Lunch Options?

[WifeWentGF]

My wife went gluten free about 5 months ago. She comes home on her lunch and has about 45 min and usually eats either chicken salad, salad or lunchmeat wraps. she has gotten bored with these options. i feel bad cause although its gotten better she still feels unsatisfied at times cause of her limitations. i was wondering what other people do for lunch, especially during work?

[divamomma]

I think people get bored with lunch in general, gluten-free or not! Some easy ideas would be:

leftovers

pizza bagels (gluten-free of course)

pasta salad

boiled eggs/scrambled eggs

fruit

veggies

rice with chicken and/or veggies

rice cakes with peanut butter, cream cheese, melted cheddar etc

sandwiches on gluten-free bread

[Mizzo]

Make a batch of rice (whatever you prefer) and you can do different mix-ins.

Chicken/ turkey / sausage or ham

hard boiled eggs

package of frozen veggies

cheese and/or salsa

lentil soup

[lovegrov]

Dinner leftovers are my favorite. Homemade soups or chili during the winter. Corn tortilla pizzas.

richard

[love2travel]

I do lots with eggs - Eggs Benedict, omelettes, quiche, scrambled...

I make pizza and freeze an extra crust for convenience. Another thing I like to have is various kinds of smoothies - very fast to make and can be filling and healthy. I also like to make lots of muffins to have on hand (and freeze the extras for later).

A couple of brands of pasta are decent but I make my own. You don't have to, though. I love to mix homemade pesto with pasta or make a quick bechamel or marinara sauce.

Until I eliminated dairy I enjoyed grilled cheese, cheese fondue with homemade focaccia, good cheese with fresh figs and toasted pecans and drizzled with honey and served with prosciutto...

I make all sorts of wonderful salads and vinaigrettes and try to include toasted nuts of some sort as well as fruits (sliced nectarines work wonderfully with arugula) and dried cured meat such as prosciutto. Another I enjoy is raw asparagus (thinly sliced on mandoline) with toasted pine nuts, grilled pears and lemon vinaigrette. Pomegranate seeds are lovely for a burst of flavour. I like to incorporate as many textures as possible to each dish I create and salads are no exception. Sometimes I make myself potato and green bean salad with shallot and raspberry vinaigrette (grill the potatoes and make vinaigrette in advance). Or potato salad with a pesto.

Often I have dinner leftovers for lunch - many leftovers taste better the next day, anyway, such as chili, pot pies, meatloaf, stews, Coq au Vin and so on. Mini meat loaves and pot pies are fun and easy to make. If I have leftover chicken I've roasted I make a mean chicken salad, chicken soup with homemade noodles, chicken a la king, jambalaya (also great left over) and so on.

If you have leftover polenta you can fry it, top with a tomato sauce or ragout and lots of cheese. Or try grilling it. Cornbread leftovers are also nice. I use my focaccia for sandwiches or to dip in oils, hummus, etc.

You can use corn tortillas for quick mini pizzas. Or brush with oil, top with fresh herbs and/or spices and throw into the oven. They become crispy and are great vehicles for dips.

When you roast whole potatoes make some extra for stuffing with things such as pancetta, bacon, cheese, scallions, caramelized onions, etc. and freeze some. They reheat well and make excellent lunches. Or simply roast a potato (you can even use the microwave in a pinch) and top with tuna salad or pesto or pulled pork or chili or whatever.

[mbrookes]

One of my favorites is a hotdog. Many hotdogs are gluten free (read the label) and the Udi's buns are good if you butter and brown them in a skillet. Roast the dogs on a fork over the stove eye (this even works on electric stoves turned on high). Put on canned chili (read label again), slaw, mustard, onion... what ever you like.

[faithforlife]

My wife went gluten free about 5 months ago. She comes home on her lunch and has about 45 min and usually eats either chicken salad, salad or lunchmeat wraps. she has gotten bored with these options. i feel bad cause although its gotten better she still feels unsatisfied at times cause of her limitations. i was wondering what other people do for lunch, especially during work?

I got lots of ideas from a blogspot called primalkitchen@blogspot. The writer takes photos of every lunch for a year! I love it!

[Marilyn R]

My drill for lunch for several months now has been to buy a bag of romaine salad hearts on the weekend. I chop them up, spin them dry and bag them. That gives me the basis for a week's worth of lunches and dinner salads, if inclined.

I have to take a break from salads now, but I had a good run on lunches just by alternating protein sources (gluten-free tuna, chicken, shrimp, leftover pork, etc.) and add ins: salad cut hearts of palm, chopped olives, shredded carrots, celery, cooked potatoes, green beans, asparagus, chopped fresh or dried fruit, nuts, seeds. There are so many options. I'm finally done for awhile. I'm going back to pea soup, chicken soup, chilli.

Maybe it's because we hit fall. I'll make homemade soups again. (I got sick of soups before, lol)

Do you like to cook? I think everyone would be happy to give you good recipes...

Romaine is actually good. It has more fiber than most lettuce and a long shelf life. A safe dressing is a squirt of fresh lime juice an some olive oil.

[krystynycole]

Cook meals for the week and leave them in portioned containers...easy warm up with variety. Takes all the guess work out!

[WifeWentGF]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I also forgot to mention that she is 10 weeks pregnant with our first. of course she craves all the foods she cant have. The breads/pastas are the biggest challenge (aside from eating out). We just bought udi's plain bagels cause we heard they are good, i hope they are so she can maybe have pizza bagels and a bread with breakfast. The post about buttering and browning the ham/hot roll is a good idea. Its still new and we are adjusting but this forum has been helpful.