Cooking & Baking
Related: About this forumPacking lunches.
Last night while the beans were going as every week, also prepared fixings for husband's lunch this week: salmon salad (think tuna salad subbing canned salmon, which he prefers to the tuna), baked a large pan brownies to throw in the oven along with the cornbread for dinner, and boiled some eggs, both for the salmon salad and his breakfast for the week. (Of course, we both had to have still slightly warm brownies with vanilla ice cream for dessert.)
He still likes to eat his yogurt here in the morning and takes a banana, but really needs more protein in the morning to get through to lunch, so I pack something simple and handy for him to either eat on the road or reheat when he gets to work. Some weeks he just wants a medium boiled egg and nothing else, but I try to come up with something a little more substantial. Last week and this, it's just simple grilled sharp cheddar cheese and sliced hard boiled egg sandwiches, I make each morning while packing the rest of his lunch.
For a while he was stuck on a breakfast burrito, wanting only diced onion in the scrambled egg, topped with shredded sharp cheddar and a breakfast sausage link, sliced in half lengthwise after cooking, no salsa or anything else so he could just pick it up and eat it. Pretty easy to assemble and wrap on Sundays, making enough to have handy to grab one each morning for the entire week.
For next week, I'm thinking maybe mushroom, onion and cheese omelet cups, baked in a large muffin pan inside unrolled croissant rolls, but will have to wait until grocery day this weekend to see what he's in the mood for (plus I have the first art fair of the season all day on Saturday which will limit my time.)
Lunch is always rounded out with some sort of side: during the winter it's usually soup or mac n cheese he can reheat, and during the warmer months cottage cheese with fruit, tabouli, macaroni, pasta or potato salad depending on what kind of sandwiches he requests for the week, a sweet treat such as brownies or cookies, and some additional fruit.
This has been going on now every week for close 18 years and while he's pretty easy to please as repetition doesn't seem to bother him terribly often, but it does me, so I sort of meet him half way trying to add at least a little variety when I can.
Does anyone else have to deal with packing lunches each week and have any particularly favorite clever and creative additions in the rotation?
elleng
(131,201 posts)I do like salmon as an alternate to tuna salad, which is one of my favorites.
I'm out of satisfying ideas for my OWN breakfasts, at HOME.
hippywife
(22,767 posts)He has always preferred to pack his lunch, only buying it out as an occasional treat or if something was going on where I wasn't able to prepare for one reason or another, but that's been pretty rare. For years he took PBJs only, and it took me a while to talk him into something else on occasion.
But I can't imagine being stuck with the same thing for weeks on end, so I try to change things up a little.
I like the salmon too, except for cleaning out the skin and spines. I leave the other bones since they're so soft after being steamed in the can, they nearly disintegrate.
I'm sure I can Google up some ideas, but wanted to see if anyone here had made anything they were particularly fond of or found really good and creative for breakfasts.
fizzgig
(24,146 posts)he doesn't have access to a fridge (he needs a new little cooler bag) or a microwave, so that puts some limits on what i can make. i've been making big batches of hummus and tabbouleh on the weekends and just putting together pita plates, which is a nice break from the turkey sandwiches he sometimes gets (he will not eat pbj). i also do big batches of pasta salad that works as a main or a side. pretzels, crackers, nuts or snack mix and a banana round out the edges.
sausage biscuits are easy to throw together for easy morning eats, too.
hippywife
(22,767 posts)I do occasionally put together sausage biscuits, but alot of mornings it's either an everything bagel or whole wheat English muffin with cream cheese, sometimes with preserves, sometimes not. Which I think is fine, but not as often as he'll want to eat them. He even gets on a blueberry Pop-Tart kick once in a while. I used to make homemade ones, but they're a real pain and definitely not good in the summer because the dough is temperamental and requires a very cool kitchen.
He will take turkey sandwiches once in a while too, and even go for some avocado on those, with cheese and mayo. Another 'sandwich' in the summer rotation is a pita with just avocado, tomato, sprouts and cheese, with a little container of tzatziki packed with it. He likes hummus so in the summer I'll make that and pack it with pita as alternative to regular sandwiches. Or even make up some falafel, which he really enjoys.
There just seem to be more and better alternatives in the summer with access to fresher in season fruits and veggies. Desperately awaiting good strawberries and the first melons of the year, and of course later, the fresh local peaches.
fizzgig
(24,146 posts)but falafel is a great idea, we both love it but i've never thought to make it.
and don't start talking about peaches yet they're still at least three months out here and i've been salivating just thinking about them for six months already.
hippywife
(22,767 posts)Don't expect to see them for about that long, either.
Kali
(55,026 posts)if I remember correctly you make fabulous pizzas. cold pizza - good for ANY meal!
hippywife
(22,767 posts)Good to see you. Thanks for popping in with a suggestion.
Cold leftover pizza is usually reserved for my own breakfast.
He'll eat it for his lunch on the weekends pretty readily, but not for breakfast and isn't always receptive to having me pack it to take to work, though it does happen on occasion. Probably not as often since pizza is still usually reserved as a Friday night thing around here for some strange reason.