Breakfast: macchiato. oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins.
Lunch: herb flatbread from acme bread (wouldn't be jazionesque without one of these!) in the ferry building with dry wine-cured salami. water.
Dinner: curried butternut squash soup. garlic bread.
Dessert: hot cocoa.
For all you working folk, how often do you bring lunch to work? I try to always do it, but as I weigh the pros ($$$-saving, home-made healthiness) and the cons (time, getting out of the office, and trying new restaurants), I'm not sure it's as clear cut as I imagined. Thoughts?
13 comments:
Hello! Was browsing around for taking lunch to work ideas and came across this blog and it struck a chord. I agree that it's a tough call - I really enjoy getting out of the office and trying new places but I have made the conscious decision to bring my lunch more often lately. (I actually am a graphic designer for a company called Aladdin, best known for childhood lunchboxes.) It's mainly a $$$-saving decision for me - our offices are close to a plethora of really good local cafes. I do notice more $$$ in the bank at the end of the month when I bring my lunch - I either add that money to my savings or I use it to have a nice dinner out. That's really motivating. I do find that actually taking my lunch is dependent on several key things - I have to make it the night before, it needs to be in a container that I enjoy eating out of (maybe due to where I work! I am biased but we do make some cute things that I actually like using) and I need to remember to grab it from the fridge in the morning. I've found ways to handle all these and have been pretty successful at bringing good food to work! (I still make sure to grab a co-worker and get out of the office when I really need to.)
I don't understand how this could be all you ate in a day. This would be my list of SNACKS. I think I'm doing something wrong....
Also, during my year off when I "worked" (unpaid) a 10 to 5, I would alternate bringing/buying lunch. I always found that I was still hungry after eating a homemade lunch--don't know whether that was legit or just psychological cause I'd be looking enviously at other people's restaurant lunches. I LOVED buying lunch cause I was working on the border of Tribeca and Chinatown so there were all these great holes-in-the-wall with extremely cheap lunch specials. My favorites were Nha Trang (Vietnamese, excellent squid), a Chinese place called New Wing Wong that only serves one dish: white rice with boiled chicken and this strange sort of garlicky condiment--sounds boring but it was somehow AMAZING especially when I doused it in sriracha--and finally a place called Pakistani Tea House, which is frequented by all the Pakistani cab drivers so you know it means business--really, really phenomenal, heart clogging food. There was also a bomb sandwich shop that makes the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had and amazing soup and sold the sandwiches for half price after 5, so sometimes I'd go get one for the next day. And once I saw Christy Turlington there. Anyways I think if you live in culinary capitals like New York or San Francisco and you are earning a decent salary and not having to support a family or pay mortgage, you owe it to yourself to eat out at least half of the time.
I pack a lunch every single day. Mainly because the bodegas in Bushwick do not have much I want to eat, although sometimes Chips Ahoy and Chef Boyardee is just what I need. So I have just recently really gotten in the hang of the bringing a lunch thing.
I make a plentiful dish at the beginning of the week. Many times I roast two large sheets of veggies (yams, asparagus, onions, peppers, garlic, carrots, broccoli) and these keep really well through the week. Another thing I really like is meatballs... I think sticking to turkey meat is the best, health-wise (I am not a fan of red meat for lunch). It's easy... just ground meat, onions and some spices. You can kind of add whatever else you'd like (bread crumbs, garlic, sundried tomatoes, etc). Another nice dish for lunches is curried chicken salad. Or any homemade chicken salad for that matter. It stays great all week. Here is the best recipe I've found: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Curried-Chicken-Salad-106566. You can definitely improvise with this one as well.
So, aside from some kind of "main dish" I usually have a supply of mixed mesclun salads. Sometimes these are just the best--they're like $2-3 each and you just add the above (some meat dish, or you can omit this if you'd like) as well as some goat cheese and tomatoes.
Once all is cooked, and the small salads are bought, it takes a good 10 minutes each night to prepare for the next day. On top of this, I add one of those amazing Greek yogurts, a Ziplock bag with a handful of raw almonds (I always reuse the bags) and a water bottle to my lunch bag. I also bring my Willoughby's travel mug with me every morning. That's right: I make my own coffee! That's another small yet significant feat in my life.
I'd say, in general, you've just got to get into the swing of things.
Yeah, I agree that some lunch places (i.e. places that a pakistani cab driver would go) are worth it, especially when the food is cheap. My big problem is that most places in the financial district of SF - well, just about everywhere save this Vietnamese sandwich joint and the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market - aren't worth the price. If bringing my lunch costs me $2/day, then going out isn't worth it unless the food is 1)out of this world and/or 2)"hella" cheap.
V-slice, what's your status?
DAMN, Maggie!! You're an inspiration to us all.
Also my parents would be so proud of you for reusing plastic bags (I was ridiculed all throughout elementary/middle school for this). Plus: I have a really amazing recipe (from Cook's Illustrated) for roasting broccoli--it's at home somewhere so I'll give it to you when I get back. Do you guys know this magazine? It's the BEST: no glossy food porn--no photos at all, in fact--but it's really well written and they really THINK about and thoroughly, thoroughly test all their recipes (I've never made one that hasn't come out perfectly) and offer all kinds of great cooking tricks. It's affiliated with America's Test Kitchen, the TV show.
i would say i'm the anti-maggie. and i'm not proud of it. for various reasons -- most significantly me just being whack -- i have yet to get my cooking game going at home. i have toast and fruit and yogurts when i want a snack, but i almost always eat my meals a fuera de la casa. it's definitely a second job looking for new awesome lunch spots in midtown, but i've found a bunch. plus i go out with coworkers and it just makes the day so much easier with an hour/hour and a half break in the middle with great food and fun people. that being said, i'm hoping to start bringing a lunch 2 to 3 times a week to balance it out.
d, what are we bringing for lunch every day that's costing us $2/day?
Why DJ I'm just absolutely tickled by your shout... w/ that Yellow hat, it seems that your portrayal is a San Franciscan Chef. Vos amichi Giuseppe Arcimboldo wouldah be a very proud-ah!
Hermana y V, if your into that Baxter street joint hit up Veggie Dim Sum on 24 Pell (http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2008/09/vegetarian-dim-sum-house-chinse-food-chinatown-nyc.html)
Outta sight and can take the edge off the Sunday morning...
Its actually blond hair, J, but it's all good! $2/day is a big pot of curry chicken or a tray of lasagna with enough food for six meals (or 2 people x 3 meals).
Lunch spots in midtown Manhattan...who know? I always thought the push-carts were the only way to go..
Maggie, you put us all to shame! Where do you work? I definitely second the one big meal per week approach - a big pot of chili, dal, soup, or something along those lines can last all week with different sides - a piece of fruit, bread and cheese, vegetables, etc. Here the latest was a cross between tortilla soup and posole, which I will probably always remember because I ate it on election night, woohoo! Easy to dress up with tortillas, lime, Sriracha, avocado, etc. but always looking for new ideas...
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