brown baggin' it

tell me about your favorite homemade lunches

cream cheese on banana bread

two eggs and little aluminum foil packets of salt and pepper

Whole wheat sourdough bread
Coleman's mustard
Roast beef
Roma tomato
Red leaf lettuce
Extra sharp cheddar
Mayo
Whole wheat sourdough bread

leftover pizza

cold chicken and an apple

turkey sammich!

bagel w/cream cheese and grape jelly

english muffin w/liverwurst and cream cheese

two curries today - aloo chana and saag tofu. they're leftovers tho, made for dinner and not specifically for lunch.

not expecting many takers on that one tbf xpost

omg i've been getting REALLY into salt bagels w/ cream cheese and jelly

SO GOOD

english muffin w/liverwurst and cream cheese

why have I never thought of this

i would list more but really it is 100% covered by the term sandwiches (variety of).

i like tuna salad, especially if it's made ~without~ mayo -- maybe a little olive oil, lemon juice, herbs

Anything with homemade bread.

peanut butter and honey sandwiches are a simple but fantastic fall back option as well.

jack daniels

sandwiches are really awesome tho aren't they

tho i PB&J always fails, hate it. i like to look forward to my lunches and pb&j is like the ultimate disappointing and most boring lunch i can think of

what is your brown bag : purchased lunch ratio?

i am about 1:4 but i want to change that, hence this thread

usually leftovers from whatever dinner i cooked the night before are my favorite lunches

prob 4:1, sometimes 3:2 xp

pb&j can still be "jazzed up" (i like to add bananas and cinnamon to the mix)

i get serious cravings for chinese and prob get it at least 1x week

yeah leftovers are usually my favorite

xp that sounds nice, but sounds better for breakfast. savory foods are where it's at for me wrt lunch dinner, always. tbh i prefer savory foods for breakfast too tho

pasta leftovers are where it's at

ya b/c sometimes u don't even have to heat it up

depending on sauce

yep

i think i am going to start making quiche and have that all the time for lunch.

ive been brown-bagging religiously trying to save money and i mostly just eat leftovers + an apple and some grapes

this thread has inspired me!

i need tomato involved with everything i eat from about 11am on so it make brown bagging hard because tomatoes get gross and soggy

Quiche is a great lunch!

Sunny, I just bring a whole Roma tomato w me and cut it up when I make the sandwich. I don't put it together in the morning or everything wd get soggy.

wholefoods salad bar not working out tbh, i feel like i'm getting totally pantsed paying much dollars for simple veggies

black beans + mexican rice + some chopped green olives + tabasco is one of my favorites lately

xp - re: soggy tomatoes - my mom used to put my tomato + lettuce in a separate baggy from my sandwich so that it wouldn't get gross. i'd just add them to the sandwich right before i eat. it was great! i still do that if i pack a sandwich

yea wholefoods salad/prepared foods bar is always a letdown. looks like there is so much variety but a lot of it isn't that great for $8.99/lb

but i love salads for lunch, i am often ok w/ paying for convenience & variety but it's kinda getting to be too much

because of the fact that i never go out for lunch (lol @small retail business owner) and i hate stuff getting all soggy and weird i now have like $15000 worth of tupperware of all sizes and it has been a lifesaver - mixed greens in one container + tomatoes in another + olives, feta, and dressing in a third = AWESOME

leftovers + tortilla = leftover burrito

I thought this thread would be about that peculiar thing in the US where drunks put their booze in a brown paper bag so the police don't notice or pretend not to notice.

But anyway, I just make my lunch in the kitchen at work at lunchtime. Salami & cheese sandwiches usually.

canned white beans + canned tuna in olive oil + grape tomatoes + green onions + dill + lemon juice + S&P = good, cheap salad that lasts a few days

sounds very nice. would be amazing with tuna steak. but i know, that's not the point

need to do more salad for lunch for sure

brown bag is usually 1 sandwich, 1 piece of fruit and a handful of crackers or a couple of cookies. BALANCE

1 sandwich can be substituted for 1 leftover whatever i ate last night

last time i roasted a chicken i had leftovers for 3 days, it was pretty awesome

Common packed lunches include:
Leftovers from previous nights dinner
Turkey and cheese and mustard sandwich
Packet of ramen noodles + small container of leftover chicken/tofu and frozen peas + hot water from the water dispenser = very portable and tasty soup
Various frozen burrito-type things from Trader Joes
Hard boiled eggs
Fruit of various sorts

I have a fridge at work so I try to keep lunch components here, to decrease prep time and make it less likely that I will eat out (expensive! plus everything convenient is very full of sodium) and those usually included yogurt, string cheese, baby carrots, hummus, and shelf stable things like Fig Newtons and crackers. As I'm writing that out, it seems kind of nuts (Oh, sometimes I keep nuts at work, too) but it keeps me eating healthy snacks and away from the vending machines/fast food mecca that is right here in the very same building as me.

i try to make lunch my big meal of the day so i try to cook up stuff i can reheat at work: rice + frozen turkey meatballs + stirfried veg or pasta in there instead. or one of those fresh lasagnas from TJs which i split up over a few days. yesterday and today: some kind of TJs chicken breast meal thing that i split up and added some plain old boiled potatoes to.

at the start of the week i make a huge pot of pasta/marinara/tofurkey meatballs for my husband's daily lunches, + he gets fruit, trail mix and soy yoghurt.