You can read the last post on Lunch ideas: School/Work, in case you missed it. I’ve decided to break this week’s lunch idea post into 2 weeks because upon writing it, I discovered that there are a lot of ideas to cover.
Obviously, you can serve the very same things for lunch when eating at home as you take to school or work, but this week I will try to give you a little more variety that is easy to whip up and serve warm.
Of course the first thing that I always recommend is leftovers. I love it when I have leftovers from dinner (as long as it was good) because I know there will be something to eat for lunch the next day, plus I can save money and keep waste to a minimum. You can certainly keep the dish in its original form, but if you want to change things up a bit without much effort, here are some ideas for “repurposing” dinner leftovers into lunch.
Baked Ham (just in time for Easter leftovers):
- Slice into thin pieces (fry it up in a pan if you feel dangerous), toast bread, spread on mayonnaise.
- Dice into small chunks or shred, add a touch of mayonnaise and diced-up eggs if you want to make a wonderful ham salad (one of my favorites) – this can be eaten on toast or with crackers. (If you have an egg allergy, leave them out and sub a touch of olive oil or Dijon mustard for the mayo.)
Baked Pork Loin/Tenderloin:
- Shred the pork and add barbeque sauce of choice; instant Pulled Pork.
- Slice pork and heat in pan. Add a slice of Swiss cheese and a slice of pineapple. Serve on a good toasted bun. (You can even add teriyaki sauce.)
Baked Chicken(the possibilities are endless):
- Dice/shred chicken, add some mayonnaise, a touch of honey, sliced grapes and chopped pecans – this is my favorite recipe for chicken salad.
- Dice chicken for quesadilla of choice: chicken, spinach and feta cheese; chicken, black beans, corn, cheddar cheese (or feta) and salsa.
- Dice chicken, add bbq sauce for pulled chicken.
- Dice chicken, add bbq sauce, red onion, cheese for a Bbq Chicken Pizza
- Dice chicken and add to salad of choice.
Red Meat (steak, roast, London Broil):
- Slice thin and add on salad of choice
- Slice thin, add sliced mushrooms and onion and swiss or provolone cheese for quesadilla
- Slice thin, add sliced mushrooms and onion; cook up, add swiss or provolone cheese and place on hoagi rolls with mayonnaise, tomato and lettuce.
Miscellaneous
- Chili: Turn it into nachos or a loaded baked potato.
- Pasta: Make into a pasta salad with diced cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, Salami, Italian dressing and cheese.
- Mashed Potatoes: My mom always made potato cakes out of leftover mashed potatoes. Mold potatoes into a patty (add spices, cheese or bacon bits, if desired) and fry up in olive or canola oil.
This is only a sprinkling of ideas and not all are allergy-friendly (but can easily be made so by a couple simple substitutions). You can view some additional ideas in the “Refrigerator Roundup” series found under Recipes on the sidebar.
What can you add to this list of repurposing leftovers for lunch?
