Hello and welcome to this thing we’re doing where we help you figure out what you’re gonna put in your mouth this week. Some of these are recipes we’ve tried, some of these are recipes we’re looking forward to trying, all of them are fucking delicious. Tell us what you want to put in your piehole or suggest your own recipes, and we’ll talk about which things we made, which things we loved, and which things have changed us irreversibly as people.
I tend to travel with food. Like a squirrel, I have little hoards of nuts and cereal and quick eats in my desk drawer, my bag, my jacket pockets, and sometimes tucked into my bra. When I got my first job as an organizer for a campus activist program, my boss at the time recommended I stash a jar of peanut butter in my desk drawer and granola bars and water in the trunk of my car. It was the best advice. You never know when you’re gonna’ need some protein on the go. However, subsisting on desk peanut butter and car trunk granola bars is a backup plan, not a pleasant way to live your best life.
Packing yummy food for a long day at work or school can be a challenge if you don’t have access to a refrigerator to keep perishable noms fresh and/or a microwave to heat things up to an edible temperature. Are you doomed to eat peanut butter every day forever? No, no you’re not.
Get into these tasty meals and snacks that serve well at room temperature and will stay fresh for hours in your brown bag, backpack, purse, or bra (maybe not your bra) so you’ll never need to eat tepid peanut butter for lunch again.
1. Roasted Curried Chickpeas with Rosemary and Thyme
![via the kitchn](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/curriedchickpeas.jpg?resize=540%2C360)
via the kitchn
2. Vegetarian Dolmades
3. Vegan Portobello Pizzas
4. Baked Kale Chips
![via Smitten Kitchen](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/kalechipsmitten.jpg?resize=500%2C332)
via Smitten Kitchen
5. Breakfast Salad with Cinnamon Toast Croutons and Maple Vinaigrette
Leave the fried egg off or substitute it with a chopped hard-boiled egg and this could make a delicious packed lunch!
6. Hummus, Cucumber, and Avocado Wrap
![via VegKitchen](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Hummus-cucumber-and-avocado-wrap.jpg?resize=576%2C384)
via VegKitchen
7. Sushi Sandwiches
![via weelicious](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/sushisandwiches.jpg?resize=640%2C427)
via weelicious
8. Homemade Cracker Jack
![via the kitchn](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/homemade-cracker-jack.jpg?resize=540%2C540)
via the kitchn
9. Bento Box Taco Cups
![via this lunch rox](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/tacocups2.jpg?resize=640%2C500)
via this lunch rox
10. Easy Turkey Jerky
11. Spicy Sriracha Tofu Jerky
![via connoisseurusveg](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/sriracha-jerky.jpg?resize=640%2C640)
via connoisseurusveg
12. Coconut Trail Mix
![via The Food Click](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/coconut-trail-mix.jpg?resize=480%2C640)
via The Food Click
13. Cold Spicy Peanut Sesame Noodles
![via Table for Two](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/cold-sesame-peanut-noodles-tablefortwoblog-4.jpg?resize=527%2C640)
via Table for Two
14. Zesty Tortellini Salad
![via the kitchn](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/tortellini-salad.jpg?resize=540%2C540)
via the kitchn
15. Haricots Verts à la Dijonnaise
![via FOOD52](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Haricots-Verts-à-la-Dijonnaise.jpg?resize=640%2C427)
via FOOD52
16. Vegan Peanut Butter Protein Cookies
17. Waffled Ham and Cheese Sandwiches
![via Epicurious](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/waffleshamcheesesammie.jpg?resize=291%2C350)
via Epicurious
18. Gluten Free and Vegan Coconut Cranberry Raw Bars
![via Beard & Bonnet](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/coconut-cranberry-bars.jpg?resize=640%2C426)
via Beard & Bonnet
19. Onigiri Rice Balls
![via Japan Centre](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/14-onigiri-rice-balls.jpg?resize=600%2C550)
via Japan Centre
20. Strawberry Banana Fruit Leather
![via oh my veggies](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/strawberry_banana_fruit_leather.jpg?resize=550%2C366)
via oh my veggies
21. Quick Vegetarian Sausage Rolle
![via a mummy too](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/sausage-rolls.jpg?resize=569%2C379)
via a mummy too
22. Plum Avocado Summer Salad
![via FOOD52](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/plus-avocado-salad.jpg?resize=640%2C427)
via FOOD52
23. Mini Corn Dog Pops
24. Coconut Soba Noodle Bowl
![via Bev Cooks](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/bevcookssobanoodle.jpg?resize=430%2C640)
via Bev Cooks
25. Baked Cinnamon Apple Chips
26. Paleo Tropical Sriracha Chicken Salad in a Mason Jar
27. Spring Bibimbap
![via Epicurious](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Spring_Bibimbap.jpg?resize=620%2C413)
via Epicurious
Waffled sandwiches, where have you been all my life? Thank you KaeLyn
I know, right? Like, a panini but more awesome!
tepid peanut butter 5ever
Seconded. I keep jars of peanut and almond butter in my desk drawer at work for “emergency” purposes, which I then usually proceed to eat out of with a spoon (because I have no shame). It’s the best.
OK but hear me out re: “tepid peanut butter.”
You can make an easy peanut sauce and throw it in a jar, then bring veggie sticks to dip in it. I basically make this: http://www.food.com/recipe/chinese-peanut-sauce-37244 but with a little grated ginger, rice vinegar instead of cider vinegar, and I don’t know why they add sugar or cilantro. It’s good with carrots, bell pepper, and celery or if you want more protein you can fry some tofu with a little soy sauce to dip as well. It’s a very easy work lunch!
Well that sounds delicious. But that’s a yummy dip, not a jar of room temperature peanut butter in my desk drawer. Haha.
… yeah fair enough. For one thing, you probably should refrigerate the peanut sauce :P
yessss time to upgrade from pb&j, an apple, and a capri sun in the lunch box!
I mean, to be fair to ya’ll, my lunch today is a tofurky sandwich, a fruit cup, and an orange…. I can do better!
HOT room temperature DAMN
Rice balls! Just another thing I will fail at making!
I believe in you. You can do this!
Those vegetarian dolmades look amazing. ? Vine leaves are so hard to find in any of the grocery stores in my town, though. I’m tempted to just buy them on Amazon.
Those chickpeas sound delicious. I wonder how long they’d keep for?
Do you have any middle eastern supermarket? I’d try there as that’s were you will more likely find it.
I’ve made the chickpeas before and they keep for several days in an airtight container.
All I see everywhere is Greek style(or Mediterranean style), but you never see Iranian style(which in my experience has always been vegan, full flavored) ever. Why is that? Is it some form oppression/racism? I am pretty sure the food’s origins are from the middle east(Turkey/Iraq/Iran region). I should really get my grandma’s recipe and methods and share it with the world
Oh, please do! I don’t think I’ve ever had Iranian style stuffed grape leaves – what are they called there?
I suspect “Greek style” is because a lot of folks in the US have had them at Greek restaurants. Which indirectly is due to racism – immigration policy, what kinds of “ethnic” restaurant is considered desirable, etc.
Dolma/Dolmeh depending on who you ask for the spelling.
PLEASE SHARE!
I’m sure it’s because “ethnic food” and what is considered popular is dominated by what is suitable to white people’s palates. See “tex mex” and “California sushi.”
Also, the general “othering” and discrimination against Middle Eastern people or people perceived to be Middle Eastern in the US. I imagine this is why Greek/Mediterranean restaurants seem to be more popular and available in the US than Turkish, Iraqi, Iranian, Palestinian, etc.
But anyway, I’d love to try your grandma’s recipe!!!
At least in my location Iranian(and most of them aren’t in Little Tehran district) and Turkish restaurants are easy to find. And Palestinian many times falls under general middle eastern restaurant, Mediterranean or Israeli(and neither of them make the dolmas I am familiar with).
I’m trying at least 15 of these recipes in the near future, thanks!!
I’ve got your back. ;) Let us know how it goes!
This article has come into my life at the perfect time (aka I have to pack lunches for the next six weeks for my camp counselor job), so excited to try some of these recipes and mix it up from my usual cheese sandwich + one or two snacks routine! :D
In addition to these, check out bento box recipe sites! Lots of great ideas for portable lunches and snacks that are out of the ordinary!
I am ALL OVER that bibimbap, possibly RIGHT NOW.
(And the sushi sammiches! They slay me, right in my hungry lunchtime tummy. To the kitchen~)
I just gave some grape leaves from my vines to a friend at work. Now if I get really ambitious I can pick a few more and make some dolmades.
SUSHI SANDWICHES