the cream. Or cheese.

Bread has a bad reputation these days, but that doesn’t mean we should overlook one of its most irresistible forms: toast! Whole wheat or brioche, sourdough or seeded, a slice of toasted bread is a base for all kinds of toppings that make a light yet satisfying meal any time of the day.

Tacos and burritos get the most attention when it comes to quick, portable Mexican food, but tortas deserve a moment in the spotlight. Built on crusty rolls, these sandwiches are stuffed with flavorful meats, cheese, beans, avocado and salsa, and sometimes cooked on a panini press until hot and melty. From chile and lime steak tortas to vegetarian mushroom and goat cheese tortas, here are a few recipes to try at home.

Why does food (and especially a sandwich!) always taste better when someone else makes it? My mother makes a simple but delicious sandwich every day for lunch. Always the same, she slices good hearth bread, slathers it with Hellman’s Best Mayo on both slices, adds a few squares of Swiss cheese and piles on several leaves of crunchy lettuce or occasionally baby spinach. On goes the top, and with a slice down the middle, there it is — the perfect sandwich.

Burnished and brown, shoyu tamago (“soy sauce eggs”) look quite different from your average hard-boiled egg, but are actually very simple to make. A lunchbox staple in Japan, they make a flavorful, high-protein snack on the go. Shoyu tamago are made by peeling hard-boiled eggs and rolling them in a small amount of simmering soy sauce or tamari until the liquid is gone. That’s it!

A package of instant ramen is perhaps the biggest cliché item in the solo cook’s cupboard. It often symbolizes depression or extreme indifference, the meal one cooks when one has hit rock bottom. Of course, none of this is necessarily true. Ramen can be delicious and good for you as well as a quick, fun thing to make. Read on for a review of the three ways a single diner can approach instant ramen. There are three basic ways to think about instant ramen.

One of my favorite things about making a batch of risotto is anticipating the crispy risotto cakes I’ll make with the leftovers. They are, if possible, even better than the risotto itself. Especially if one happens to sneak a slice of cheese in the middle.As it cools, risotto gradually loses its creamy sauce-like consistency and firms up. We can take scoops of this leftover risotto and actually shape it into patties that hold their shape when pan-fried.

Rolled up in a sheet of seaweed, rice and vegetables can become a simple and easy-to-pack lunch for both adults and kids. This is one of our favorite uses for leftovers, and we often cook extra rice and vegetables at dinner so we can make rolls the next day.Although similar to Japanese maki sushi, our “leftovers” rolls don’t require the use of special vinegared rice, just whatever we have on hand, be it white or brown rice, and occasionally even quinoa.

We’re totally charmed by how easy and delicious this is—a simple breakfast food turns into a bubbly, cheesy lunch with just two ingredients. It’s also a genius way to use up leftover Easter eggs. Want to see how to do it?Camilla Fabbri at Family Chic has such cute, creative ideas (like this and this). She says her kids love these grilled cheese Easter eggs, and they couldn’t be quicker to make.

How excited would you be to find one of these roll-ups waiting in your lunchbox? I think very. And if you’re noting a striking resemblance to a certain Little Debbie snack cake that many of us know and love from our own time in grade school, you’re not imagining things. Shelly from the blog Cookies & Cups shows us how it’s done.To make these roll-ups, Shelly says we need a batch of brownies, a batch of frosting, and a rolling pin. Check!

Eating your lunch by yourself can get a little boring. There’s no conversation to distract you from the fact that each bite of your sandwich or each sip of your soup tastes pretty much the same, bite after bite, slurp after slurp. Unless, of course, you do what I do when I eat solo: create lots and lots of variety. Think bento or Ploughman’s lunch (maybe sans the beer … or maybe not!) Read on for inspiration from today’s lunch.

Canned soups are a quick, budget-friendly lunch when there is no time to cook, but they can often be salty, bland, or just boring. Adding just an ingredient or two from your own pantry or fridge can turn a ho-hum canned soup into a satisfying meal. Here are our 10 favorite additions: • 1 Greens: A handful of leafy greens like frozen spinach, thinly sliced chopped kale or bagged arugula add color, nutrition and a fresh flavor.

Did any of your parents try to dye eggs green when you were little as a nod to Green Eggs and Ham? The results were always gross. These green eggs, however, we’ll take any day—a simple egg salad with mashed avocado mixed in. Turns out it’s healthier than the original, too. You use half the mayonnaise.

myskinnygardenmyskinnygarden The best thing I’ve found so far is reusing my Ball canning jars. I make the soup and immediately fill the jars and refrigerate them. They are a little heavier to carry in my lunch bag but all I need to do is take the lid off and heat the jar of soup in the microwave. Working great for me and I’m happy to get some use out of all those canning jars I don’t normally use during winter months. We think this is a great idea.

Looking for yet another alternative to plastic lunch baggies? Well, do you have an empty milk jug? Turn it into a take out container or sandwich container tonight!Repurposing items makes everyone feel like they’re doing their part. Even if the item can be recycled, it can feel even more satisfying to make it into something useful yourself. This project from Family Fun shows you how to turn a milk jug into one of two different items: a sandwich holder or a take out container.

I recently bought a set of luncheon plates to use as my casual (daily use) dinner plates. It’s been about month now and I can safely say that, for me at least, this was the right choice. What are luncheon plates and why did I choose them?Luncheon plates are sized somewhere between a regular dinner plate and a salad plate — typically around 8.75 – 9.5″, although that can vary depending on the manufacturer.

Q: I’m stumped! My husband is starting a new teaching job today, and two out of every four weeks have him on Lunch Duty. He will have no lunch period, and during the students’ lunch period he will need to stand outside the bathrooms monitoring students.So, what on earth do I pack him that can, a) Be eaten standing up with no time to microwave or b) Tide him over from 8am homeroom to free period at 2:15! I’m at a loss.

Q:  I will be student teaching this fall, and packing healthy, satisfying lunches every single day is a huge challenge for me!My plan is to make a big pot of soup every week, but I need a good way to transport it, preferably without the need to reheat at school.Are there any good packing-and-traveling options for soup?Sent by RebeccaEditor: Rebecca, glass canning jars are definitely a good option; they’re inexpensive and easy to clean.

Japanese rice balls, called onigiri or omusubi, are compact triangles of cooked rice stuffed with a tasty filling and often wrapped in a sheet of toasted nori. Cute, portable and healthy, they’re one of our favorite ways to eat lunch on the go. In Japan, onigiri can be purchased at any convenience store or supermarket, but they’re also often a homemade treat tucked into lunch boxes.

Jamie Oliver is always full of surprises, but this one really takes the cake. Or the cheese, as it were. How do you make a crispy, warm, and bubbly cheese sandwich with nothing but a two-slot toaster? Jamie shows us how.This tip actually comes from an early episode of Jamie’s Kitchen, the British documentary where Jamie trains a group of unemployed, under-educated youths to run one of his restaurants.

Sometimes our lunches can start to feel a little gloomy — especially when we’re eating them under fluorescent lights. Lately, we’ve been tossing a lemon into our lunch bags, and it’s helped to brighten up our meals. We’re big on packing lunches that don’t require a lot of prep work at home – it’s hard enough to get out the door in the morning!

For some of you, dessert may not even be a daily thing, much less a twice-a-day habit. But for others (including a few of us), a meal isn’t complete without a little taste of sweet. We think the hankering for something sweet is a biological thing; at the very least, it’s ingrained in us early in life. Every once in a while, fruit will do the trick for us. But more often than not, we need a cookie or a piece of chocolate. The problem is stopping at one.

I don’t know about you, but my evenings often involve a last-minute scramble to get the next day’s lunches prepped and portioned before bedtime. The last thing I want to do is wait around for a pot of rice or a batch of beans to cool down. That’s when I pull out my baking sheet. Grains, beans, and legumes left in the pot can take a long time to cool to room temperature. Both the pot and whatever is inside it tend to hold that heat in rather than letting it go.

How do you tote your silverware to work every day? Do you leave a set at the office? Do you use disposables? Here’s one idea: A cute, portable roll-up for a set of silverware and a napkin. How civilized!These Urban Picnic Roll-ups are made by Etsy shop owner Nicky Ross. These little roll-ups protect your silverware, and they even come with two sets of bamboo flatware and two napkins. They are made in all sorts of fabrics and colors, and Nicky does custom requests as well.

It’s commonly understood that we should consume the largest amount of our caloric intake during the daytime when we’re most active. So it’s often recommended to have a big meal in the afternoon and a lighter meal in the evening. Nevertheless, at least here in the US, it seems that we still eat our main meal, and the bulk of our calories, in the evening.There are probably many reasons why lunch is still a light sandwich or soup for a lot of people.

This is nothing more than a soft flour tortilla spread with a little sweet butter and sprinkled generously with cinnamon and crunchy sugar. But as a kid, finding one of these tucked in my lunch box felt like winning the lottery.It’s funny to realize now that this was probably just my mom’s way of using up leftover tortillas. Still, she must have been on to something because this simple roll has remained on my list of quick fix snacks well into adulthood.

Q: I really appreciated the recent feature about poaching an egg in the microwave. I am wondering, however, if my fellow readers have any tips as to transporting a raw egg to the office. My commute is about twenty minutes of walking, followed by a ten-minute train ride. I usually throw my lunch in a Tupperware container in a tote bag.Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to package my egg so it will make it safely to the office?Sent by ChristinaEditor: Christina, what a fun question.

Q: I am a college student with classes three days a week from 8:00am straight through until 2:45pm. My instructor for the 12:00pm class has said we can eat in her class, but it’s speech, and I have no access to a fridge, a microwave, and it would be pretty tough to use a fork or spoon.I am sick and tired of vending machine lunches! Help!Sent by LibbyEditor: Libby, this reminds me of this very similar question:• Brown Bag Meals: Best (Quiet) Snacks for Eating In Class?

Having an ice pack for your lunch is a great idea when it comes to keeping cold things cold, but did you know you can make them yourself? They’re ridiculously easy, inexpensive, and easy to reuse in your kitchen if their services are no longer needed. Trust us, your fresh salad or tuna sandwich will thank you!Materials1 plastic zip top freezer bag (or vacuum seal type)1/2 cup liquid dish soap (your choice)3 drops food coloring (optional)1 glass jar (optional) 1.

The obvious choice cheese-wise for lunch is a piece of shrink-wrapped string cheese. Pretty mundane. In the spirit of keeping with our week’s theme of great contenders for lunch boxes, we’re profiling something far more compelling, but along the same vein: Armenian string cheese, speckled with black caraway seeds, infused with one of the most obscure spices around, and with strings so long they put those stubby cheese sticks to shame.

A good sandwich is something we look forward to eating all morning long. The soft bread, the crisp lettuce, maybe a few pieces of good cheese. And of course for us omnivores, the perfectly piled slices of deli meat might just be best part.I could eat a ham sandwich every day and be perfectly content. I like the slices to be paper-thin so they fold over on themselves in the sandwich and practically melt in my mouth. Honey-roasted is my favorite, though I’ll take black-forest in a pinch.

How many lunches have been ruined the minute you open the office fridge and see that your lunch has disappeared? It’s annoying, frustrating, and baffling. While we’ll never understand how grown adults can steal each others lunches, here are a few strategies to hopefully keep it from happening to you.• Use a Lunch Bag – Whether you buy a re-usable bag or use a paper one, make sure it’s opaque and seal it closed.

What’s in your lunchbox today? A sandwich, an apple and, what’s that? Something written on your paper towel? Aww. We might have been a little embarrassed by lunch notes as a kid, but now we think anyone who receives one should count themselves doubly lucky. Because not only did someone make your lunch for you, they cared enough to send a little extra love your way. Feeling all warm and fuzzy yet?

I guess you could call me a Japanophile. I love learning about Japanese cuisine, and I eagerly collect Japanese kitchen items. I became enamored with bento boxes a while ago, and now I have three different styles of bento boxes that serve various purposes. What they all have in common is that they are convenient, easy to clean, and fun.

If you work in an office, chances are high that the only tool at your disposal for heating your lunch is a microwave. And chances are also high that you already know how to use one and hardly need a tutorial! But there’s one microwaving tip that you might not have heard before.The best way to heat your food is to microwave in short one minute bursts and stir the food between each interval.

Q: I drive for my job, visiting as many as five different locations in a single day, often on different sides of the city. I don’t always have time to go home, or even to stop for lunch. I find myself in the drive-thru more often than I would like.What are some suggestions for lunches I can pack in the morning and easily eat in the car (driving or parked)?Sent by ErinEditor: Erin, when on the go and in the car, we really like snacky, modular lunches.

A friend gifted me a jar of Branston pickle when she returned from a recent trip to England, and I knew that I had to have a Ploughman’s lunch.This mainstay is a cold snack or meal commonly found in pubs in England. It’s a hearty platter of pickle, crusty bread, cheese, sometimes meat, and ale.Here’s how you do it:• A spoonful of Branston pickle – click link to buy online at amazon.

The other day we took this sandwich to work, only to bite into a very soggy piece of bread come lunchtime. We made a few crucial mistakes—ones we remedied the next day. Here are our tips… We don’t make sandwiches for lunch that often, so when we put mayonnaise on one slice of bread, topped it with juicy tomatoes and the rest of the vegetables, then smushed our sandwich into a container and let it sit for four hours, we weren’t really thinking of the consequences.

We’ve asked you about your office kitchen setups, but now we want to break into your personal stash – your snack drawer.We’re opening up our drawer for all to see, so now we want to know: what’s in yours?Thinking about office snacks, I was reminded of an episode of Dollhouse, a science fiction TV series on Fox. Under circumstances far too complicated to explain here, a scientist admits to his usually uptight boss that he has a “drawer of inappropriate starches.

Here’s an interesting question from Bethany, who has also given us a very good idea for a chicken lunch dish! She asks: Yesterday for lunch I made some great chicken wraps with melted cheese and tortillas. The tortillas were super crunchy, which is how I like them. I made several extra to eat as leftovers. Last night when I went to eat one for dinner, it was completely soft. It didn’t have the same wow! factor as the first ones I’d made.

If you work in an office, how you eat your midday meal depends a lot on the kitchen facilities you have available and their, er, conditions. Do you have access to a microwave? A stove? Is the refrigerator overflowing with rotten food? Moldy sponges in the sink? Or are you blessed with an ample, tidy space?Compared to some horror stories we’ve heard, our office kitchen experiences haven’t been too bad.

Bento is a meal that is served in a box. Often, the box has two or more compartments and sometimes the boxes are stacked on top of each other. Bento describes both the meal and the container it is stored in. Bento originated in Japan in the 17th century, gaining popularity in the 1880’s as an early form of fast food sold at train stations. Later, Japanese children carried bento lunches to school. When the schools started providing lunch, bento’s popularity went into decline.

We love brown-bagging our lunch; not only is it more economical and better for our waistlines, but it’s also a good way to get rid of last night’s leftovers. One of our favorite grown-up lunch boxes is the Zojirushi Mr. Bento® stainless lunch jar.Mr. Bento comes with four inner containers in different sizes, a spork with a plastic cover, and a zippered carry bag.

With the USDA ground beef recall fresh on our minds, we are brushing up on our own food handling practices. Do you know how long you can leave that potato salad on your buffet ? What temperature meat should be before it is safely cooked and done? If you’re not so sure, no worries: we’ve been doing a Food Safety 101 course this week to keep you and your guests happy and healthy. We already talked a little bit about how long you can leave cooked food unrefrigerated.