“I think that this should do,”, said he (Sherlock Holmes), glancing into the glass above the fireplace. “I only wish that you could come with me, Watson, but I fear that it won’t do. I may be on the trail in this matter, or I may be following a will- o’-the-wisp, but I shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few hours.” He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the side board, sandwiched it between two rounds of bread and thrusting this rude meal into his pocket, he started off upon his expedition.
The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Like Sherlock Holmes, we are faced with having to grab a bite to eat on the run. While we may not be solving mysteries, we still can have busy lives that make it hard to sit down for dinner. Or, we just face the daunting task of trying to find healthy, nourishing meals for loved ones as they leave for school and work.
Sometimes this is only daunting because we have developed bad habits. It can sometimes be quite simple to send healthy portable lunches, we just have to retrain ourselves. I am going to suggest just a few things that have been helpful to me and then I will put a Mr. Linky for you to share all of your ideas and recipes with us as well. I think that we can learn something from the Sherlock Holmes quote above. He took food that was prepared for dinner and made it into a portable meal for himself while on the trail of a mystery. If we can adopt this practice, the advantages are obvious. Instead of having to prepare separate meals for lunch and dinner, we can just use leftovers for lunches. Here are some ideas to make that possible.
Sandwiches and Salads
Many meat, chicken, and fish meals can be made into an easy sandwich the next day. Roasted chicken leftovers can be made into a chicken salad sandwich. Leftover roast beef also makes a wonderful sandwich. We used to make meatloaf sandwiches for my dad by thinly slicing cold meatloaf and using it as “lunch meat”. It was surprisingly good! You can also make healthy salads by topping them with leftover meat and sending salad dressing (such as Our Everyday Salad dressing) on the side.
I also like to send small side salads, like leftover Savory Carrot Salad, Cucumber and Red Onion Salad, and simple green salads. If you keep washed lettuce and homemade dressing in the fridge, you will always have some on hand to send at the last minute.
Soups
We eat soups a lot around here and we usually have leftovers. Joel has greatly enjoyed bringing them with him to work. I found a small stainless steel thermos on sale that has made this very simple to do. In the morning, soon before he leaves, I pour very hot water in it while I heat up the soup. The hot water heats up the thermos and will keep the soup hot longer. When the soup is very hot, I pour out the hot water, and pour in the hot soup. I usually also send a small side salad and muffins or bread.
Freezing Baked Goods
This is something that I want to incorporate into my week. It’s really just as simple to make two dozen muffins as one. So I want to try to always make extra baked goods and put the extras in the freezer. That way I will have a supply of ready made snacks to send whenever I need them. You can browse though the Baked Goods to see some of the recipes I use. Speaking of which, I think that I better start freezing the Flourless Nut Butter Cookies, otherwise I will eat them all instead of sending them in Joel’s lunch!
Don’t forgot the obvious!
And there is always fresh fruit and carrot and celery sticks as well! There is nothing wrong with sending a simple lunch meat sandwich (I recommend nitrate free meat), a cheese sandwich, or a nut butter and honey sandwich either! My mom would sometimes send celery sticks with nut butter in them, which was a fun snack growing up. It’s okay to do the simple thing. So there are a few simple ideas that have worked for me. You can check out some of my new nourishing portable recipes in the links below. 🙂
Now it’s your turn!
If you would like to be part of this carnival, do the following:
1-Post on your blog your tips and recipes for nourishing portable foods. (If you don’t have a blog, please leave your tips in the comment section, or email them to me at kimi.harris@gmail.com). Feel free to do more than one post!
2-IMPORTANT: Please also include a mention and link back to this post. 🙂
3-Then, using the Mr. Linky below, link to your post (not your blog, but the actual post). In the top space include not only your blog name, but also your post’s title. Thank you!
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Jill
Your suggestions are fabulous! I’m so excited about this challenge – I really need some ideas, my kids are sick of peanut butter and jelly!!
I’m now putting on my thinking cap to come up with some more ideas of my own.
Thanks for doing this!
Jill
Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home
Love the starting quote from Sherlock Holmes!
That’s a great tip about pre-heating the thermos. I’ve never heard of doing that before, but I can see how it would help.
Thanks for the carnival, Kimi!
Michelle
I bring breakfast and lunch to work every day, and even though the food changes one thing stays the same: Lock-n-lock! It’s the only tupperware type container I’ve ever used that can tumble around in my bag and NEVER spills. An essential for portable food, check it out. I should really buy stock in Lock-n-lock because I tell everyone I know how great it is!
Sarah
Thank you for hosting this carnival Kimi! Great ideas (and like I said, I love the Bierocks!)! Yum!
Best,
Sarah
PS – As a literature buff, I love the nod to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle!
Heather
This was so much fun! Thanks for providing this idea-fest. I have a feeling I’ll learn a lot. And it helped me review recipes I had all but forgotten.
Thanks!
Michele
I love the quote! 🙂 Sherlock Holmes has always been one of my favorites.
I really need to bake up a batch of your peanut butter cookies! Thank you so much for hosting this.
Blessings,
Michele 🙂
Carrie T
Kimi,
What an excellent idea! This couldn’t have come at a better time, with me trying to brainstorm nourishing lunchbox ideas. We just got her thermos today!
Carrie
http://oreganicthrifty.blogspot.com
lrimerman
I left my meat loaf recipe on my blog for this challenge. It can be eaten cold and is tasty either way.
I love all the ideas posted. I don’t know why but my post on my own blog would not format it with spaces between the paragraphs, some bug apparently.
Lisa
Trying Traditional
I had a few ideas and linked above. I can’t wait to sift through all the different suggestions as this is very timely for me.
Rachael
I can’t wait to go through and read all the links! Thanks for doing this:)
sandrar
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog. 🙂 Cheers! Sandra. R.