Friday Lunchbox

I am hearing from many of you that seeing seeing the gluten-free lunches I take to work with me is helpful, so I am forging ahead with day 3 of sharing my lunchbox! (see here for why I started this little experiment).  I actually took this picture last night.  Lunch + two snacks today contains:

• kale salad (massaged with just extra-virgin olive oil and sea salt)
• an avocado to add to the kale salad, as well as a a half lemon to squeeze over the salad (half a lemon is more portable and less spillable than dressing or lemon juice)
• the last bit of black beans and quinoa from earlier in the week (about 1/2 cup of each) mixed with the last bit of mango salsa and the last bits of the steamed tofu, which I made for yesterday‘s lunch
• hummus with a sliced red pepper   
• Mary’s Gone Crackers Sticks and Twigs (same bag as yesterday, as I did not finish it)

This is pretty typical of a Friday lunch in that it is entirely based on leftovers I ate as part of other lunches during the week and includes kale, because kale holds up until the end of the week.  I love avocado and I love how portable it is. However, I really disklike browning avocado bits, so I always cut it right before eating, even if that means cutting it up at work.  I will likely eat some of the hummus as a late morning snack, and have some the quinoa/black beans/mango with the kale salad, and eat the rest of that and the hummus as an afternoon snack.

I got a few of questions regarding lunches that I wanted to answer:

• I pack my lunches in glass containers (I bought a set of these at Costco for a great price) the majority of the time. My commute is under a 10 minute walk, and I prefer glass, so I don’t mind carrying several glass containers, despite how heavy it can get. However, days like yesterday, where I pack dinner as well and know I will head cross-town for a class, I use plastic containers.  I have yet to find a good container for soups though.  When I lived in New York and took the subway every day, I definitely used more plastic containers than glass. 
• While I do not eat 100% vegan, my lunches are always vegan.  I find it easier to not have to worry about food spoilage issue that way. There is a fridge at my job, but it is small and crowded and I actually like some of my food at room temperature more than icy cold, so some things don’t go in the fridge.
• I actually repurpose jars for storing my smoothies to take to work. I use 16 oz jars that used to hold Artisana cashew butter or tahini.  I prefer using those jars as they do not hold the scent of their original contents (believe me, salsa jars will always smell like salsa, no matter how clean you get them) and when the jar starts to deteroriate (usually the lid starts to get warped after many uses though I find the glass jar also just gets to a point where no amount of cleaning helps it remove evidence it held green smoothies), it is easy enough to recycle it and replace with a new clean jar.  I find green smoothies make containers kind of gunky so instead of investing in yet another container that I may end up permanently staining green, I like using repurposed jars.

Have a wonderful day! 

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