Taking Back Lunch

I have a problem with lunch. I always have (at least since high school), but it's been the worst since I started working from home several years ago. When I worked outside of home I had to prepare in advance what I'd brown-bag or I'd buy something from a local deli or restaurant. So at least lunch was a respected part of the day then - "lunch hour" was a time for me to eat something delicious (or at least healthy, sometimes both!) while catching up on personal email, chatting with a coworker, or soaking up some vitamin D outside.

Now "lunch hour" doesn't exist and the meal is rarely a meal at all. Sometimes I eat leftovers of what we had for dinner the previous night (usually cold). Sometimes I scavenge random things here and there to tide me over from breakfast to dinner. Sometimes I find something to put between two slices of bread, but that something is usually a basic (read: boring) tuna salad or plain old peanut butter. It's a sad state of affairs.

I know that part of the problem is that I've never really liked sandwiches all that much. Reason being, I don't really like condiments. Mustard makes me gag. Mayo simply spread on the bread? I shudder at the thought. As a child I actually told friends' parents that I was allergic to mayonnaise so I wouldn't have to suffer through its presence between my bread. I also don't like raw tomatoes, which tend to be something of a sandwich staple. My plate at a restaurant will always have sad, lonely raw tomatoes left on it if a sandwich or salad was on the menu. My sandwich preference? A fluffernutter. Preferably with Fritos smooshed in there. Every now and then I'll treat myself to one of those, but in general I do at least try to eat healthfully (and like an adult). So my attempts to make healthy sandwiches often fall flat - some turkey and cheese between (dry) toast or the above-mentioned tuna salad or peanut butter.

The other part of the problem is that I am seldom prepared come lunchtime. I put a lot of thought into what we eat for dinner in any given week and I always make sure to have my breakfast favorites on hand for the essential morning meal. But I never really remember to take lunch into consideration when making the grocery list. If there isn't anything lunch-friendly in the house, how am I supposed to give this meal the attention it deserves?

I realized today, as I chased a handful of peanuts with two slices of American cheese at the lunch hour, that something needs to drastically change here. I can't suffer through another day of listening to my stomach grumble angrily while I race to prepare dinner (which I will then wolf down in a matter of minutes). I can't waste any more time idling in front of the fridge as noon rolls around, hoping that appealing foods will magically appear in there. It's downright unfair to my body, which is trying its darnedest to nourish two human beings right now. So I'm challenging myself to make lunch a meal worth enjoying (perhaps even in a leisurely manner, maybe even outside!, like the good old days) for 30 days. This will require some research and some planning and some willingness on my part to give some new sandwiches (and maybe even condiments - gasp!) a whirl. The days probably won't be consecutive.

I have a recipe folder labeled "lunch" that needs to have the dust blown off. Stay tuned!

photo credits: top, middle, bottom