Lunch is a great time to experiment with salads. Mixed veggies are always the foundation of my salads, but I often mix in parts of leftovers as well - for example broiled chicken, steak tips, or chopped up salmon from a filet that I ate for dinner. Dice up an avocado, add a splash of EVOO, sprinkle on some nuts/seeds of your choice, and shake it all up!

I'm all ears for others' ideas!!

This question caught my attention as I am also pondering packable lunch items - for my daughter who starts school next week! Gotta be easy to handle, no fuss/heating required. Some of my ideas so far:

• Miniquiches - soon I may try gilliebean's above-listed Crustless Quiche recipe
• Custards
• Banana pudding (prepared in a glass dish, then chilled and transferred to one of the bento containers with lids)
• Chicken salad - made with yoghurt and seasonings
• Guacamole and veggies to dip
• Yoghurt dip and veggies to dip
• Hard boiled eggs
• Trail mix (if her preschool "does" nuts...? still don't know there)
• Almond butter and apple slices (same as above)
• Yoghurt blended with fruit
• Roast beef (maybe rolled around some avocado with wasabi powder sprinkled inside)
• Dried fruit
• Mashed sweet potatoes
• Baked/cubed sweet potatoes
• Cheeses (including organic string cheese! :-D)
• Organic applesauce packs

Crustless Quiche! Here is my recipe. Please credit if you repost. ;)

Gillie's Favourite Crustless Spinach Quiche 

Makes eight (8) servings    

• 1    16 oz pkg   chopped frozen spinach 
• 10   large eggs 
• 1    cup     milk (preferably pastured and raw) 
• 1    cup     gorgonzola or feta 
• 1/2  12 oz jar   bruschetta 
• 8    green olives (stuffed with jalapenos - optional), chopped 
• parmesan cheese    

Cook chopped spinach according to package directions for stovetop.  Drain well.  Mix egg and milk.  Beat or whisk well.  Butter/grease rectangular glass pan.  Place layer of spinach, then layer of cheese, then layer of bruschetta, the layer of chopped olives.  Pour egg/milk mixture over layers.  Sprinkle parmesan over top – as much as desired.

Bake at 350’F – 375’F for 40 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Cut into eight pieces. Serve hot or store covered in fridge.  Yum! 

You can omit the cheese if you're not doing dairy!

I invented the greatest paleo turkey sandwich ever. You'll need an apple, some sliced turkey (chicken would work too), and some cheese if you're on dairy. Slice the apple to cracker thickness, pile the turkey on, and top with a slice of cheese. It'll change your life.

For my main lunch meal, I usually pack some type of left-overs. My wife is great with Paleo recipes for Thai Basil Chicken, Cauliflower "Rice" dishes, Mashed Cauliflower, various meat dishes, amazing salads, etc. Mark Sisson's cookbook has great recipes that hold well for left-overs.

For snacks, I pack homemade beef jerky, Tropical Traditions coconut chips, and grilled meat (chicken, sausages, pork, beef, etc.). Pork tenderloin / chops are my favorite, especially when grilled with minced garlic.

Every 2wks I make an egg pie with spinach bacon mushrooms and what ever is in the fridge cook it in oven with eggs cream and cheese then slice it up and freeze it for lunches.

You can prepare sandwiches with cold roast meat:

Cut 3/4 cm slices of roast meat, spead with home made mayonnaise, ad some salad, onion rings, thuna, boiled eggs, cress sprouts, mustard... what ever you like or find in your refrigerator and cover with an other slice of roast meat.

I pack egg salad a a lot. I soft boil eggs and mix them with greek style yogurt, onion, celery whatever. Leftover shrimp, meatballs, avocado and cheese are all heavy in my lunch rotation. Having leftovers around is the easiest way to approach lunch. I cook large cuts of meat that can last for several days and it really makes life easier.

I cook a meat "stew" in the crock pot once or twice a week (I am not easily bored, so bring the same thing most days in a week). For lunch, I bring some of the "stew," veges and Kerrygold butter, some whey-fermented raw veges, all packed in a Mr. Bento lunch pail (microwave safe containers). I heat up the meat and veges (not the pickles, so as to preserve the probiotics) and enjoy. I had been doing the BAS, but my stomach does not like raw veges any more. ["stew" consists of meat, water, onion-type thing, and seasoning, cooked in the crock pot until it's luscious]

Simple lunch of uncured salami and raw-milk cheese. Lasts a week.

I do big slabs of cooked meat from the night before - as long as your commute is not too long, it'll keep in the fridge at work. If I want a something hot, I go to a local cafe and get an English breakfast or omelette. Normally very cheap.

Hard-boiled eggs and a burger made from ground chuck. A side of cream cheese or mascarpone and some lettuce leaves, or other raw veggies make a nice lunch in warm weather. I keep a cool pack in the freezer and use an insulated "lunch box". This lunch with a gallon of purified water will get me through from breakfast to supper.

I make HB eggs and burgers on the week-end for the week ahead.

Cooked frozen shrimp. My son (age 10) has really like that lately in his school lunches. I just throw in 8-10 shrimps in a baggie.

i like to make tortilla espanola with sweet potatoes. sometimes with chorizo or bacon, sometimes without.

it's delicious cold and travels well. one tortilla lasts at least 4 meals.

http://catavino.net/tradition-meets-modernity-new-ideas-for-old-tapas-part-ii-tortilla-espanola/