Thursday, March 15, 2012

Lunch For The Man

Do you pack a lunch for yourself or your partner? I sometimes do. Maybe you saw the Pi Day lunch I made my Sailor Boy yesterday... he LOVED it. I actually got to see him enjoy it because he (unexpectedly) came home for lunch. Totally validated my effort, seeing his smile when he took the lid off :)

Sailor Boy usually leaves for work long before I get up, so when I make him a lunch, I make it the night before.*  Most of the time his lunches are just food, but sometimes I do use some creativity, just for fun :) And he's not a fan of leftovers, so I can't just dump dinner in his EasyLunchbox and call it good, I have to think of a way to make it into something new. Well I suppose I don't have to - but if I bother to make him a lunch, I do try to make one he'll like ;)

Here are a few recent lunches for my Sailor Boy:

Hey hot stuff, enjoy your lunch!
A "hot" lunch of peppered turkey, lettuce, pepperjack & cheddar cheeses, with a touch of mayo & spicy mustard, on whole wheat, with mini peppers and habanero spiced almonds on the side.

Bundles of love
Bean & cheese, and beef & cheese burritos. I'm terrible at folding burritos, so I made them in the manner of swaddling a baby and secured the bundles with heart-topped skewers.  ♥ An oat bran muffin topped with a Quaker Whole Hearts cereal heart, a Babybel cheese, kiwifruit & grapes are on the side.

Brunch!
Bacon, tomato & red pepper omelet topped with cheddar hearts, atop smoked ham, in a whole wheat bagel sandwich, plus orange slices, & grape jelly roll-ups. This lunch was a real pleaser, his co-workers were jealous :) They don't tease him about his lunches anymore... heheh.

How would you like an ice cream sandwich for lunch Sweetie?

I snuck some cute in this ham & cheese on whole wheat bagel sandwich lunch. Once the bagel top went on, no one was the wiser :) Don't go thinking I'm so clever with a knife - I cut those cheese ice cream cones with a handy dandy Lunch Punch!

When I pack a lunch for the hubby, I tag the post Lunch For The Man, so you can see all the posts of or including his lunches by clicking on the label in the side menu, or the tab at the top of the page :)

Recently a reader asked if I had any tips for packing a lunch for her husband. My first thought was, use a sturdy container that's not fussy. I use Easy Lunchboxes for my guy's lunches and I do recommend them:

They are sturdy (not flimsy like the other brand, you know, the ones that also make sandwich baggies? These won't dent or tear, or warp in the microwave and dishwasher) and not at all fussy - they are one piece (less to lose!), the lids come off easily (big hands often seem to have as much trouble as little ones with prying off lids!),  and the compartments are generously sized. They are also affordable enough that I won't cry if one doesn't make it home :)

Oh, I almost forgot! Another advantage of  the Easy Lunchboxes - coloured lids! So useful if you make lunch for more than one person. If I do happen to make several lunches the night before, Sailor Boy knows which one he can take by the lid colour - much better than waking me to ask!

Other than using a good container, just keep it healthy, filling, &  simple! I try to pack lunches that can either be eaten cold, or can be re-heated without having to remove anything first. I don't want to have to write instructions, and he just wants to open his lunch and eat it.  If I do pack a lunch that includes a portion he might want to re-heat, I either put a separate container IN the Easy Lunchbox that can be taken out and put in the microwave (such as a silicone muffin cup), or, as I did with the beef in this taco salad lunch - pack it in a separate container.

I like to add a little love note from time to time  
You can write right on the lid with dry erase markers :)

What do you pack for your partner's lunch, if you do? 
Any tips to share?

* Since I make the man's lunches at night, I take the photos at night. Our interior lighting is atrocious though, which can make the colours in the photographs icky, and using the flash doesn't always work well with food... I try my best to tweak them, but if a fruit appears to be an unnaturally fluorescent shade, that's why :)


Stuff I used for these lunches:

11 comments:

  1. Love the hubby's lunch! Fun idea. You write on your ELBs with dry erase?

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    1. Yep, works great! The first time I did it I accidentally used a permanent marker! It did come off, mostly... Dry erase comes off much more easily :)

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  2. Anonymous3/15/2012

    You put so much effort into making your family lunches...I clearly need to step up my game! And my girls aren't big on eating, maybe if I made their food more fun Id get more into their bellies? :) Do you find that a lot of food gets wasted by cutting it into shapes? Or do you have a clever way of using the all the edges that get cut off?

    Thanks, Brittini

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    1. Thanks Briitini :) I do use the scraps, most of the time! I toss fruit, veg, and cheese scraps in salads, omelets, quiches & soups. Bread scraps, honestly, I usually nibble them while I';m making lunch, they are often my breakfast, heheh. But I have cut up and toasted them into croutons, dried and crumbled them into a bag and taken the kids to feed the birds, and I'm told you can grind them into breadcrumbs but I haven't tried that yet.

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  3. Thanks sweetie. I had another great lunch today!

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  4. It's so wonderful to show all the extra effort and love to your hubby...and see the appriecation too! Sweetness all around! (I have to try your sweet notes ideas!Awww)

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  5. I love the hot stuff bento, put a smile on my face:) Great ideas!

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  6. Love the hot stuff bento!

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  7. Haha! Hot stuff with peppers!

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  8. All looking so yummy! I really love the brunch.

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  9. Wow....so many to prepared but I'm sure you have fun making it! I liked the brunch the most ^_^

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