My husband is needing to take his lunch with him every day. I am sure he is getting sick of cold sandwiches as I am of making them for him. He does not have access to a microwave to warm anything up. So far he has been getting sandwich, chips, piece of fruit & a dessert. Anything else I can send with him in his cooler when he leaves in the morning?
I'm also a big fan of cold spaghetti, cold pizza, and cold fried chicken! You have a lot of good ideas!
Some thoughts...
pasta salad with some grilled chicken
egg salad, can serve on a roll or just plain
mexican salad - lettuce, tomato, corn, black olives, black beans with a spicy ranch dressing
cold chicken (fried or grilled)
tuna salad
For sides or as a snack....
crackers with cheese
yogurt
veggies and dip
garden salad
pretzels
corn on the cob (it's great cold)
chex mix - make your own so you can add whatever he likes
cottage cheese
hard boiled eggs
Invest in a thermos ...
mac & cheese
chilli
stew
Check out this post from July 18th "lunch or dinner ideas or snacks"
Wraps, pasta salad, green salad, fruit salad, veggies & dips, cold fried chicken, cold meatballs.
check out laptoplunches.com. They have lots of photos and ideas that will inspire you!
You can buy a thermos in the sporting goods section to pack hot lunches in. I do this for my kids (husband too sometimes) and just heat up whatever I'm going to pack in it right before they leave in the morning from the previous night's leftovers. I got ours at Walmart but pretty much any store with a sporting goods section has them. They also sell them by the kid's lunch boxes but the ones in sporting goods are usually larger.
Some of the laptoplunches look good. Other ideas: tuna, pasta or chicken salad, pita bread with hummus, flavored wraps for sandwiches, veggies and dip, pretzels, goldfish or mini rice cakes, fruit salad, salad with dressing, bagel with flavored cream cheese, yogurt, mixed nuts. Will a thermos with soup stay warm long enough?
I'm all about creative potato salad. The Aug/Sept issue of Fine Cooking magazine has a spread about potato salad and all the different ways you can dress it up. There are also a zillion ways you can make cold salads with bulgur wheat, cous cous, tabouli, wheat berries, orzo or other pasta, etc.... just add any combination of vegetables (tomatoes, peas, sugar snaps, green beans, asparagus, carrots, squash, whatever) and pre-cooked meat (or shrimp, or tofu) and find a good vinaigrette recipe to toss it all together.
Not sure if he's a vege lover... But Edemame Salad is pretty tasty. You can find a recipe online.
You have some great ideas for main courses. What about a midmorning snack, so he wont be as hungry at lunch. They say to eat 6 small meals. How about granola bars, Kashi, nutrigrain, or my favorite - the Sweet and salty bars that have nuts and a layer of chocolate. 100 calorie packs. Pretzels. I'm budgeting, so I buy in bulk and portion into ziploc bags. You could put a yogurt and banana for him to eat at 10. Protein bar or 100 calorie snack for midafternoon slump. I usually send leftovers for main course. Most still taste pretty good at room temp, though I might doctor them to look a little differant. If we had grilled chicken last night, I might slice one up and lay it on top of a bowl of noodles in a glad bowl.
I take hard boiled eggs. I hard boil them on Sunday then take 2 in my lunch. I peel them in the morning and stick them in a baggie and they're good.
