I have no idea what to make for lunch to go, growing up I had a sandwich every day at school. I don't want to buy as much fast food as I usually do.
Anyone have anything good? I already have a go-to breakfast, and dinner is fine because I can figure something out on the spot based on what looked good in the store that week.
Lunch is hard because I have to plan it, and I don't want to pack too little and something that isn't filling. Ideally want something that can be eaten cold.
i just eat a whole package of hot dogs by thesmselves very filling
I'm awful at cooking so I can't give you any recipes but I will recommend that you google bento lunch recipes for work. And - of course - onigiri. If you want to be the cool kid you can get a bento box.
I lived in Japan and I really miss it when it comes to food. The food was great. Even at the convenience store. If I wanted a nosh - I go into a convenience store and get the kind of onigiri I was in the mood for. If I was hungier - I'd get a bento box lunch. The US has nothing like that at all.
real, decent food in US convenience stores
It's sad that they have no real food that tastes good and is made of high quality ingredients. I'm super-cheap but to me the average American as insane when it comes to their food and drink choices. All they seem to care about is...
-
The lowest price possible
-
The largest size (or amount) possible
[Edit - To be clear - I mean people doing that out of desire not out of necessity. Like a guy driving a $80,000 pickup with a pristine truck bed who wants half a gallon of Coke with the plastic cup/trough included for a dollar and not a penny more.]
I had the the best meal in my life at a random Japanese restaurant. It wasn't even expensive. It was reasonably priced. My girlfriend and me went to the island of Shikoku to visit her grandma. After we got to the island and we got out at the big station before we had to transfer - I said "I'm hungry," and we found a place right nearby. The food was fantastic and I was entirely blown away. I think I could literally go to 1,000s of random Americans that are a bit pricey and not even get close to the wonderfulness of that meal.
I used to bike over to a hole-in-the-wall ramen place a few miles from my house. My favorite was the pork ramen. I'd have ramen there at least a few times a month I grew to take it for granted. Americans have no idea what they are missing. And if you try to explain it to them it can be like talking to a brick wall.
i lived/worked in rural japan for a summer, like a small farming community on southern Kyushu. the "convenience" food was absolutely incredible. onigiri, ramen joints, those like fresh-made takeaway joints with older ladies in the back just making stuff. it was all so reasonably priced and fresh.
the US food system is like cavemen throwing rocks at the sun.
rural japan
I lived in Tokyo and I kept telling myself that I should get out of the city and experience the countryside. But I rarely did. That was a mistake.
the US food system is like cavemen throwing rocks at the sun.
That's a great way to describe it. In fact - that's a great way to describe the US in general.
-
I boight a bunch of rice flower and I have been working through to try to make dongo to impress nerds. Any tips?
I’m awful at cooking so I'm not the one to ask. You should check the sub(s) for making Japanese food.
An aside: in Shinjuku I went to a street fair once with my girlfriend. She said "Have you had dongo?" I said no. And she excitedly said "Let's get some!" Ah, memories. The dango were - of course - the kind on a skewer that you see in anime and manga. I had been in Japan about a year but right then I really felt like I was in Japan.
butter, cheese, lettuce, plus any meat in a sandwich
I been having that with tuna and mustard recently in a big baguette. Very good.
Or just leftovers from dinner in a sandwich - meatball marinara sandwich, chicken korma and rice sandwich, a chicken and bacon Caesar wrap. Just go to any store that sells sandwiches and copy what they do
Leftovers work great for packed lunches. If you make a lot of extra boiled rice during dinner, fry that shit up with some sesame oil, garlic, green onion, and soy sauce. Then add whatever vegetables or protein (tofu, meat etc.) that you like. You can also put some soup in a thermos (spring vegetable is my personal preference, feel free to substitute) .
classic peanut butter and jam is good if you're doing physical work, got sugar + protein + it's tastey
I have been having the same difficulty. I am currently trying to reverse engineer the tradional lunch pasty into a form I can easily make with no real effort
PB (or any nut butter) and Jelly is a solid one.
Hard boil some eggs, slice them, slap them on a slice of bread. Pretty much an egg salad without taking the time to dice everything up and mix it with the salad dressing. Add your fixings. Vegan lunch meat stuff is usually pretty tasty but it always got pricey for me.
A bag of raw veggies (carrots, celery, cucumber, etc) works as a filling, a side, and a snack before/after sandwich eating time. If you've got some decent self control, buy a big bag of chips and pack a handful.
This sounds weird, but its not terrible... get a can of re-fried beans. They're already cooked and seasoned so that part is done. Keep it in the fridge to keep it cold and then just use it as a spread on your bread. Add a bit of hot sauce or a thicker brand of salsa for extra flavor/moisture. Can be eaten cold. You're basically just eating bean dip on a slice of bread instead of tortilla chips.
Mostly I cook big dinners, and put the leftovers in my lunchbag. Sometime that alone is enough, but also I have some snacks on hand to fill it out if I don't want to only be eating leftovers. Got a muli-part thermos, so soups and stir-fries are great for that, but really anything will work. I've crammed or butched larger dinner pieces into the containers for lunch. Mostly, I just don't want to be using plastic baggies every single day.
Falafel and salad in a pitta with hummus or a nice chilli sauce is a good one, the falafels need a bit of prep though, if you make your own
I like to cook a bit of grain for the week and I’ve found I enjoy dropping some of it at the bottom of my salad bowl. It absorbs the oil and vinegar a bit and you can start mixing it into your bites pretty early on. Add a hard boiled egg or two if you want even more substance. White tuna is a good sub for chicken too.
