by Douglas Abrams
Dinner preparation is the optimal time to make lunch. Though this may seem odd, making the right dinner, or rather the right amount, is a key to success when it comes to having a yummy lunch the next day.
Specifically, make more dinner that you need. A little leftovers go a long way.
One meal that I always have leftovers of is pasta with tomato sauce. Cook two whole pounds of pasta the night you make it—planning for you and your family to eat one of those pounds the night you make it and leaving you about a week of ready-made lunches.
For the sauce, just take one half-pound of ground beef and break it up in a pan, cooking it until it’s golden brown. Then, take a can of pre-made tomato sauce and pour it over the pasta. If it seems that the sauce is too thick or meaty, add some cold water.
To the tomato sauce add chopped up bell peppers for some sweetness and texture, cook until it reaches a boil and let it simmer for 10 minutes. This meal is simple and easy. However, due to the meat, it does not keep well for lunch. So, if you do not have access to ice packs, just omit the ground beef.
Another easy meal to make more of is mac and cheese. For the dish, cook two pounds of pasta on the same assumption as used in the previous dish, drain it and put it back in the pan you cooked it in. In a typical cheese sauce, heas milk and stir in a thickening agent. This takes 15 minutes.
To save time, I just omit the liquid. On top of the pasta, grate two cups of cheddar cheese and melt it into the pasta by heating it over a low flame and stirring. Add one tablespoon of butter for creamy richness. In addition, crack over a tablespoon of black pepper—the spiciness cuts through the richness of the pasta.
These recipes take under 20 minutes to prepare, even with the increased size. So, plan ahead, use your leftovers and have an actual home-cooked meal for dinner and for lunch, instead of a PB & J.