Lunch is a hard meal… am I right?!

For years we have relied on leftovers and/or eggs with some mixture of other ingredients to make a complete meal. We began to realize that this meal was causing us a lot of stress. We often would have a lot of leftover protein and not enough starch, or vice versa. We have gotten used to mixing and matching leftovers in order to fill the “gaps” in making our meals balanced. One of us would end up with a nice meal and the other would have to scrounge around to make something work. As if that didn’t already cause us some tension, we usually pack our meals after dinner… after we have spent X amount of time preparing, X amount of time eating and X amount of time doing dishes. We would always look at each other in frustration that we had to turn around and create another meal and spend 15 MORE MINUTES IN THE KITCHEN. One of the harsh realities of being prepared…

So, all of this said, I have been trying to implement some change. I am trying to pick an easy meal to make in bulk each Sunday that can be used for lunches throughout the week to fill in the gaps. This solves many of our frustrations:

1. The meal is almost always completely prepared, so we don’t have to spend 15 minutes every night making a meal for the next day.

2. Has allowed us to use leftovers for dinners more frequently. This gives us more time in the evenings and has honestly dramatically decreased our grocery bill.

3. Has eliminated the stress of figuring out what is for lunch.

4. Has helped us change up our routine- which is always a fresh feeling.

This week, we made a Mediterranean Tuna Salad. We have also prepared some rice in bulk, that can be added as a starch and then we always through in some extra raw vegetables. This recipe was definitely good enough to share and can be used for any meal, but was an easy bulk lunch to make :-)

Mediterranean Tuna Salad

Ingredients:

• 5 (5oz) cans tuna, canned in water

• 3-4 celery stalks, chopped

• 1 cucumber, chopped

• 1/3 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

• 5-7 radishes, chopped

• 1/2 small red onion, chopped

• 1/2 bunch parsley, chopped

• 10-15 mint leaves, chopped

• 1 1/2 TBSP dijon mustard

• 1 TBSP lime juice

• 1 TBSP lemon juice

• salt

• pepper

• chili flakes

• 3 TBSP olive oil

• 3 TBSP water

How to:

1. Open and drain tuna.

2. Add to bowl with chopped celery, cucumber, Kalamata olives, radishes, red onion, parsley and mint.

3. Make dressing by combining dijon mustard, lemon and lime juice, chili flakes, olive oil and water. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Pour dressing over tuna mixture and mix well until combined.

5. Serve with a starch and additional vegetables!

I hope this adds a fresh idea to your routine. I will continue to post some of my favorite bulk lunches!