Midday meals get repetitive fast, especially when you pack them the night before. This wheel offers twenty lunches that travel well or come together in ten minutes, including a BLT, burrito bowl, Cobb salad, chicken noodle soup, a hummus plate and a homemade bento box.
When to use it
Office workers who brown-bag it can spin on Sunday night for the five workdays ahead, then prep fillings in batches so mornings stay calm.
Parents packing school lunches can let their children spin. A kid who chose the quesadilla is far more likely to actually eat it at the cafeteria table.
Remote workers who drift to the kitchen at noon with no idea what they want can spin once and be back at the desk quickly, rather than grazing on crackers all afternoon.
Ideas
- Build a cold-only version for days without a microwave, keeping sandwiches, wraps, pasta salad and the Chef salad.
- Make a soup wheel for winter with tomato soup, ramen and chicken noodle soup, plus a grilled cheese side.
- Office teams can spin together on Friday and all bring the same dish, which turns a plain lunch break into a small potluck.
Variations
- Keep no repeats as the default and spin the whole school week in one sitting, so no lunch shows up twice.
- Switch to normal mode and weight healthy picks with Grain bowl*2 and Cobb salad*2 if you are trying to eat more vegetables but still want a sandwich now and then.
- Use count wins mode for a few dozen spins in one sitting to see which lunches the wheel picks most, then compare that with what you actually enjoy.
Tips
- Mind school nut rules. Many classrooms are nut-free, so double-check fillings before packing anything with peanut butter.
- Keep wet ingredients like dressing and tomato separate until lunchtime to avoid a soggy sandwich.
- Pack salads in jars with the dressing at the bottom and the greens on top, then shake right before eating.
Make it yours
Change any entry, weight or color above, or open a copy of this wheel to edit and share as your own. This page always keeps its original entries.