A Round-Up of Fresh and Fabulous Brown Bag Lunch Ideas

If you’ve been searching for ways to stop your weekday brown bag lunch routine from getting stale, look no further. Modern Girls Kitchen asked for your bring-your-own-lunch ideas and you more than delivered.

In fact, Chef T over at ChefBliss went so far as to (try to) record her lunch menu for a whole week (read about it here), while FoodWanderlust gathered some great ideas from friends and coworkers too – including some great whole grain salad and rice options.

As it turns out, however, there’s a little bit more to a great brown bag lunch than simply deciding what to put in it: thinking ahead, packing smart and playing to your own personal tastes (no matter how “nutty” you think they are!) can make bringing your lunch to work a pleasant interlude in an otherwise hectic day.

So, with many thanks to everyone who contributed their time-saving tips and their freshest, most favorite lunch ideas, here’s a round-up of ways to keep your homemade lunches both easy and appetizing – every day. (And don't worry, if you still decide to eat out on occasion, I won't tell!)

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Don't worry, I'm not going all Suze Orman on you (and I'm not even sure she's buying stock at this moment in time). No, I'm talking about the kind of stock that you use to make soup. And stew. And all kinds of other things.

You're probably used to thinking of stock as that golden brown liquid alternately called Chicken Broth or Low Sodium Chicken Broth that comes in paper cartons or as small, dehydrated bouillon cubes. But I have news for you. Once upon a time, in the days before processed foods, unnecessary packaging and foil-wrapped cubes, there was only one way to answer a recipe’s call for broth or stock. Make. It. Your. Self. Gasp!

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