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Friday, April 24, 2015

Last week's lunch round-up: my grab-and-go lunch fixings


left: garbanzo, celery, barley salad    right: chunky tomato soup

I haven't done one of these lunch posts in several weeks. For one thing, I was struggling just to keep a few things made each week. Life flows in spurts. Some months, there seems to be a spring melt and runoff of activity. Other months, just a trickle of activity to add to daily living.

And then there's my quest to get this grocery spending back in line with the budget. I've had a lot of things to talk about.

Anyways, I did keep track of what I made for last week's lunches. Here is/was last week's lunch round-up. Between Sunday, Monday and Wednesday, I prepared these grab-and-go items for our lunches:

  • leftover hummus and fry bread (I intentionally made a huge batch of hummus, some for lunches and some for a meal later next week)
  • garbanzo bean, celery, barley salad -- all marinated in a dressing of oil, rosemary-thyme vinegar and garlic (when I use celery in a salad, I use the entire rib, leaves and all, hence the "leafy" look, plus I think the leaves have a brighter flavor)
  • homemade chunky tomato soup (I had to make 2 batches of this soup, as it was devoured quickly)
  • another batch of pickle juice muffins. I added a bit more cinnamon this time. I kept thinking I was eating apple-cinnamon muffins. Just trying to use up the pickle juice before the next pickle-making season begins!
  • and then later in the week some pumpkin-chocolate chip muffins. I actually made these for a little boy that I babysit on Thursdays. He loves pumpkin-chocolate chip muffins. So, sometimes I bake a batch to bring one to him. And my lucky family gets to eat the leftovers!
  • home-dried prunes
  • carrot sticks (I prepared a large container of carrot sticks on Monday and they were gone by Thursday)
  • oranges
  • pbj sandwiches
  • hard boiled eggs
We are going through more food than usual, with our packed lunches. So, I did make extra for grab-and-go this past week.


I know a few of you work at home, and some of you work in education and so have summers at home. What sort of items do those of you who eat at home, prepare for your lunches? I'm looking for new ideas for things to fix, using fairly basic ingredients.

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8 comments:

  1. Fry bread sounds delicious and interesting!! I have not heard it before, except you may have mentioned it before.
    Since I'm still loving my pinto beans (recently bought 75 lbs at our local Sam's club), I was thinking that maybe I should try making my own freezer burritos doing everything from scratch. Via your blog (reading frugalspinster), I read how she did it. Sounds very easy to do, and we can have an easy freezer meal, except I may microwave to reheat instead of using the oven. I love bean burritos but hardly buy store bought because of the high salt and fat content. Making my own, I can make it healthier.

    YHF

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi YHF,
      Pre-made burritos would be a great time-saver! And you're right, you can make them a lot healthier than grocery store ones.

      Fry bread is pretty simple, it's just bread dough, pressed into circles, then pan-fried, either in a non-stick pan/pan sprayed with cooking spray, or in small amount of oil. Turn after browned. Like the Indian Chapati bread (only I make mine a bit thicker, then split them open).

      Delete
    2. Thanks for the instructions...l can't wait to make some using our breadmaker. I eat hummus on toast, fry bread seems much better.

      YHF

      Delete
  2. I'll be interested in what other people do also. Overtime, I think you've covered a lot of things for lunch.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi live and learn,
      I'm always looking for new ideas, as I'm sure you are, too!

      Delete
  3. Lili,
    I am pretty much a from scratch cook. That said, ou weekend and Summer lunches are as follows:

    -leftovers
    -soup
    -sandwiches such as pb & j, egg salad, tuna salad, chicken/turkey salad, deviled ham salad, sliced hard boiled egg with mustard, roasted meat sandwiches (make extra on purpose such as marinating bSCB)that I slice, sliced toato n lettuce on toasted bread w/ mayo, b; & t a few times *(bacon is pricey), sausage n peppers on hoagie rolls, ck parm sadwiches, what few cold cuts I buy sandwiches (usuallly lean ham)
    -pasta salads-great way to use up bits of this n that
    -quiche-another use it up
    -tacosm esp bean based
    -sloppy joes
    -large salads w/ aforementioned sliced, roast meat
    -spaghetti w/ o w/o meat *(use any pasta shape)
    -omelettes-one of my go to use it up offerings
    -grilled cheese
    -homemade pizza
    -homemade cj strips
    -homemade "bisquick" impossible pies
    -fritatta
    -stir fry by itself, over rice, with noodles-great for veggie drawer clean out or to use farm/garden surplus
    -fried egg sandwiches
    -home made tuna/salmon cakes as burgers on rolls on on a plate, ditto homemade ground turkey/ck burgers to which I add a lot of grated vegetables

    HTH
    Carol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Carol,
      thanks for sharing your extensive list! It sparked many ideas for my own lunches. I'm thinking of trying impossible pies, again. I haven't done those in years, but they were well-received when I did. thanks for the reminder!

      Delete

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