Some say breakfast is the best meal of the day, while others turn their focus to dinner. This week at Salon Food, however, lunch takes home the top prize. We've been diving into essays, how-tos and recipes all about lunch.
I know it's easy to dismiss lunch as an endless parade of sad desk salads and not-so-flavorful leftovers, but let's think about it. Lunch is really the perfect time to pair savory creations — whether it's a fancy fish sandwich or a three-ingredient broccoli cheese soup — with sweet treats like butterscotch pudding cups or chocolate-coated, date-filled peanut butter balls.
From dino nuggets, to classic PB&J, the possibilities are fun and endless.
Lunch foods are also quick to prepare and aesthetically pleasing, especially when packed in your favorite baggies and boxes. Best of all, lunch is arguably the one meal where you can feed your inner-child. From dino nuggets, to classic PB&J and vegetable crudités, the possibilities are fun and endless!
To help make lunch easier to prepare and assemble, Salon's editorial team is sharing their favorite tools for whipping up an assortment of midday meals. From a collapsible salad spinner to a nonstick frying pan skillet, here are 5 tools for upgrading your lunch game:
1. Sistema To Go Collection Bento Box
My home lunches are usually leftovers, random vegetable drawer dregs and a piece of chocolate. A bento box brings order to the chaos and makes lunch seem not like a messy potluck but rather intentional — and even fun. — Mary Elizabeth Williams, senior writer
Sistema To Go Collection Bento Box
BPA-free multi-compartment box for lunch and leftovers
2. Silicone Fruit and Vegetable Shaped Savers
OK, I'll admit it: My fridge is a disorganized mess. Every day around lunchtime, like clockwork, I dig in there for sandwich ingredients only to find mysterious tinfoil-wrapped fruits and vegetables. Ever since I started using these silicone containers, I no longer find mushy half-chopped tomatoes and almost-rotten avocados hiding in the crisper drawer. — Jillian Kestenbaum, partnerships & engagement coordinator
Silicone Fruit and Vegetable Shaped Savers
4-piece set perfect for keeping produce fresh
3. Prepworks by Progressive Collapsible Salad Spinner
In my quest to eat more greens without spending a lot of time actually washing greens, I've come to treasure my collapsible salad spinner. It takes up as much room as a Frisbee, but it does a bang-up job of keeping the grit out of my lunchtime soups and salads. — MEW
Prepworks by Progressive Collapsible Salad Spinner
Dish-washer safe spinner also works as a serving bowl
4. GreenPan Ceramic Nonstick 8" Frying Pan Skillet
This nonstick pan is one of the most-used tools in my kitchen, especially for lunch. I use it for everything from reheating leftovers to making egg scrambles and quick grilled cheeses. Clean up is easy (it really is nonstick!) and lunch is that much more stress-free. — JK
GreenPan Ceramic Nonstick 8" Frying Pan Skillet
Scratch-resistant pan with stainless steel handle
5. Tronco Stainless Steel Reusable Metal Straws
I like to feel like I'm eating out (even though I rarely get out for lunch). Hence, my metal straws. A metal straw in a tall, icy glass of iced tea or water brings a little restaurant civility to my desk. — MEW
Stainless Steel Reusable Metal Straws
100% BPA free straw set made from premium food-grade stainless steel
Some of our favorite lunch recipes from the Salon Food archives:
- A lunch for when there's no time for lunch
- The secret to the perfect grilled cheese, revealed
- Dinosaur nuggets and juice boxes: In defense of making lunch fun again
- How to dig out of your next salad rut (plus, a panzanella recipe fit for a hearty lunch)
Salon Food writes about stuff we think you'll like. Salon has affiliate partnerships, so we may get a share of the revenue from your purchase.
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