I have taken on the task of packing my husband’s lunches for work every day. I do it because I’m always up at the crack of dawn anyway, and because it makes me feel good to ensure he gets good food, filled with nutrition and energy. And besides, most of the areas where his projects take him are far from a restaurant or diner.
So I’ve made this one of my missions. And here are the ways I tackle it.
Batch cooking
The first and best idea I have is batch cooking. I make a large amount of any given recipe that’s suitable for his wide-mouthed Stanley thermal food-container that cannot be called a “Thermos” because trademark. 😏
Chili is great for this. So are all my various stir fries, beans and rice, Spanish rice, soups, stews, and mac & cheese. Sometimes I make extra large sized dinners, leaving enough leftovers for the next day’s lunch. His container and his tummy hold about 3 cups of the main course.
In addition to leftovers, I also tend to make crockpots filled to the brim with the chili, soups, and stews, and I devote those big batches entirely to lunches. His go in the thermal container and mine go in the fridge.
When he has cell-service on the job, we always have lunch together via texts. (I know, we’re pathetic.)
Main courses for thermal containers
Mac & Cheeze
Beans & Rice
Spanish Rice
Main Course Wraps
On occasion I’ve packed a veggie wrap. When I do this, I don’t put the wrap together, or the shell gets soggy. I pack all the veggies, pre-chopped, a container of whatever sauce or spread will go onto it, and the wrap itself, rolled up. We tend to use flour tortillas for these kinds of wraps. They aren’t whole grain, I’d buy those if I could find them.
Sides
When you are plant-based, you have to eat more food in order to get your caloric requirements. But when you’re working, you don’t want to eat it all at once. A stuffed stomach is not condusive to a productive afternoon. So I always include snacks that will provide energy throughout the day. Here are my standard lunchbox sides.
Mixed nuts with raisins
We get our nuts from bins at a small grocery store. Cashews, almonds, walnuts, peanuts, sometimes others, with no oil or salt added. I like to mix a variety of them in a bowl with a handful of raisins, and then pour them into a small container with a tight-fitting lid for the lunch box.Celery with peanut butter
Wash and trim the celery, then cut into 4” lengths. Spread with natural peanut butter, without added salt or oil. I stack 8 or 10 side by side in a sandwich-sized container with a tight-fitting lid.Fruit, plus fruit, and also more fruit: FRESH
I put in two kinds of fruit when I have it. It’s better to use whole fruits. If you try slicing or quartering in advance, most turn brown and mushy. It’s hard to keep fresh fruit in stock over the winter, and the prices have gone insane. But when possible, try: Red grapes, green grapes, cherries, a whole peach, a whole pear, a ripe apple, a banana, watermelon in the summertime (that, I cut up ahead.)
Fruit, plus fruit, and also more fruit: CANNED
Canned fruit is a great lunchbox option. There are fruit cocktail mixes (with exactly two halved marishino cherries each,) quartered or diced peaches or pears or both, applesauce, and lots more. The caveat: they should be canned in their own natural juices or in water. No sugar added. That’s crucial. Don’t buy anything “in syrup” or “in light syrup.” You want the peach, the whole peach, and nothing but the peach, so help your bod. (<–See what I did there?)
Treats
I bake a lot. The Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from Forks Over Knives is my very favorite cookie recipe. It’s wonderful in every way. My chocolate chip and chocolate chocolate chip cookie recipes have a bit more sugar and peanut butter than I’d like, but I’ve cut it as low as I can without ruining them. The chocolate ones are good without chocolate chips, just as chocolate cookies.
Sidebar: I just looked for those recipes on this site to link them, and I don’t see them here! So now I know what I’ll be posting next weekend!
I also love muffins for lunchbox treats. Blueberry are hubs’ favorite. I used to love the muffin recipe on the back of the All Bran Cereal box, and I’m going to find it again, and figure out how to replicate it with whole ingredients. Stay tuned for that. And my blueberry muffin recipe too!
Water
I fill a six-quart container with water to go to work wth him every day. Bums me out he doesn’t empty it, but it’s always with him. In the summer I add lots of ice to that.Coffee
My hubs takes a tall, skinny, not-Thermos full of coffee every day too. We only drink decaf, and he usually brings it home half-full. I drink way more coffee than he.Iced Tea
This would be about the only beverage I’d pack besides water. Stay way from sodas and juices. You know the drill by now, if you want the fruit, eat the whole fruit.
I don’t like leaving my home, and I feel so blessed that I get to make my living right from here, alternating between my own cozy sofa and my stand-up desk-with-treadmill. My hubs has to leave home to make his living, so I try to send some home with him every day. And then we eat the same meal at the same time, even when apart.