Lunches for Adults

[spopepro]

I got in a bit of a bad habit with buying lunches just about every day. I had a hard time with just carrying leftovers as I would get bored with eating the same thing many meals in a row. I've also never been really happy with a sandwich or whatnot. Yeah, first world problems and all, but I really like good food and lunch is included. So in trying to be better with not spending so much cash, and cutting some calories (let's face it, it's almost impossible to keep to a good count at 99% of restaurants out there) I've made it a priority to make good lunches for my wife an myself (call it a resolution if you like). The ideas are *heavily* inspired by Japanese bento. Here's some of what I've done so far:

chirashizushi + curry spaghetti squash + 5 spice tofu nuggets + kimchi


sweet and sour meatballs with eggplant and mizuna + sunomono + ginger garlic komatsuna + rice


tuna conserva with pepitas and piquillo + tahini carrots + maple braised kale


spicy tuna "roll" + edamame, pea shoot, tomato, and cucumber



Here's what I've learned so far:
-I can't get up early enough and/or work fast enough to do it all in the morning like is traditional. I'll make a bunch of stuff for the week on sunday and assemble in the mornings.
-Portioning rice, freezing it, and then microwaving it works great.
-Packaged things, like yuba and tofu are great for filling out the bento without having to make everything from scratch
-Making food for 2 people, I get about 3 days worth and then need to switch to leftovers for a day or a different, simpler bento.
-The monbento boxes are awesome, and a great size for adult lunches.

I'm always looking for new ideas, so if you have stuff to share I'd love to see it.

[Matthew Strongin]

I'm always looking for new ideas, so if you have stuff to share I'd love to see it.

My idea is that you move to Miami and start making lunch for me. Those look great and so much better than the crap I usually eat for lunch.

[11.4]

I don't want to share ideas. I want to share food. You don't want to be in Miami. Trust me. Dallas. That's the place.

[zetroc]

I struggle with lunch planning too. Since we have a fridge and a kitchen at the office I usually bring raw materials to work and make a salad - green, sweet, crunch, dressing. I had a really good salad yesterday that was spring mix, toasted pecans, blueberries, strawberries, and champagne vinaigrette, so that might have to make it into the rotation. Unfortunately I tend to get in ruts and make the same thing for weeks on end, which gets boring and I end up eating burritos from the only decent restaurant nearby. But man cannot live on burrito alone, so I'll be haunting this thread and poaching ideas as needed.

[Matthew Strongin]

But man cannot live on burrito alone...

Challenge accepted.

[Brandon White]

Wait, does this mean Lunchables aren't for adults?

[David Tollefson]

Wait, does this mean Lunchables aren't for adults?

Only if you eat them 4 at a time...

[seanile]

i recently moved from 2 pb&js to a massive sweet potato with liberal amounts of butter and salt. pretty damn good and filling oddly enough.

[Blue Jays]

Those pics look like 5-star lunch dining to me! Congrats on the terrific choices.