Brown Bag Dinners for Night Shift Working Husband

I second the thermos suggestion- when my husband worked nights I would put soups, stews, chili, roast beef, casserole leftovers etc. in a thermos. I would pre-treat thermos with boiling water first to heat it up and microwave food *hot* before putting in thermos.

If you make his lunch, slip an "I love you" note in there occasionally.

Well I like cold burritos, tacos and pizza.
My SO will eat cold burgers and meatball subs.
Other then that pasta salad is great, you can pack it with lots of cheese (mmm fresh mozzarella) tomatos, grilled chicken, olives, etc.
Freeze yogurts then put it in his dinner and they will be thawed by the time he opens it.
Fruit Salad (you can freeze first and it will thaw)
Tortilla wraps (cream cheese, meat, lettuce, tomato, etc).
If he has access to hot water (like from a coffee/tea station) you can buy him the campbells soup packets or cup o noodles.
Hope this helps.

Yes, I was going to suggest Thermos as well! My friend's husband has the same issue and she often packs him soups and other hot items in the thermos and it stays warm all night. There was another question asked about kids' lunches earlier today and someone suggest California Innovations (I think that was the brand) lunch boxes b/c they have a heating and/or cooling element too. I've heard that brand is pretty awesome so you might check into that too.

Try those big Thermos's. You could put chili, soup, pasta, pulled pork or whatever he likes in there.

Sandwiches might be a good fall-back, but something yummy and "cold" might be a few rolls or part of a loaf of bread, cheese wedge, and sausage or pepperoni. You could buy some of that in bulk and split it over a few meals, send a bit of butter, and he can have a filling picnic-style dinner. Cold chicken might be another yummy meal with a bread or carb of some kind as well.

Hi,

This might sounds silly or hard to find, but the other night I saw on TV a lunch tote that is supposed to be able to keep things cold or hot for I believe 12 hours. Maybe try looking up As Seen On TV and you might be able to find it.. Also if you can get a really good thermos you could make soup or even pasta dishes and they will keep hot. Just prep the thermos first with VERY hot water and dump the water just before adding the food. I hope this helps!

My fiance did the thermos thing like other mothers mentioned. They work really well at keeping food hot. It doesn't have to be a soup... we used to put chunks of roast, veggies, 'hot' salads, etc. in it. If the stuff didn't work well together, we would wrap it in tin foil before putting it in the thermos.

What about thermos, so you could send soup, chilli, stew, etc.

Other ideas...
Garden salad - add some grilled chicken
Chef's salad - greens with strips of deli meat and hard boiled eggs
Pasta salad
Egg salad
Tuna salad
Quiche

Rather than your traditional sandwith with two pieces of bread or a roll, try making some wraps. Or you could send crackers that could be eaten with any of the above or with cheese or peanut butter.

Some other things to include in the "bag"...
veggies and dip
yougurt
fruit
nuts
granola bar
chips or pretzels
humus
roasted veggies like peppers or zucchini that are good cold

Chicken salad, tuna salad and egg salad are what i think of right away. Even some cold chicken wraps would be good. Big green salads with grilled chicken and hard boiled egg are pretty filling.

string cheese, fresh fruit diced up, oranges, apples, bananas, veggies w/ ranch, garden salad with lots of veggies/egg/cheese/coldmeat(even deli-slices cut up are good on salad), pickles, cheese&crackers (make his own lunchables), hard boiled eggs w/salt packets in his bag too, pasta salad with olives and lunchmeat diced in topped with italian dressing and pepper, chicken salad sandwiches, tuna salad with crackers, some guys like cold pizza. Oh and I like Mitzi's thought of cold sausage (salami maybe, a summer sausage).

I make my husband's lunch every day and will pick 3 or 4 items from the above list for one lunch sometimes. But I'd consider, if you can, to get a microwave from Goodwill or somewhere cheap and take it to work.

Does he have access to a fridge, and does he like salads? Pasta Salads, seafood salads, cold pasta salads. Is there any way he could bring a microwave to work? There may also be lunch boxes that function as warmers - maybe that could be an option for warm dinners. Good luck!

roasted chicken & caesar salad in a pita
maybe get a thermos & put spaghetti or whatever else you normally eat, they do keep it quite hot, & you could microwave it really hot before packing it in.