I loathe that question. It’s a simple enough idea – what to eat for the noontime meal – but it can inspire panic, especially if I haven’t planned ahead. What IS for lunch? Is there anything healthy? Anything appetizing? Anything QUICK that doesn’t require a lot of effort in the middle of my very full day?

Lots of folks assume that since I’m in the nutrition business and my hubby is a chef, our mealtime must be an effortless combination of nutrient dense foods creatively and deliciously prepared.

Well, it’s time for me to burst that bubble. Cooking daily meals is as big a pain in the arse for us as it is for anyone. Sometimes more so because of those dastardly expectations that creep in since, didn’t you know?, we’re “experts.”

Since skipping this meal isn’t an option for us and we know too much to go out for lunch on a regular basis, that means we have to answer that question from the inside of our refrigerator more days than not.

I don’t like having to think much about extra things during the day, so we’ve come up with a simple system for lunch: dinner leftovers, four ways.

The first step, of course, is to make sure there’s enough dinner to last you for lunch the next day. Once you’ve made dinner, then you’ve got four options:

Option 1: Straight up.

That’s straight outta the fridge. Heated if appropriate, cold if you’re down with that. This is by far the easiest, but not always the most appetizing since it’s a full repeat of last night’s dinner.

Option 2: Salad-ified.

Get some nice mixed greens, throw on leftovers from dinner, add a homemade dressing and you’ve got lunch! This is our summertime preference.

Option 3: Soup-ified.

Heat up some bone broth, add last night’s dinner. You’ve got soup or stew, based on the water to solids ratio. Hat tip to my client Glenn for this idea.

Option 4: Wrap-ified.

Wrap those leftovers in a lettuce leaf, a tortilla, or a collard green leaf, add some fresh greens if it suits you, and roll it up.

What’s your best lunch strategy? Please share in the comments below.