Hard Working Husband Tired of Sandwiches

Hi K.,
I pack my husband lunches and what works best is leftovers. He doesn't mind them and generally they re-warm well. I know you said he doesn't have access to a microwave but maybe you could invest in a good food thermos. He could take things like beef stew, beans and chili, chicken and rice. Good luck!!
E.

What about Pesto pasta! I love the idea of Pesto pasta because you can serve it either warm or chilled and its still good. I always sautee yellow & orange bell pepper,carrot slices, and diced tomatoes in chicken broth and olive oil.Then I just add them to the Pesto pasta. If you want to make it a more hearty meal you can always add chicken breast strips to the sautee mix. I always use crokscrew pasta for pesto but I guess you use any type of pasta you would like. You can buy the Pesto mix Knorrs packets for about $.99

Something easy that I do is breakfast burritos. I make a batch on Sundays and throw them in the freezer. I use 1 package of (10) tortillas., 1 dozen eggs, 1 can of black beans, shredded cheese, 1 roll of Jimmy Dean sausage, 1 jar of salsa drained and a few scoops of sour cream and 1/2 bag of frozen diced potatoe hash browns. Cook everything seperately then assemble burritos, roll them up in a papertowel, then again in foil and freeze. He takes the foil off, then throw them in the microwave. It makes 10, I switch these up with sandwiches during the week.

ok - my husband loves meatball hoagies. He will eat them "cold" too. I brown some meatballs in the skillet until they are totally cooked. While they are cooking, I open 2 small cans, or 1 large can of tomato sauce, and add about 1 tsp of powdered mustard, and 1 tablespoon of molasses. When the meatballs are cooked, i pour the tomato sauce on top, and add sliced onions and bell peppers. For the bread I buy hoagie rolls, and then hollow out the center so they are like a boat, and the meatballs don't roll out!

We use our leftovers in a creative way (the kids love helping with this when they clear dishes).
Take a glob of premade biscuit dough, spread it out on a plate into a circle and fill half with leftovers (spagetti and meatballs, roast and veggies, chicken etc.) fold over, pinch the edges and make "Hot Pockets".
Cook on 375 for 20 minutes and you have wonderful homemade Hot Pockets. If you warm it in the micro in the morning and wrap in tin foil it will stay edible all day on the dash of his truck.
My kids love taking these to school, hubby easts them for lunch and I get NO LEFTOVERS!

Hi K.,
I hope this suggestion is helpful: my husband has a lot of friends in Colorado who snowmobile, and I guess they (snowmobilers) have a whole bunch of recipies for hearty meals they can heat on their engines while they drive.

My husband's on a snowmobile forum - if you want the web-address to ask some of those guys, I'll get it from him.

Cheers.
T

I got this tuna recipe from Light & Tasty magazine and my husband loves it. He gets tired of the normal sandwiches too, so this is somewhat different from the norm and it's easy (and cheap). This makes about 4 sandwiches so you can half the recipe or make it two different times.
2 cans tuna, drained
2-3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1/3 C mayo
1/4 C minced fresh chives
dash of: parsley, basil, and onion powder (you can use fresh, but I use dried)
cheddar cheese
toasted bread
Combine everything but the cheese. Place 2 slices of toast on baking sheet; top withe the tuna mixture and then with cheese (sliced or grated). Broil 1-2 minutes or until cheese is melted. Top with remaining toast.
Enjoy and good luck!

My husband mainly gets leftovers from the dinner the night before... one that works really well is this (and variations of this)...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/pe...

Hi K.,

I too have the same dilema. Honemade pasta salad works well. Fruit salad. Green salads, you can put the ingrediants in separate containers or ziplocks and send a big tupperware, then he can toss it when he is ready for lunch. It sounds aweful to me but my husband likes to take cold hot dogs and eat them with bread. Let me know if you come up with other great ideas!

Chicken tenders with dipping sauce (or even the kids dino's are good too! :)), fried chicken with a pack of wipes! Fried rice with lots of meat, wide mouthed thermos for soup/stew on cold days (also lasagne, casseroles and chili!!) with some kind of roll or crackers, cheese, also burritos, either homemade or left over from Taco Bell (meat, bean, cheese works best w/o lettuce and tom's). Hope this gives you some new ideas and don't forget the sexy love note...that will really 'knock his socks off'!!!

My hubby is also in a service truck so lunches can be hard. To be honest, he usually buys lunch, when he is out of town (three weeks a month) his work buys his meals.

We bought a big rubbermaid container and I fill it up with snacks every week (sometimes more because the guys he works with eat the snacks too!)I do individual packages of nuts, jerkey, crackers and cookies, I put granola bars, breakfast bars and pop tarts in there too.

What about pasta salad?

You got some great responses. My husband is in a service truck too and has no access to microwave either. In the summer it is even worse because there is nothing cheap to keep things cold. The worst is when you make lunch and then he doesn't eat it. I finally resorted to snacks like celery and peanut butter, tuna and crackers, peanut butter crackers and fruit. It is mixing a carb with a fruit. Ask Him! Cheese wiz and crackers is a plus but the wiz is brutal for fat. Make lunchables yourself bags of chips. Meat rolled with cream cheese. Think picnic where left overs are better than first cooked---fried chicken, salads, finger foods. Change bread too-use different kinds bagles/hogies/dinner rolls/etc. In the end it needs to have atleast one favorite in there. Instead of knocking his socks off with food-Use love note/note of appreciation/note of encouragement etc.

You can preheat soups and pastas from the can and put into a thermos....they stay hot all day!

i dont know how your budget is but if you can afford it buy a cooler heater container that you plug into the cigarrette lighter. i found on at big ltos for 40 bucks. i mainly do left overs i jsut make a little bit more each evening and i also bought the cheap tupperware like containers that have two compartments. so i put a meal ofleftovers in each one and freeze and i rotate what i send in his lunch sohe doesnt have the same thing thenext day that hehad for dinner. it really works out well the night before i pull a container out and put in in the fridge and in the morning he just puts itin his cooler and plugs it in on the way to work and by lunch he has a warm meal. alos use thermos for stews and soups. on a cold winter day a hot soup and a grilled cheese with bacon and tomato sandwich that he can heat up on the dashboard is ymummy. also turing on the heater works. in the summer i do a lot of salads with grilled chicken that i have used for dinner on one of the nights or roast beef or fish. he loves those. and i f you want to knock everyone of his coworkers socks off. occasionally send a batch of cookies . i cook a lunch meal about once every three months for all the guys and cookies, pies or cakes wheneer i make them for us i send the leftovers so i wont have the tempation and they love that cause none of the other wives does it and my hubby beams with pride

I don't have to make lunches anymore....yeah..But when I did, sandwiches got old.

I recommend trying Trader Joe's - my husband and kids loved hummus dips & pita or naan breads. TJ's carries so many wonderful single portions of interesting dishes. Try some. My husband really likes the Indian curry rice dishes.
I would cut up fresh veggies on the weekends, celery, carrots, radishes, red bell peppers, snow peas and rotate those through out the week.
Always send a fresh fruit, apples, grapes and oranges travel the best.
Also try the Trader Joe sausages with a side of pesto or garlic buttered pasta. Travels well and is good cold or warm. My son loves the Spinach Chicken sausage. My daughter likes the apple sausages.
And consider using the havla bread for wraps. Lots of recipes on line for wraps, but everything can get wrapped up from leftovers to PB&J. I put turkey breast, arugula, mango salsa and provolone cheese in for the adults. I substitute baby spinach in for the kids because it's softer and way more nutritious than lettuce. The kids prefer simpler food in general.
Hope this helps your hubby's lunches...
Jen

All the fixings for tacos can be put in separate baggies and assembled by dumping into pita bread. Wraps are pretty easy. Just heat the tortilla in the microwave a few seconds before filling so it doesn't crack when rolled. Cold chicken is another favorite. Chicken Caesar salad or the chicken salad with fruit (mandarin oranges, craisins, raspberries or strawberries), cheese (feta is the family favorite), and nuts (pecan, walnuts, etc.). Just be sure to put the ingredients for salads in separate baggies and then a container toss the dump them all. Smart & Final has those little containers and lids to send along his favorite dressing. I'm assuming he has a cooler-type lunch box. If not, just get one of those frozen things that you can freeze and reuse to add to the lunch to keep things cold.

My husband loves wraps, too, where you would put all the same sandwich stuff in a tortilla and wrap it up. WHen he gets tired of sandwiches, it is sometimes more of the deli meat so we switch to tuna salad, egg salad, etc. In addition, sometimes it is yummy to just take string cheeses and wrap those with the deli meats and have no bread at all, or salads? Or sometimes, he just enjoys a Clif Bar and smoothie. All my other options require a microwave but perhaps those will help you out a little. Let me know if you come across any other really great ideas as I am also open to more for both him and my son.

I use those stanley thermos' and make soups for my hubby. YOu could make pizza pockets or ham and cheese pockets. Buy pizza dough (trader joe's has ready made pizza dough) and roll it out to make pockets and stuff with pizza sauce peperroni...and cheese. Or make a greek version and stuff with feta cheese, sauted meat (suate with onions, dill seed, garlic, salt and black olives.

I make miniture quiche (no crust though) I scramble eggs with cream and chedder cheese and dice up some ham. I spray cooking spray into my muffin tins then I pour some of the mixture into each tin. There you go little quiches great for breakfast or lunch.

How abut a smoothies in a thermos?

A salad. YOu could put almost anything in it.

Get a good size thermous with w wide mouth and put chili or beef stew in it. Send him with charckers and cheese to go with it. Try sandwiches using tortillas instead of bread. Give him a big salad with grilled chicken. Put the dressing in a seperate small container so the salad stays fresh until time to eat it. Pasta salad with a grilled chicken breat on the side. You can make a burrito in the morning...make the beef ahead of time ......warm beef and beans up in the morning and wrap the nurrito in foil and if he keeps it in the dash it should stay a bit warm until lunch.....it won't be cold at least. Tuna salad with crackers and cheese. I always send my hubby with leftovers from the night before. hope these help