What’s in your packed lunch

Eason46

I am stuck for ideas for my packed lunches. Ps I have access to a microwave.

2020Franky

Love, love love..easy do-able recipes...pack up your portions in portable containers
I have made 3 times..once with chicken with cherries, once with fish and blueberries, and today with meatballs and mango...I crave onions...so it works in my world...hope you like it.
Blueberry Balsamic Chicken
(from the Oneroot honey site. EXCELLENT!!!
Note: this turned out excellent…used cherries as was out of blueberries…so yum!)

Ingredients:
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (or 2 pounds chicken legs and thighs)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cup Blueberries
• 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp organic raw honey
• 1-2 rosemary branch
• 1/4 tsp pepper
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and butter in a skillet.
3. Season chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and add to the pan when the oil and butter are hot and bubbly.
4. Sear chicken breasts over medium-high heat until golden brown, about 1 minute per side or until a light crust forms.
5. Remove to a baking dish and set aside.
6. To the remaining olive oil and butter in the skillet, add blueberries with balsamic vinegar + honey sauce, red onion, and rosemary.
7. Simmer about 10 minutes, or until the blueberries have collapsed.
8. Pour the blueberry balsamic mixture over chicken and put baking dish in the top half of the oven for about 10 minutes, until the chicken has cooked through to a temperature of 165°F.

goal06082021

I meal-prep lunches for myself and my husband each week. This week, we have Greek chicken, rice pilaf, and green beans.

Greek Chicken
* 10 chicken drumsticks (bone-in, skin-on)
* 2/3 to 1/2 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
* 1/2 tbsp salt
* 1 tsp dried oregano
* 1 tsp black pepper
* 1 tsp dried rosemary
* 1 pinch cayenne
* Enough garlic (you measure that **** with your heart, I used about 2 tbsp/26g)
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 1 cup chicken broth

Preheat the oven to 425*F. Combine the first 8 ingredients in a large bowl and toss to coat the chicken legs. Put the olive oil and chicken broth in a high-walled roasting pan, arrange the chicken legs skin-side up in a single layer, pour over any remaining marinade and bake for 50 minutes or so, until the skin is crispy and the chicken is cooked through. I reduced the pan drippings into a nice gravy, thickening with about 2 tbsp cornstarch - it's not necessary, but it felt wasteful not to. Makes 10 servings including gravy, 209 cal/serving.

Greek Rice and Orzo Pilaf
* 1 medium red onion, diced (about 150g)
* 60g butter
* 3 cups chicken broth
* 1 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
* 1/2 cup (104g) dry orzo
* 1 1/2 cup (210g) dry white rice

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add onion, saute until soft. Add orzo, cook 2 minutes. Add rice, cook 2 minutes. Add broth and lemon juice, bring to boil, then lower heat, cover, and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until all liquid is absorbed. Fluff with fork and serve. Makes 10 servings, 240 cal/serving.

Greek-style Green Beans
* 1 package (~500g) fresh green beans/French beans/haricots verts (I suppose you could use frozen but I don't know how that would impact the cooking time)
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 1 large red onion, diced (about 200g)
* Enough garlic (about 2 tbsp/31g as measured)
* Pinch of sugar
* 1 14-oz can of diced tomatoes
* Parsley to garnish

Cut green beans to manageable lengths. Heat olive oil in a decently-sized pan. Saute onion until soft, about 5 minutes; add garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute. Add tomatoes (don't drain them) and sugar and cook for a minute or two. Add green beans, mix around to make sure they're fully coated with the oil-onion-garlic-tomato mixture, then cover and simmer for 40-45 minutes. You can add a bit of hot water if it seems too dry. Makes, just, a ****load of green beans - 80 cal per 100g serving; my lunch containers fit about 70g alongside the chicken and rice pilaf, for about 60 cal.

Totals about 500 calories for a serving, heats up fine in 2 1/2 minutes in the microwave. Next time I might take the meat off the bone for the chicken, but it's not that much of a PITA to eat at my desk.

goal06082021

I'm trying to meal-plan in chunks of about 6 weeks at a time, basically taking an afternoon to do all my thinking about meal planning at once rather than week-by-week. I'm trying to strike a balance between trying new things, because I do love to cook, and also not having to think so dang much. The other lunches I made/planned for the first six weeks of 2021 were:

* Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, and broccoli (1/4-1/8)
* Egg Roll in a Bowl (1/11-1/15)
* Pasta primavera with kielbasa (1/18-1/22)
* DIY Lunchables/poor-man's charcuterie boxes (2/1-2/5)
* Japanese curry over rice (2/8-2/12)

Happy to share those recipes as well if anyone is interested.

acpgee

https://www.tastecooking.com/best-thing-make-air-fryer-isnt-fried/

rosebarnalice

I pack a salad almost every day -- often built around leftovers from the evening before.

Eason46

Loving the recipes 👍🏻😀 thank you all so much.

chesves

goal06082021 wrote: »

I'm trying to meal-plan in chunks of about 6 weeks at a time, basically taking an afternoon to do all my thinking about meal planning at once rather than week-by-week. I'm trying to strike a balance between trying new things, because I do love to cook, and also not having to think so dang much. The other lunches I made/planned for the first six weeks of 2021 were:

* Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, and broccoli (1/4-1/8)
* Egg Roll in a Bowl (1/11-1/15)
* Pasta primavera with kielbasa (1/18-1/22)
* DIY Lunchables/poor-man's charcuterie boxes (2/1-2/5)
* Japanese curry over rice (2/8-2/12)

Happy to share those recipes as well if anyone is interested.

I'd love the recipes! Thank you!

cwolfman13

Usually leftovers from dinner the night before...if not, a sandwich.

goal06082021

Recipes, as requested!

Salisbury Steak - make your mashed potatoes and broccoli to go with however you like best (:
1kg ground beef (I don't remember the fat content tbh, probably 90/10?)
2 eggs
45g panko breadcrumbs
35g ketchup
13g minced garlic (about a clove-ish, I use the jarred pre-minced stuff)
10g salt
1g black pepper
15g olive oil
53g butter
132g diced onion
2g fresh thyme
192g cremini mushrooms, diced
32g all-purpose flour
47g tomato paste
479g beef stock (about 4 cups, one box)
25g worcestershire sauce

Mix the ground beef, eggs, breadcrumbs, ketchip, garlic, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Divide into 16 small patties, about 140g each. Heat the olive oil in a large, deep saucepan over medium heat and cook the patties about 4 minutes per side. You might need to work in batches. Remove the patties and set aside. Melt the butter, toss in the onions and cook about 3 minutes until translucent. Add thyme and mushrooms, cook until onions are soft and most of the liquid is cooked out of the mushrooms. Sprinkle with flour and stir around for about two minutes, until it stops smelling like raw flour. Add the tomato paste and stir around for a minute, then slowly add the beef stock a bit at a time, scraping up any browned bits and dissolving any flour/tomato paste lumps - you're building a gravy. Add the worcestershire. Return the patties to the gravy and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes. Makes 8 servings, 2 patties each plus about 2 tablespoons of gravy, 372 cal/serving.

Egg Roll in a Bowl
1lb ground pork
1/2 head of cabbage, shredded (worked out to 1043g for me)
256g shredded carrot
19g minced garlic (about a clove-ish)
208g diced onion
24g vegetable oil (about 2 tbsp)
20g soy sauce (about 2 tbsp)
13g ginger paste (about 1 1/2 tsp)

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Start with the onions and cook for about 2 minutes; then add the carrots, another 2 minutes; garlic and ginger, 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Add the ground pork and break up into the smallest bits possible. Add the cabbage and stir around until vegetables are tender and pork is cooked through. Deglaze with soy sauce. Makes 10 servings, 193 cal/serving. Serve with duck sauce and sriracha. I thought this needed some kind of crunchy substrate; it tasted fine, it just felt a little lacking. This is pretty much just egg roll filling, so you can go ahead and wrap this stuff up in some kind of dough if you want to. I made egg-roll empanadas with this at one point and they turned out great, I baked them in the oven rather than frying.

Pasta Primavera with Kielbasa
778g diced red or yellow potatoes (you want waxy for this, not starchy)
46g garlic (about 3 cloves)
155g diced onion
468g broccoli florets
560g polska kielbasa, cut into bite-size pieces
569g zucchini
221g diced bell pepper
10g olive oil (about a tsp)
5g Italian seasoning (about a tsp)
12oz dry pasta, your choice

I par-boiled my potatoes and blanched my broccoli while sauteing the onion, pepper, and zucchini. I think, if I make this again, I would probably do it on a sheet pan in the oven, rather than on a stovetop, as the sheer volume of ingredients and the size of my pot meant that most things just steamed instead of getting that good good Maillard reaction going. I'd use a bit more olive oil and definitely some salt and pepper - here I figured the kielbasa would be salty enough, but it wasn't. I served it over some chickpea penne; I haven't tried many wheat-alternative pastas, so maybe I got a bad batch or did something wrong cooking it, but I can't recommend it for this. The recipe I adapted called for red lentil spaghetti, maybe that's better, IDK. The vegetables and kielbasa on their own yield 10 servings, 275 cal each, plus whatever substrate you serve it on, pasta or otherwise.

goal06082021

DIY Lunchables/Poor-Man's Charcuterie
I love these! It's just what it sounds like - remember the basic Lunchables that were just some cold cuts, cheese slices, and crackers, maybe with an Oreo or a microscopic candy bar for "dessert"? It's the same idea, just pick one or two meats, one or two cheeses, get some fancy crackers, and maybe class up the joint a little bit with some extras like snack-size fruit or veggies, pickles, maybe a hard-boiled egg for extra protein, or a little somethin' sweet if that's what you're feeling. My plan is deli ham, sliced gouda, some fancy flatbread crackers, baby carrots with hummus, half an ounce of pistachios, and a hard-boiled egg; MFP says all of that will weigh in at 479 calories for the lot. I have some little reusable silicone cupcake liners that I use as separators in my containers for these, good for holding sauces and keeping wet and dry foods separate. The crackers do get a little soft in the fridge over the course of the week, but I'm a heathen that likes that, so it doesn't bother me; if it bothers you, pack the crackers separately.

Japanese-style Curry over Rice
Golden Curry is, I'm told, more or less the Japanese equivalent of Kraft mac and cheese dinner. It does require a little bit more prep work than Kraft does, though. I just follow the recipe on the box - 1lb potato, 2lb onion, 9oz carrot, 1lb meat of some kind (I'm planning on chicken). Sometimes I'll add a green thing if I have one, like broccoli, baby bok choy, or spinach.