Lunch is a dish best served cold. Or possibly room-temperature.

January 13, 2016 12:18 PM

I need ideas/recipes/tips for light, filling, healthy-ish lunches that can be eaten in one dish, either at room temperature or cold.

The fiance works retail, and usually brings leftovers in for lunch. This works fine most of the time, when his lunch and dinner breaks fall during relatively regular mealtimes. However, on weekends, he tends to go in earlier, and has to eat something quickly on his first break or else be totally starving by the time his scheduled lunch break rolls around.

But the catch is that it can't be too heavy (what's the opposite of stick to your ribs?), or require too much assembling, microwaving, or anything more complicated than add sauce/garnish and dig in. I've had great success with homemade pesto, pasta, and shredded chicken, but that's getting a little monotonous.

Avocado was too "heavy", and my one attempt at using salsa was a little too intensely flavored. (Neither of which were bad tasting, necessarily, but not appropriate for this set of circumstances.)

Any idea, mefites? I'm the cook of the household, and a pretty good one at that, with a pretty well-stocked kitchen. He'll eat just about anything, the weirder the better, and likes variety (and is trying to get away from the current plan of getting pizza or a hot dog from the food court).

posted by PearlRose to Food & Drink (23 answers total)

Salmon salad? Bake some salmon and either eat it cold over subsequent days or have it hot one night and then cold for a couple of lunches - based on experience at my parents' house, salmon will keep for about 48 hours after coming out of the oven.

Spiced roast yam slices? I know lots of people who eat those cold. Slice a yam longways, roast at 400ish after rolling in olive oil and the spices of your choice.

Sandwiches? Make good ones with lettuce and a proper spread and some leftover protein from dinner? I have eaten a steak sandwich once when a child, for instance. Or you could make homemade black bean patties or crab cakes, keep them frozen, let one thaw the night before and assemble the sandwich.

Cheese and apple? I sometimes bring some cheese slices and some goat cheese, plus a good apple; I cut the apple into thin slices and eat with the cheese.
posted by Frowner at 12:27 PM on January 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

Can you chop up some tomatoes and fresh mozzarella and add some basil leaves + he can add balsamic vinegar and olive oil at work?
posted by foxfirefey at 12:27 PM on January 13, 2016

Oh, and riffing off Frowner's idea: apple slices with peanut butter or almond butter!
posted by foxfirefey at 12:28 PM on January 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

I just ate pretzel chips dipped in hummus and they were pretty yummy, not heavy, and I could eat them in front of my computer without spilling.
posted by puddledork at 12:28 PM on January 13, 2016

Best answer: Quiche or strata is great served at room temp and both are pretty sturdy and can serve as a blank canvas for other flavors. They don't even really need utensils or reheating. Also, Vietnamese fresh salad rolls are very light and, while they take a while to assemble, they are very easy to eat. Again, no heating, no utensils, just dunk and chow.
posted by Foam Pants at 12:29 PM on January 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I do a quinoa salad which is basically red quinoa, feta, kalamata olives, and a light olive oil and lemon dressing. It keeps quite well and is eaten cold. I've also done a pasta salad that has scallops and artichoke hearts with a similar dressing. Come to think of it, most of my lunches are eaten cold.
posted by blurker at 12:30 PM on January 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: A few things I eat at room temperature for lunch:
* Couscous with chickpeas, mint, and chopped dried apricots, topped with grilled vegetables (eggplant, zucchini, etc.)
* Broccoli slaw
* Panzanella
* Pesto pasta salad
* Green bean salad

I think a small serving of one of these might also work:
* Thai-style chicken salad
* Baked chicken meatballs
* Rice noodles with beef and broccoli
posted by neushoorn at 12:43 PM on January 13, 2016 [3 favorites]

Ratatouille!
posted by hollyholly at 12:44 PM on January 13, 2016

How about onigiri? They are pretty easy to make and can have good variety as you can change the filling or seasoning. May not be healthy-ish depending on what you think of rice.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:45 PM on January 13, 2016

Best answer: Another suggestion from Japanese cuisine: soba! Different texture and flavor from most other pastas as they're buckwheat noodles and are traditionally served cold. A light dressing with ginger, soy, a little garlic, scallions, dash of sesame oil. Can add all kinds of things like shelled edamame.
posted by smirkette at 12:51 PM on January 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I like to make quinoa/barley/couscous salads. My favorite one is "Greek-style" -- cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, black olives, and feta dressed with olive oil and lemon juice.
posted by i_am_a_fiesta at 1:19 PM on January 13, 2016

I've been eating cottage cheese for lunch for years. Sometimes I throw in veggies dipped in hummus.
posted by triggerfinger at 1:19 PM on January 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

I keep a few packs of Wasa crackers at my desk for quick backup lunches, and eat them with whatever you might otherwise eat with bread (lox and cream cheese, soup, sandwich fixings, lots and lots of hummus). They are basically hardtack, but in a good way.
posted by yeahlikethat at 1:40 PM on January 13, 2016

Greek yogurt + granola + fruit?
posted by rainbowbrite at 1:54 PM on January 13, 2016

I just had spring rolls for lunch today. They were purchased but I have made them in the past. All you need are some fresh veggies and protein source if applicable with his/your diet. You can get spring roll wrappers at an Asian food market and then experiment with fillings.
posted by friendlyjuan at 2:42 PM on January 13, 2016

Tuna salad! A can of tuna mixed with mashed avocado and/or mayo, some chopped onion or celery, squeeze of lemon, salt and pepper. Have him dump it over a bunch of baby spinach.
posted by saturngirl at 2:57 PM on January 13, 2016

Best answer: Two of our easiest family favorites that sound a lot fancier than they actually are:
Spinach Artichoke Pasta Salad (the opposite of bland, and using tortellini avoids the slimy pasta salad syndrome)
Bean Salad with White Balsamic Vinaigrette. One of the rare bean-based dishes that doesn't feel heavy, and nearly any kind of vinegar will work well.
posted by ejvalentine at 3:27 PM on January 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Frittata! Frittata slices is one of the few foods that doesn't get grosser to me in the room-temperature-lunchbox context. I love that you can have it for dinner, and then the leftovers the next day seem appropriate for either breakfast or lunch. Heaviness/flavor can vary a lot depending upon what you put in.
posted by sometamegazelle at 5:31 PM on January 13, 2016

Best answer: I just made tabbouleh at home and I think that would fit the bill pretty nicely.
I don't know if you this will be too satisfying enough, but I've been using homemade kind bars to fill in the gaps between proper meals. The recipe offers a lot of variations, but basically keep the ratios the same (4 1/2 cups dry ingredients to 5/6 cup syrup) and you're good to go.
posted by FakePalindrome at 5:51 PM on January 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

I've been really enjoying Waldorf salad for lunch this week. Apples, nuts, dried cranberries, celery, whatever else you want to throw in, dressed in honey yogurt with just a hint of mayo for zing. Can eat as-is or in tortilla/wrap, on crackers, rice cakes, etc.
posted by HonoriaGlossop at 7:07 PM on January 13, 2016

Sounds like others have been suggesting similar things, but I'm a big fan of salads based on cubed up cucumbers (and obviously add whatever other vegetables sound good -- broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, bell peppers, etc.) If you use sturdy vegetables rather than leafy ones, they won't get wilty and slimy, so they're just fine sitting for hours in dressing, they taste best at room temperature, and so on. I usually use leftover roast chicken for protein (and it has always been fine sitting for a few hours) but chickpeas, lentils, or the like would also be good options. A can/satchet of tuna would also probably work for protein and would obviously keep fine.
posted by mister pointy at 8:08 PM on January 13, 2016

This lentil salad is really great. You can add or subtract just about anything you like. I tend to make it with lots of chopped carrot, celery and bell peppers. It keeps in the fridge for a week and I put it over sturdy salad greens the night before and then leave it out for an hour before lunch so it comes up to room temp. You could add shredded chicken, sliced sausage, tofu chunks, nuts or cheese to add some additional flavor and protein.
posted by annaramma at 9:19 AM on January 14, 2016

Response by poster: After a few weeks of trying things, quiche was the DEFINITE stand-out winner. There was also some success with an Asian style noodle salad comprised of: chicken, rice noodles, herbs, cabbage, carrots, and kale, tossed with a soy/rice vinegar dressing. (Well, except that the rice noodle brand I bought was kinda clumpy after I cooked it. There's a good Asian market near me, so I'll pick a better brand next time. The concept was excellent, though.)

Next week, I'm thinking of trying a tomato/quinoa/cucumber/feta Mediterranean-style salad, and I think I've got a few great templates to work with that can be adjusted accordingly based on whatever is on sale at the grocery store and what I need to use up in the fridge.

(My next ask: What's a good pre-made pie crust that isn't so freakin' sweet?)
posted by PearlRose at 1:41 PM on February 25, 2016