Men's packed lunches - need inspiration!

[celandine]

I make DH sandwiches every night to take into work the following day. I've just realised lately though that I just give him the same easy things all the time - cheese and onion, tuna and onion, (he likes onion...) corned beef and mustard, or any leftover meat.

It's ALWAYS sandwiches and surely there's more a creative, loving wife like myself can put together for a man? I mean, I love cooking and spend hours making recipes for our main meals but cannot find the inspiration for packed-lunches. I used to take in salady things when I worked but DH prefers something more substantial.

Any ideas for either more creative sandwiches or other (preferably healthy) lunches? He works in an office, there's a microwave there, he normally has a working lunch and will eat pretty much anything.

What about pasta? I often take pasta, sweetcorn, peas, with bits of chopped chicken or sausage (ideal for the day after a bar-b-q) or tuna pasta or what about fresh soup and a roll or meatloaf with potato salad.

pasta - good idea! If I make it stodgy (he likes stodgy) it could work rather well. And meatlaof is a good idea, and I guess it would also last for a couple of lunches. Thanks for ideas.

sandwich ideas:
-tin salmon (the wild variety, not farmed) on lightly buttered bread with cucmber slices
-ham/cooked chicken/cooked turkey slices (the type you buy pre-packed or at the deli counter in the supermarket)with salad leaves or tomatoes

sorry ran out of ideas at the moment on the sandwiches ...

salad ideas:
in a plastic box mix some of the following:
-a few boiled new poatoes (or pasta or even rice if he likes it)
-white cheese pieces (mozzarella or feta cheese)
-baby tomatoes
-pieces of cucumber
-radishes
-steamed green beans/broccolli/cauliflower/greens etc.
-grated carrot if he likes it or steamed carrot sticks
-cocktail sausages or pieces of grilled chicken
-tinned fish
-pieces of pre-packed smoked fish
-pieces of grilled red peppers or courgettes
-salad leaves
-chopped chives
-tinned salad beans mixes
-hard boiled eggs
-olives
-cooked beetrot

ar any other stuff that's easy to prepare in advance and keep in the fridge as the ones above.

or give him a can of tinned soup (or home cooked)and some nice bread

and a few home made cakes to finish off.

AND a toothbrush for all this onion he's eating!!!

What about couscous with bits of chopped meat? Very quick to prepare, and he can have it hot or cold. Or use it to stuff some halved roasted peppers. Or rice salad with lots of mushrooms, sweetcorn, peppers. All day brekkie omelette can also be hot or cold... couple of eggs for the base, chopped up sausage and bacon, tomato, parsley, mushroms. Failing that, what about Tesco steam meals, 2 for a fiver?! What about pork pie... filling and not too pricey? Quiche? Or is that too girly?! you could do chicken noodles seeing as he's got microwave access. My dh is currently munching his way through all the free samples of baby food that i dont want to feed ds due to the sugar content!!!

If you like cooking, you could also try using smaller baking trays (the tin foil ones you can buy in supermarkets and come in different sizes) and cook things like steak&kidney pie, cottage pie, shepherd’s pie, lasagne, mousaka, quiche and divide them in these small trays before cooking them in the oven. He can heat them up at work. And home made pizza (with lots of onions!)

Vary the bread used. Bagels, Pitta, French bread, different rolls, all make a nice change

Wow - lots of ideas here! I think he's really into his stodgy food like SueW, would consider the possibilty of dropping pieces of 'bitty' food on the keyboard (and all over himself). Salad is iffy - I have to sneak tomatoes and cucumber into his sandwiches as it is. He can't eat crisps cos a girl sat opposite him hates the crunchy sound they make. It makes me furious that he lets her get away with it!!

The varying bread thing sounds good, as does quiche, pizza and small meals in baking trays sounds good (thanks for looooads of ideas Branster). I also thought of risotto...

Ooops - SueW I didn't mean to imply that you liked stodgy food particularly, I just meant more 'compact' food!

My dh loves baked potatoes... send one along with leftover bolognese sauce, chilli, tuna salad etc. Tell him to microwave and fill with stuff, a homemade spudulike!

you're welcome celandine. i've surprised myself with all these are ideas i keep coming up with and mean to prepare for my DH one day (before his retirement hopefully!) but in reality i never do packed lunches for him and he always buys himself a couple of sandwiches when at work.

we would probably save a small fortune if he had packed lunches (i can't understand why are these bought sandwiches so expensive. perhaps he should buy them from less fussy places really )

but in my defence, i do cook a proper lunch when he works from home (a couple of days a week, plus week-ends of course) so it levels out i suppose.

hope your dh will appreciate your initiative!

Excuse me for crashing this thread but I'm amazed that there are so many women not only making packed lunches for their husbands but worrying about them... it's giving me a 1950s flashback. Honestly, I'm not having a go, just had no idea this happened and am intrigued. Are you all stay-at-home mums? What do husbands do in return? Do they appreciate all this concern? Are there any men out there making lunch for their wives?

Well, quite, eddm. Am equally gobsmacked!

Who was saying that we all do - celandine was after some ideas so I gave her some. Personally, dh usually makes my pack up, not the other way round. We both work, so I usually sort out kids clothes, hair, school stuff etc and he does the lunches.

Tell him to make his own!

I think if I made DP sandwiches he would have me sectioned.

Mine would have heart failure if I so much suggested it.

Stuffed pitta pockets, tortilla wraps with spicy chicken and salad...
my dh is doing weight watchers so have to pakc his lunch (he does it sometimes too) or he just goes to the pub with everyone else!
Or soup etc

oooh never saw the controversy bit lol
I make my ds lunch and pre parepare mine, to not to dh's would be pointless... Also he will quite happily do it but he does the dishes while I make the lunch. This is in no way a 1950's flashback, I am no little woman doing her duty. Quite offended by the implication that it is a subservient thing to do, how is it different to cooking dinner then?

Oh, I see, just the heading 'men's packed lunches' and Celandine's original post gave me the impression there were lots of wives making packed lunches for husbands. Thanks for clarifying Piffleofagus.

I have dh on a diet - a stone o s far and foten do a seafood salad affair for him tuna anchovies olives prawns etc

I love making him somenthinkg nice

keeps him away from Ginsters pasties.

I think that no one knows how we split tasks here and so is not in a position to judge.!

I regard it as a way of cherishing him

No judgement involved from me Codswallop, just curious.

hehe
a taste of my own medicine!

I do it as i do ds1s and dh does other things at the same time.

I cook everything so it s normal I do it. He has gourmet salads most days!

What about those spanish omlette things, put whatever veges in and you can have it cold in slices. Tortillas I think they are called. Mmmmmmmmmm.

Dh makes my lunches, he is most subservient and 50's like

But Coddy, you ARE a 50's flashback, aren't you? WE've seen your moderators pic.