You are single, living alone and working long hours. You miss home-cooked food so much that it’s a constant ache inside you. You gulp jealously at your co-workers with their delicious and aromatic lunch boxes while you plod on with your canteen meal. A home-cooked meal would be great, but you just seem to have no time for it. So here’s a lazy guide for the working girl to packing your own lunch box everyday…well at least most days!
Prepare. Preparation is key if you want to bring your lunch every day. Think about what you want for the week, make a list and go grocery shopping over the weekend. Prepare any foods that you can on Sunday night so you don’t have to do as much when you get home from work each night.
Pre-chopped vegetables. Chop your veggies during weekends and freeze them in zip lock bags to be used when needed. It’s a much better option than having to chop veggies after a long day at work, which gives you just one more excuse to eat out.
Make foods in bulk. Okay, don’t make too much food but make enough so you can eat it two or three times but only have to prepare it once. Foods like chicken/chole/rajma/paneer will not spoil when properly refrigerated for 3-4 days and the masala even gets better absorbed into the food. Just pack it with rotis or steamed rice. These are no sweat lunches.
Store rotis in bulk. Get a maid to come in during the weekend and make rotis for the entire week or make them yourselves, if you have the time and energy. Don’t cook them fully or they’ll become too dry and crackly. Instead get her to lightly cook it on the griddle for about 30 seconds so that they no longer stick to each other and refrigerate them in an air-tight box. This way, in the mornings, you can just stir fry your pre-cut veggies, re-cook the chapattis and pack them together as a wrap for your lunch.
Make 3-4 varieties. Don’t make just one dish in bulk to last a week. You will get bored in two days and drop the idea of packed lunches altogether. Instead make smaller batches of 3-4 dishes and alternate them so you don’t get bored.
Cold foods. Think about foods that can be eaten cold and don’t require much additional attention. Like a pasta salad or even just a salad. You can layer them prettily in mason jars and then just tip them onto a plate at work so that they are perfectly tossed.
Cold meats. Cold meats and other vegetarian frozen foods like cutlets come handy for packing a lunch box in a jiffy in the morning. Just lightly fry them and pack them with a few bread slices and a few iceberg lettuce leaves for a quick sandwich. Only don’t do processed frozen foods every day, for reasons of health and economy.
Use leftovers. When you are cooking dinner, cook a little extra, pack it into your lunch box and refrigerate for taking it to work the next day. Microwaves are all too common at work places, so you won’t have any trouble heating your food. In fact you can make this an everyday affair so you get one hot, fresh meal everyday – your dinner.
Encourage potlucks. Get your lunch buddies to bring a little extra food for you one day in a week, say Wednesdays. You can do the same for them on Thursday. It won’t take much effort for you to cook extra and you will find it super convenient on these days as you don’t have to worry about lunch.
Soup batches. This is healthy and super convenient. Make soup for three days and freeze them in jars that you can directly take to work with two slices of toast.
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