Taking Dinner to Lunch

After an interesting breakfast - omelets with pepperoni (salad bar item), ham (Carl Budding) and cheese; the last of the blackberries and some coffee - we started our day. I say "interesting" because I've never had Carl Budding meats before, and can honestly say I probably won't again. It didn't look like ham, nor did it taste like ham.

Lunch was some cut cantaloupe (we're almost done with the melon too) and the leftover stuffed peppers. Each day you may notice we eat for lunch the leftovers from dinner. It's something I learned long ago when Gil was following carb-restriction for weight loss - it's easier to make a big dinner and pack that as lunch than try to create a new lunch each day or eat out. It's also a lot less expensive!

Regardless of budget, it's something I always suggest to those who ask for help with menu and meal planning - and it allows some great lunches the next day! For example, last night we started dinner with shrimp cocktail (served with cocktail sauce and lemon wedge), Gil had water, I had some V-8, our son had milk; and our meal was broccoli and grilled chicken legs/thighs.

For Gil and me, lunch today will be chicken salad made from the leftover chicken - just a simple mayo based salad with diced celery, onion and mayonnaise, served on a bed of romaine, some sliced cucumbers, grated carrots and dressing. My son will likely have some cut-up chicken, leftover broccoli and a kiwi fruit, along with some milk.

To do such a menu, where you can maximize you time cooking and preparing meals, takes planning and cooking a larger meal for dinner than you'll eat at dinner.

Some food too are simply not going to work well for a lunch the next day - things like cheeseburgers don't tend to taste good the next day. So on day's following something like a dinner of cheeseburgers you need to plan what else you'll have for lunch instead, or prepare something similar while you're making dinner. One option I usually suggest for a cheeseburger dinner is to brown some ground beef and season it like taco meat - then the next day prepare yourself a taco salad using that meat prepared the night before.