Dinner gets planned, breakfast is a habit, and lunch is decided at eleven forty-five by someone who is already hungry. That is why lunch is the meal most often bought, most often disappointing, and most often the reason last night’s leftovers are still in the fridge on Thursday.
Cook a little extra, deliberately
The cheapest lunch is the one that was already made last night. Adding a quarter more to the pan costs almost nothing in money, time or effort, and it removes tomorrow’s decision entirely. Box it at dinner, not the next morning. Leftovers that go into a container while you are already standing at the stove become lunch; leftovers that go into a big bowl become something you look at doubtfully two days later.
What travels, and what does not
Travels well: stews, rice dishes, roasted vegetables, frittata, pasta with oil rather than cream, bean salads, anything that was already going to be eaten at room temperature. Travels badly: anything crisp, anything dressed hours in advance, fried food, and salad leaves under a wet dressing. If it must be a salad, keep the dressing in a separate small jar and put the leaves on top rather than underneath.
Change one thing so it is not last night again
Cold roast vegetables plus a spoon of yoghurt and some lemon is not the same meal it was hot. Rice plus a fried egg is a different dish. Stew inside a wrap or on bread stops being stew. Adding something raw and something sharp does most of the work: a pickle, raw onion, herbs, chilli, a wedge of lemon. Keep those in the fridge as lunch equipment.
The five-minute assembly
When there are no leftovers: a grain or bread, a protein from a tin or the egg box, something raw, a sauce, and something crunchy. Chickpeas, cucumber, yoghurt and bread. Tinned fish, bread, onion and lemon. Rice, egg, soy and whatever vegetable exists. That takes less time than the queue in a sandwich shop and costs roughly a tenth as much.
Keep it eatable where you actually eat
If lunch happens at a desk with no microwave, plan for room temperature rather than pretending otherwise. Most food is perfectly good cold if it was seasoned with that in mind — a little more salt and acid than you would use hot. And take something to eat it with. A surprising number of good lunches are ruined by a plastic fork bending in a box of stew.
Cook a quarter more than you need, box it at dinner, and change one loud thing the next day. Lunch stops being a decision, stops being expensive, and stops being the reason food gets thrown away.