Bring Ease to Your Midday Meal

A wrap is similar to a sandwich but the wrapper transforms it completely. Likewise, making a small change in your mindset can transform how you approach your midday meal. This year has come with a lot of changes. In this series we explored a variety of tools to add to your kitchen toolbelt when it comes to lunch, including:

• Questions to guide your mindset around the meal in A Fresh Take on Lunch

• Options for Lunch on Toast that aren’t the same-old PB&J sandwich

• Quick 15 Minute Lunch Ideas you can make using limited dishes

• Make Ahead Lunches for when you can do some meal prep

• Lunchtime Smoothie Bowls for hungry people on the go

Whether you’re working from home, facilitating remote learning for your children, or both, it will help to take a few minutes to reflect on your expectations around lunch. Use those reflections to make more intentional choices about how you approach the meal block. In some ways, the process can be much like building a sandwich wrap:

1. Don’t Overfill. Adding too much filling just makes a mess in a wrap. Expecting too much of yourself at the lunch hour can lead to a mess of stress and disappointment. Make sure your intentions match your expectations and adjust your approach accordingly so you can look forward to a brief break from your daily grind.

2. Use Tasty Filling. Eat what you like! Food is meant to nourish our bodies. Avoid food rules and food trends and eat a balanced diet of food you enjoy. Remember, food isn’t good or bad. Food is our source of energy and the fuel our body needs to function. It has no moral value.

3. Trim Off the Ends. When it doesn’t make sense to keep something, trim off the excess. In the restaurant, we always trimmed off the ends of of wraps for a more pleasing look and so that there were no boring bites of plain wrap. When you look at your lunch routine, cut out what is no longer working to make room for some new options that serve you better.

This year has been hard. We’ve faced a lot of disappointment and cancellations. But the good news is that lunch hasn’t been cancelled. Don’t cancel it yourself. Take good look at the lunchtime hour and use some of the techniques and ideas in this series to help you look forward to a midday meal break.

Deviled Egg Salad Wrap recipe is pictured above.