Struggling with not buying food at lunch

Long time no see.

Lately, I've been struggling to NOT buy food at lunch. The reasons for this vary,but usually end up on the theme of "I don't have anything quick to bring to lunch today" or "I'm really tired of eating this same thing over again".  Solution? Meal planning.


Today is Tuesday and I just got back from Thanksgiving, so this week is easier to plan for, which is a good first start to a week.

Breakfasts I have more or less sorted out. Sauteed chopped veggies with two eggs, toast if need be. If I'm running late and need to leave before breakfast, I can go with oatmeal at work instead.

Grocery shopping today: Chili ingredients, breakfast ingredients, salad ingredients.
Cooking today: Dumplings
Cooking tomorrow: (Slow cooker) Chili


Tuesday Lunch: General Tzo's chicken
Tuesday Dinner: (Snacks, salad maybe) Will probably not be very hungry

Wednesday Lunch: Leftover stuffing, roasted vegetables, glazed carrots
Wednesday Dinner: Bean Chili

Thursday Lunch: Dumplings
Thursday Dinner: Salad + Pollock burgers

Friday Lunch: Chili
Friday Dinner: Lentils, or salad, or dumplings.


On Saturday, I will re-evaluate how many servings of food I have left and plan out next week's menu.

In addition, I am going to start keeping an index of recipes and their shopping lists in Evernote.

Back to experimental cooking! What do you do when you have a pumpkin in the fridge and receive a cauliflower in your produce grab-bag? Cauliflower pumpkin curried lentils. Indian-ish (due to lack of some key spices, namely, the curry leaves).


Have to make garam masala, recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-garam-masala/
Substituted caraway for the ground coriander. Followed directions mostly, a bit extra cloves because I had to grind them myself.

Made my own curry paste, recipe here: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/recipe/easy-homemade-curry-pastes/ . I didn't roast the spices like I was supposed to, and I substituted the 3 tbsps coconut with another 3 tbsps almonds. Also, avocado oil for groundnut oil. Dried parsley for a fresh bunch of coriander. Also, caraway seeds for ground coriander again. Also a tablespoon or two of death sauce instead of green chilies

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/22387/pumpkin+cauliflower+and+lentil+curry