Sick of Sandwiches! Share Your Lunch Recipes?

Hi J.,

My husband makes a large beef roast or pork shoulder on Sunday's sometimes and then uses that pulled meat to make cold sandwiches for the week. Another thing is I'll make a meatloaf sometimes and he'll eat slices of that for lunch at work. My favorite EASY lunch for me is a tomato and mozzarella salad. No fuss, just balsamic vinegar, olive oil, a little salt, pepper, and basil! YUM! Easy to pack too.

I've never been much of a sandwich person anyway! Ideas:
PASTA: have a variety of shapes in the pantry, including angel hair, linguini, shells, orzo, bellflower, mostacioli, ziti, etc. Toppings can be something that each person chooses, from a tablespoon or two of jar marinara sauce or pre-made pesto to thinly sliced veggies cooked a minute in the microwave to a dab of butter and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.
COUSCOUS: this stuff cooks so quickly, it's the original "minute rice". Again, top with diced chicken, diced veggies, sauces, etc. Sometimes for a work lunch I'll put 1/4 C uncooked couscous in the bottom of a microwaveable container, diced veggies, sprinkle on a little salt and curry seasonings and seal it; when it's time for lunch add 1/2 C water and microwave for 2 minutes, let sit for a minute and you've got a delicious, very inexpensive hot lunch. You can also find whole wheat couscous!
BAKED POTATO: I sometimes get "addicted" to these! Microwave it and let everyone add their own stuff, from just butter or sour cream to a mound of veggies and blue cheese.
DO IT YOURSELF SALAD: Have the ingredients ready and let everyone assemble their own like a salad bar. On the weekend I use my mini-cuisinart to prepare everything in advance: shred lettuce, carrots, red cabbage, etc, and keep in zip-loc bags. Other things include raisins or dried cherries or apricots, chopped hardboiled eggs or leftover chicken, etc. Travels will in a tupperware; either add the dressing at home and shake to toss or carry spray dressing to add right before eating. Great way to get kids to eat more veggies if they're picky: esp. younger ones love assembling their own and are more likely to eat it if they've created it. Or have them make their own creative designs such as from carrot sticks, olives, pasta, etc.
Best of luck!
L.

Try Paninis. They will revolutionize the sandwich for you! You can fill them with cheese and lunchmeat for the kids and more adult stuff for you and your husband. My favorite is fresh mozzarella/tomato/basil/evoo. Your kids could even make their own which always makes them more excited to eat something IMO.

I personally eat a salad with a protein everyday for lunch. I make a big salad at the beginning of the week and grill some chicken and am set for the week. Some favorite variations are:black beans/shredded cheese for a mexican salad, pears/apples red onions and gorgonzola, asian with mandarin oranges.

I'm right there with you J.! I don't like to eat sandwiches all the time either because #1 lunchmeat is boring after a while. I like to make "easy" stirfry. I buy the single serving brown rice containers, frozen veggies of my choice, and meat of my choice. After I shop on Sunday, I will either bake or grill chicken tenders with Tastefully Simple seasoning, marinated pork loin, salmon, etc. After I cook it, I seperate everything into containers. This way, it's assembled already with meat/fish, veggie, and rice. I just grab one and a piece of fruit and I'm off. Also, I'm a salad freak! I love all different types of salad. I will plan 2 different salads for the week, say Greek and Cobb. The night before, I will chop the veggies that will need to go into salad and any other ingredients I need. I put the lettuce in a ziploc bag and the fixins in another. It's already the next morning to grab and go. I'm not a fan of salad dressings other than balsamic vinegar & oil. So, I usually will just keep it at work so I know its there. It can be a lot of preparation but it gets easier and it ends up saving you money. Hope this helps!

First of all, I hear you. Sandwiches can still be a part of lunch, though, from time to time just by using different breads, spreads and fillings. The markets these days are full of prepared spreads, mustards, oils, spreads, cheeses and salads, all of which can be put on various rolls, tortillas (for wraps) and focaccias, etc. Leftovers from dinner, soups and pastas can go in thermos jugs and dumplings, raviolis and pierogis (my kids' favorites) don't even have to be steaming to be enjoyed leftover. We also love to make pizza for dinner and with some extra dough (or buy prepared dough), you can make all kinds of strombolis and pizza turnovers filled with anything you like for lunch the next day. The bottom line is anything you enjoy for dinner or that you would make for yourself if you were home for lunch can be made portable for lunch. Invest in good travel products, cooler or thermal lunch sack, a good thermos, tupperware and thank heaven for the many sizes of Ziploc and you're good to go. Bon Appetit!

I have a 6 year old and I hate sandwiches too! My son, thank God, is not a picky eater and will eat just about anything I put in front of him, but the stuff he likes best is : an assortment of fresh raw veggies and dip--any kind of dip (Ranch, bleu cheese, balsamic vinegar/evoo, etc., pepperoni & cheese on crackers & microwaved for about 20 seconds til melty (he calls these yum-yums), cut up fruit pieces, butter bread, etc. Kind of simple stuff, but it's what he prefers and I think it's (mostly) healthier than sandwiches. as for my husband, he usually calls dibbs on any leftovers from the dinner the night before and on my work days, I take soup or a frozen Healthy Choice dinner.

hi,
I agree with all before me ... I too [ to this day] make a roast[ chicken and such] and use it all week ...
however; my childrens fav. were EGGs ... All kind of EGGs .
-- hard boiled [ simple]
- egg salad sandwitch
- cold scrambled egg sandwitch [ yum] with tomatoe
- roll up in a totilla
- and so on
- cheap too
dippie stuff:
-- fill rubbermaid [ x-small] with ranch dressing , peanut butter, sesame dressing and so on .... dip any thing apples [ cut up] , lettuce, celery, pretzels, nacho,
-- raisens [ great source of iron] pre package yourself [ way cheaper]
--- fruit on bottom yog urt you can add nuts , granola etc ...
grammy in a hurry

I do a sorta lunch a lot because kids are natural grazers anyway. I have sectioned party trays that I put all sorts of different foods in each day. I always do a protein, like cut up cheese cubes, ham cubes, grilled chicken strips. Then I do a veggie section with cut up peppers carrots, cucumber, the sky is the limit. Add a fruit, some nuts, raisins etc to another section. The last section is for whole grain crackers, grilled whole wheat pita triangles, that sort of thing. Then hummus or dip in the middle section. I put this tray on the picnic table outside and let the kids eat. When they are done I put the lid on, throw it in fridge for the next lunch or snack time mid afternoon. When it is gone, I make up a new tray with different combos of foods. For you, throw some lettuce on a plate and use the tray to make up something creative. Same for your husband. If everything is cut up and ready to go it is easy to throw together lunches for the week, all different. if he can keep a salad dressing or two in the work fridge, even better. Good luck! Hope this helps!

Instead of sandwiches with bread, we sometimes do wraps. You take a flour tortilla shell, spread mayonaise or ranch dressing on one side, put in one to two slices of meat, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, etc., whatever each person likes. If we are eating them at home, I used grated cheese and heat them up until the cheese melts. If eating them away from home, I use sliced cheese. Roll or fold the shell, cut in half and enjoy. Sometimes we use those fancy toothpicks to hold them together.

You can also use pita shells.

I agree with Tara S. My husband takes the night befores dinner. He also gets easily bored of a sandwich. A pasta salad is also very easy to make. You can put pieces of pepperoni, broccoli and cheese in it. (the kind that is served cold with italian dressing) As long as you have a microwave at work i think your possibilites are endless :)

Macaroni and cheese (boxed or homemade) with cut up hot dog and peas
Mini pizzas (English muffins with pizza sauce and cheese, you can also put any other toppings the kids like)
Quesadillas
Fish sticks (homemade or boxed), french fries, veggies and fruit
Cucumber and tomato sandwiches with cream cheese

.

I haven't yet gotten one but as soon as my kids go to school I will. If you go to http://www.laptoplunches.com/
they have these really neat lunch boxes that you can make up any sort of combo. You can subscribe to their newsletter and get meal ideas sent to you and can see different ones people have made up. It might be fun for the kids to do since they are older and would be able to pick and choose what they want for the next day. Good luck!