It’s easy to have the best intentions when it comes to making your lunch, especially at the beginning of the week (actually, this applies to most things). But even the most enthusiastic of lunch makers—ourselves included—can lack inspiration at times. Who hasn’t left work late and a bit frazzled and, stopping off at the store on the way home to pick up groceries, returned with a pack of chocolate, a gallon of milk, and some broccoli? On nights like these it’s difficult enough to decide what you’re going to make for dinner, let alone lunch. Of course we’ve already extolled the virtues of keeping a few basics in your kitchen cabinet, but thinking about what you might want to make before going shopping can also be very useful (and cut down on the time you spend wandering aimlessly around your local supermarket in a zombie-like trance). Planning—even loosely—in advance cuts down on waste too. How often do you buy a bunch of cilantro for a specific recipe, and then find the remnants molding, forgotten, at the bottom of the fridge a few days later?
Bearing all this in mind, we’ve prepared a few weekly shopping lists with suggestions for weekday lunch recipes. The recipes selected share shopping ingredients but are also varied, as no matter how much you might love cabbage, no one wants to eat it every day. We’ve also suggested the optimum time for preparing the dishes.