Everyday Systems

So, lunch is insignificant. To me, anyway. Breakfast is my favorite, and I love love love to plan out an elaborate dinner for myself. Lunch, however, is smack in the middle of the day when I'm not feeling particularly motivated or creative, and don't want to spend more money to get takeout. So I'm curious to know...

What does everyone eat for lunch? I'd love some new ideas.

Jocelyn

http://noelfigart.com/blog/category/bento/

Granted, that's for motivated and creative.

Otherwise:

I don't always make bento. Leftovers for lunch is common, as is a grilled cheese sandwich. When it's cold, I heat up leftover soup. when it's hot, I often have a salad.

I've had optimized oatmeal for lunch (did Sunday, in fact).

I'd say leftovers for lunch are most common for me.

I take lunch to work, so I generally take a roll with some sort of protein and salad, or leftovers that I warm up in the work microwave. I too don't want to spend money on take away lunches. No point. And I'm so busy at work that lunch is a bit of a non-event anyway. Am much more interested in dinner.

Leftovers are common. But I also like to spread almond butter on a whole wheat tortilla and top it with lettuce, cucumber, grated carrot and beet, and sprouts. Fold and eat. If there's good fresh fruit around, I'll have a piece--if not, a handful of dried. This is a really light lunch (nutritious, too) that doesn't take a lot of thought or time to prepare--it works for me because I don't like to feel weighed down or tired in the afternoon, and this meal keeps me energized. And since it's small, I know I'll have a good appetite for dinner.

Lunch as of late has been salads. I usually have a thing of lettuce and an english seedless cucumber in the refrigerator at work. Then I add some tuna, egg, and a little pasta, maybe some strawberries... and some shredded cheese or goat cheese, and my favorite dressing... Then I put this dried fruit and nut blend on the top and voila... everyone in the office is envious! The key is the pasta... it really makes the salad satisfying.

Soup almost daily for lunch. Soon I'll be having more salads in addition to the soup. As much as I like food, I could live on some combination of soup, salads, and sandwiches!

Peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a piece of fruit or grilled cheese sandwich with the canned tomato soup. Yeah. I'm 10 years old at heart.

Leftovers, usually. I find that I like best to have 3 things, which break down roughly into entree (protein/carb), side veggie (usually salad, or carrot sticks) and fruit.

If there are no leftovers for the entree, I fall back on "defaults"...
- Bagel with cheese or PB
- Flour tortilla with cheese - heat in work microwave for instant quesadilla
- PB&J on whole wheat

I am like worsens. A soup and salad girl. I have a pot of bean soup simmering now because it's cold and rainy here. I woke up yesterday to a blanket of snow!!!!!!
I see a lot of egg salad in the near future!!!!

I find it interesting that nobody here has mentioned cold cuts. I myself LOVE a good turkey sandwich, but the problem is that I am grossed out by store-bought cold cuts if they are more than 2-3 days old (weird?), so I almost see it as more economical to buy a sandwich at subway or something if I'm really craving turkey, ham, or roastbeef. I'm in my last few weeks of college, so food expense is my priority, but I also LOVE variety (being a nutrition major and learning about food all day doesn't help this), so I can easily spend $60/week on groceries just for myself. Trying to cut that down by limiting my options each week, but it's difficult because I'm such a foodie. I digress.

Thanks for the ideas...keep 'em coming!

I usually have a pita bread or bagel, with hummus or cream cheese. Also often a yoghurt and/or piece of fruit. Not particularly exciting but easy to take into work and eat over lunchtime there! In winter it's usually soup and a roll.

I am conscious of money, a reason I don't often have cold cuts with my bagel etc. is that they are very expensive compared to veggie options.

I'd love to take more salads to work actually but I'll have to wait until I actually HAVE a kitchen to prepare them!

I just want to comment on the fact that so many of these lunches sound like the kind that might be recommended on a diet. See, we get to a similar place but more naturally by choosing over a period of time. I'd be curious to know what kind of soups people are eating--mostly broth? If the soup has all the things in it I would eat if they were not in liquid, I'm okay, and have done that, but there's no way a cup of chicken noodle soup would be enough for me.

I have my flesh or cottage cheese protein, fist-sized starch+ veggies. Can't be JUST lettuce or leafy things. Got to have some density. It can be a sandwich with veggies on the side, but is usually more like a bowl meal, with the meat chopped and mixed with a cooked grain and a sauce (commercial, but decent quality). I heat that in a hot water heater pot (not a microwave girl) at work and toss it with the veggies. I vary each of the elements so that I have variety, but they're the same basic elements. However, because I love the flavors of the sauces and because I'm hungry, my lunches all seem terrific to me! If I'm in a terrible hurry, I'll throw some clean veggies in a plastic bag and make do with them and a slice of pizza from the school cafeteria.

I have lunch at home so I always cook my meals.

I usually have a dinner type meal for lunch that doesn't take long to prepare.

chicken parmesan, brussells sprouts, salad greens

or

roast beef (prepared previous day) and green beans