[bluefoxicy]

I'm far too lazy to cook.  Occasionally I'll pack a lunch-- or rather, I'll buy deli meat and then make lunch for the week.  I'm far too lazy to make one sandwich at a time, so I've found a quick way to do them in batches.

This process takes about 15 minutes.  Lay out 3 slices of bread, grab meat A (i.e. ham) and place, next item (turkey, cheese, whatever) and place, etc, along all three.  So, rather than building a sandwich, just grab 3 slices of each thing at a time and lay them down to parallel 3 sandwiches.  It's less tedious, if not immediately faster (instead of reaching, picking around to get one slice, etc; you take three at a time, in the same time frame, and take an extra second to lay them out on three slices of bread).

If you use mayo or mustard or anything, of course, it'll soak into the bread and go bad; the easy fix for that is to paste it between layers of meat and cheese (I put it on each cheese slice).  The meat will also offer moisture into the bread; you can start and end the sandwich on cheese if you want, I tend not to and it's fine.  The last problem is that refrigerated bread is texturally different from fresh bread; but hell, you're packing lunch, it's going in the fridge anyway.  What do you want, a fresh-made sandwich that stays fresh-made for 5 days?

So yeah, rather than 10-15 minutes in the kitchen 4-5 days a week packing lunch each night, I do 3-5 in a batch that takes 10-15 minutes itself, maybe 1 or 2 minutes longer overall.  Surprise, I don't pack lunch a lot, and when I do there isn't much variety; a week's worth of sandwiches made up ahead of time, when I'm not so damn lazy.


So, the question then, is what do you do to cut down on lunch packing time?  I have cast iron cookware (including a wok), a KitchenAid Artisan 325W mixer, a toaster oven, a rice basket, and a 2-4-6 quart slow cooker at my disposal.  I prefer to spend under 60 minutes in the kitchen for something that lasts 3-5 days (this means I've spent 45 minutes over the wok making stirfry dishes for 3-4 days worth before); the 3 hours it takes for stock to boil down doesn't count, I'm not in the kitchen for that crap, it's on auto-pilot.  And yes, I bake my own sandwich bread; esoteric bread recipes are completely viable, since one batch can last 2 weeks and bread freezes well.

[ndcube]

I usually cook an extra piece of chicken or someting at dinner to take for lunch the next day. I supplement that with fruit and veggies I keep at work.

If I don't have something from dinner, I eat tunafish.

[beerocd]

Nothing says lazy like a can of sardines and a sleeve of crackers!

[capozzoli]

I used to work with this guy that ate the same potted pork product on crackers every day. It was called Piggly Wiggly or something like that. I think it actually did wiggle.After about a year It got to the point where I couldnt stand watching him eat that wiggly stuff. I totally freaked out and went off. Half joking but freaked none the less. Later I apologized but begged that he eat a firkin carrot or something now and again to break the monotony.

When we are working outdoors. I bring a large cooler with some large pre prepared spread.I bring a couple of electric hotplates and bam. Just lay out a blanket. Fun and not that hard. Just sucks washing the dishes from the cooler at the end of the day.

I would love to have a kitchen in my shop but it is such a dark dank dirty dungeon that it is easier to cook out doors.

Lunch is a dilemma. I cant eat lunch meat sandwiches but for one or two times per month. Pus pre-made packed sandwiches get soggy. I have been leaning towards stews and soups, pasta dishes. Things that can be a little healthier and heat up easy.

[richardt]

The frozen dinners (e.g., lean cuisine, steamers) have gotten better in the past 5 years.  They're great for portion control.  I love the steamer type of frozen lunches/dinners--no preservatives.  Healthy.

[beerocd]

The frozen dinners (e.g., lean cuisine, steamers) have gotten better in the past 5 years.  They're great for portion control.  I love the steamer type of frozen lunches/dinners--no preservatives.  Healthy.

Microwave and Healthy.... uh, no. Tastes fine thanks to modern chemistry, done fast due to electromagnetic fields, but this is my last choice when it comes to food. It is amazing though that now you can get crispy crusts on your paninis and pizzas from the microwave. I do it once in a while, sometimes there's really no alternative.

[richardt]

... now you can get crispy crusts on your paninis and pizzas from the microwave. I do it once in a while, sometimes there's really no alternative.

I think I need to get reading glasses or something... For a moment, I thought you were talking about heating up a body part.

[bluesman]

I usually cook an extra piece of chicken or someting at dinner to take for lunch the next day. I supplement that with fruit and veggies I keep at work.

If I don't have something from dinner, I eat tunafish.

+1

This works well for me. Kill two birds with one stone. (no pun intended)

[babalu87]

http://www.youtube.com/v/T1nMC6kLOYA&hl=en_US&fs=1

Mod Edit: Removed all the youtube cruft.. sorry, no video embeds.