Post Punk Kitchen Forum

My one virtuous new year's resolution is to pack a lunch more often. I work in the land of delicious $15 vegan lunches, so it's easy enough for me to find food, it's just obnoxiously expensive (seriously, the grocery store closest to my office offers 2 vegan hot soups, summer rolls, tofu salad sandwiches, a selection of vegan yogurts, good vegan gummy bears and justin's pb cups at all times, so you see how I could get carried away). I know how to pack a lunch, but just need to do it, so let's share some inspiration.

Today I brought: leftover soup (leftover roasted veggies sauteed with more garlic and carrots, then cooked with broth and quinoa), an apple, an orange and 2 chocolate snickerdoodles (vctoycj). I snagged a couple of tj's pb crackers from the communal snack stash at work too.

I think tomorrow I'll bring some kind of avocado sandwich on olive bread (and more cookies).

Anyone else have an exciting (or not so exciting) packed lunch today?

my favorite thing to pack is AFR's nicoise salad with balsamic dressing instead of the green goddess.

also leftover homemade pizza with pesto, eggplant, and cashew ricotta, yum :)

Today I brought in oatmeal & berries that I ate in the AM, then I also brought in a salad of romaine, red onion, and chickpeas. I threw some brown rice and artichokes in it at lunchtime that I heated up. I also brought some fruit.

Sometimes I feel like I have to pack a huge shopping bag full of stuff every day just to get enough to eat- actually I often go out grocery shopping at lunchtime, and will buy little snacks then for at work as well.

I packed a lunch - 2 homemade black bean burgers, broccoli slaw and parsnip fries
and 2 snacks - a tiny apple with some macadamias and a giant orange.

I feel ya, I am really trying to tighten to purse strings when it comes to food this year. I feel like no one in NYC cooks, everyone gets take-out and delivery for every meal, but I just cannot afford it! I hate the waste of all the packaging involved, too.

When I do cook dinner, I always try to make enough to ensure I have leftovers for lunch the next day. I'm always running late in the morning, so having leftovers packed up and ready to go is just about the only way I manage to bring lunch to work. Today it was lasagna (and I actually made enough to freeze some, too. Go me!) with cashew ricotta, vegan bolognese, and collard greens in it. I like to have a few frozen Trader Joe's entrees on hand in case we ate dinner out or there weren't any leftovers.
If I have the stuff available, my quick lunch go-to's are nut butter and jelly (or banana) sandwiches or hummus plates with veggies and crackers.

I like this thread!

I packed a microwave lemon and coriander rice pouch, some broccoli and balsamic dressing.

If I am cooking dinner generally I cook a LOT so I have leftovers for several days. But if there's no leftovers around lately I have been doing a wild rice/brown rice blend cooked in veg broth with chickpeas and whatever veggies on hand to throw in. I get like 4 lunches out of this. It's a tiny bit boring, but I love not having to worry about it all week. Then I bring snacky type things like dry cereal, cookies, nuts or fruit to have with my morning with my coffee or as an afternoon snack if I can't make it till dinner. I always bring my lunch - I only get 30 mins - just barely - and I don't have time to waste going to get food somewhere.

I bring my lunch 99% of the time, unless i have plans with someone to go out. Its too expensive! I did the math once, if you go out every day and only spend $5 on lunch (reasonable) thats $25 a week, $125 a month, or $1500 a year!!!! And lemme tell ya, around here its hard to find lunch for even $5!

I do leftovers most of the time, or an easy to put together salad, or i always have 1 or 2 amy's in the freezer just in case.

Today was a mixed greens salad with baked tofu, sundried tomatoes, red bell pepper, raw tomatoes and cesear chavez dressing. Then a banana, a yogurt, and a LaraBar for right before I leave work and go work out.

I like this thread too!

I have to bring my lunch to work every day because i work in a residential neighborhood and have no way of leaving. Most of the time i bring leftovers plus some brown-bag type supplemental foods.

Today I brought one of those Trader Joes country grain salads, which was suprisingly good! Plus baby carrots and two mandarin oranges.

I am usually a leftovers-for-lunch kinda girl (alternating with bouts of PB&J) but we didn't have anything good in the fridge and our bread was stale so I brought a carton of soy milk and a box of cereal (Flax Plus Maple Pecan Crunch) for my lunch today.

I know I should use my lunches as an opportunity to eat more veggies, but I looked forward to lunch ALL DAY today. I love cereal!!!

I had leftover tomato rice navy bean soup (Vcon), a couple of pita triangles with red pepper hummus, a Clif Builder Bar, and a couple of squares of Endangered Species Dark Chocolate Mint candy bar.

I have a new job, and i work in a cubicle (HATE!) and this office is so. very. quiet.

i cant eat crunchy food at my desk without feeling like everyone is listening to me. which they are. Which sucks, since I love baby carrots and hummus. Guess ill switch to cucumbers and hummus. actually, that sounds pretty good!

and I hate eating in the break room. I dont like eating in front of people unless we are eating together, if that makes sense. it feels weird to me.

I am on the same boat. I work in center city- close to Chinatown (home of at least 4 all veg chinese food restaurants), a 5 minute walk to Blackbird (Philly's all vegan pizzeria), close to Whole Foods, super vegan friendly gastropubs, and a series of expensive veg-friendly restaurants that my co-workers like to frequent. I went a little overboard the first year I worked where I work now and ate out about 1-3 days a week. I've gotten a lot better in the last couple weeks and only go out once a week (except for the times I got some delicious hoison tofu from the salad bar place to top on my home made salad, but that place is really cheap so I don't count it haha.)

Anyway, today I brought in some leftover soy curl fajitas with sauteed onions, mushrooms and peppers on a whole grain tortilla with salsa and sour cream.

Tomorrow I will have a salad with a homemade cashew carrot ginger dressing (I love that I recreated the dressing you get at japanese/sushi restaurants. So easy and I usually always have the ingredients on hand! raw cashews, raw carrots, a chunk of ginger, a couple garlic cloves, tamari, rice wine vinegar, agave, water). I am really looking forward to tomorrow's salad!

I eat carrots and hummus every day at my desk and I don't give a shiitake if it's loud! The guy behind me listens to obnoxious music all day, which competes with CNBC on the TV, and it's so forking annoying. I will be as loud as I want with my lunch.

My boss actually buys hummus for me at Costco when he goes to get office supplies, so I generally just bring my carrots and some fruit for lunch. It gets boring but I can't complain about giant tubs of free hummus.

i am also a leftovers fan. lately i am a tacos-for-dinner-every-night fan as well, so today's leftovers for lunch was a bunch of kidney beans and tvp cooked with onions, red pepper, chipotle peppers and herbs, sprinkled liberally with cilantro. packed lime wedges and half an avocado as well, and topped it all with a red cabbage-balsamic vinegar salad. super tasty. tonight's dinner/tomorrow's lunch is quite similar, but less good 'cause i'm out of avocado.

I mostly do leftovers or sandwiches. I try to keep a couple of the Trader Joe's boxed noodle thingys at my desk for rushed mornings.

Yesterday I brought a yummy curry that I made the night before. I got a vegetarian cookbook (only one recipe isn't vegan and it's super easy to leave the egg out of Pad Thai) in Bangkok and we made a soup and curry from it. Soooo good and spicy. My friend actually got to take a cooking class there and bought me the cookbook as a feel-better present since I was sick in the hotel room with food poisoning. I can't wait to cook more from it!

Today, I'm eating out with a friend. I allow it once a week or so :) Plus we do it for cheap, so it's usually ~$5 (burrito, Clover foodtruck, and the art school cafeteria are all good cheap options in my area).

Tomorrow, more curry leftovers!

I'm a leftovers for lunch gal (when I am able to get my asparagus in gear to cook dinner, anyway.) Today is tofurkey and yukon gold potatoes that I did in the crockpot.

There is no way for me to buy lunch, thanks to being trapped in the school. Technically I COULD leave, but there's nowhere close enough to get there and back that isn't swamped with students at lunch. So I always bring leftovers, and like many others, keep a stash of "just in case" emergency food in a cabinet in my classroom (TJ's noodles, cans of soup, etc).

Today, I have a tupperware of Tempeh Helper from the other night.

I want to try to bring in more veggies. I've been way surviving WAY too much off mac 'n' cheez.

Today I have some leftover minnestrone soup that I made last night. I also brought in steel cut oats for breakfast, but I have a feeling I will get hungry and need to supplement with a snack later on. Soup is never enough lunch for me!

I had some leftover refried beans over romaine and topped with fresh salsa. I also had 2 clementines and I have some baby carrots and hummus for later.

you guys are amazing at bringing lunch. mine kind of sucks today because I was running late - cucumber, avocado and mustard on olive bread, an orange, an apple and some more chocolate snickerdoodles (which I ate well in advance of lunch since I have no self control).

Another leftovers one here. That or cooking up some soup/curry to tupperware up for a few days. Yesterday was the tomato soup from Vegan Diner. Plus some bread and nuts.

I eat 3 small meals at work, so I don't go home starving before I cook dinner. That's the plan at least. Today was white bean and kale stew in the morning, purple potato soup mid day (color me vegan) and a rice kidney bean & corn with jerk spicing thing for the afternoon. A clementine each time too! These are all leftovers from previous dinners..

I love packed lunches but I haven't been the greatest lately at making them at night so I can take the time to make them good.
Today was leftover baked chimichanga with some salsa on the side, plus pineapple, baby carrots, and an orange sliced up.

I keep a box of veggie burgers in the office for days that I forget lunch or have no leftovers. But today, I did have leftovers: Cauliflower Pesto soup from AFR