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Hell, I never use the work fridge, so all the lunches I take sit in my office until I am hungry enough to take lunch (some time between 11:30 am - 3:30 pm). I usually get to work at around 7, my commute is around 10-15 minutes.

I won't vouch for healthy, though...

- yakisoba (Japanese fried noodles...kinda like lo mein but really different sauce that's distinctly Japanese) -- I usually use shrimp, mustard cabbage, egg, spinach, and sticks of Spam. Really, anything you want. I usually make it that morning, and it takes me 15 minutes from prep to in the container. I rarely ever (99.99% of the time) use oil to cook.

- chili with rice...the rice is because I'm from Hawaii. :P The rice won't go bad if it's not boiling in your office and cooked 5 days ago (ok, I exaggerate...24 hours ago). You can always eat chili with linguini. I'll do that when I'm in the mood for it, but with the linguini, I have this thing where a tsp of ketchup needs to be added. It's weird, I can't explain it. Oh, this is typically leftovers from the previous night.

- soup that's not really runny. When I make soup, it's really, really hearty, so I don't have a problem of leakage. I also put the soup in the container first, place plastic wrap around the container, leaving a bit of room to add rice on top so it doesn't get soggy throughout the day, and cover. 1 container meal. I don't like rattling around 500 empty containers back to the car on the way home.

- cop out meal that's quite filling...bring your own noodles/rice + a can of ready-made soup. Make sure it has a flip top lid or you'll go crazy clawing at the can with your fingernails...since can openers have legs. They really do! My favorite soups to do this with are Wolfgang Puck's:
- organic hearty lentil and vegetable
- chicken tortilla
- pot roast
- NE clam chowder

- We have a hot water dispenser at work and my stepmother sends me a lot of stuff from Japan on her trips there every few months, so I'll bring instant food to rehydrate to work. Yeah, it's not healthy, but it's fun. What I don't like is people asking me what I'm heating up.

I'm not sure how strong your stomach is, but I've been leaving my food out for lunch without refrigeration for 25 years - from school 'til present.

I'm a really strong opponent of frozen food because there is always some @#$@#$ person before me, regardless of time of day, who is defrosting their frozen solid meal for 10 minutes. Partly due to the directions, and they tend to be the kind of people who take the meal out every minute and mumble, "still not hot enough," put it back in the microwave oven, take it out, put it back in...

If I wouldn't catch hell, I'd take that lunch, open the window, fling it outside, and scream, "There! Is it hot enough for you now?!?" (only effective during the summer).

i have a large collection of ziplock plastic containers. i take lunch and snacks with me every day. usually i have a selection of cut up veggies {carrots, bell pepper, jicama, fennel, rutabaga, cucumber, raw snow peas, sugar snap peas, and turnip} a little bag of walnuts and a few dried figs or apricots, some seasonal fruit {lately either grapes or strawberries} and either a sandwich {my current favorite is sunflower seed butter and banana} or a little hunk of cheese and a few crackers. sometiimes i also bring a little container of yogurt if i'm going to be gone all day.

if i have leftover interesting veggies from last night's dinner i'll take them too, but i make sure to put them in a leakproof container.

When I used to work in an office, I would have bowls of sugar snap peas and cherries and blueberries on my desk and basically snack all day - it was a think-tank, quite far to the left politically, and everyone ate constantly. For lunch I would have salads, usually with beans and vegetables. Also dark chocolate and nuts. If I was still doing it now, I would bring in homemade flatbreads. I like to make the yeasted dough out of spelt, millet and sunflower seeds, and top them with whatever nice things I have around the house (fennel, mushrooms and walnuts, and braised red cabbage have been recent toppings). They freeze well and make a satisfying lunch without being over the top.

I have a fantastic leak-proof travel mug that I pack soups, stews, various noodle dishes, salads, etc. in every day. I slide it into my purse on its side, and nary a drop has ever escaped. It's compact, environmentally friendly, and opens me up to pretty much any one-pot meal imaginable. Plus, there's automatic portion control :-). I usually made a big vat of something or other at the beginning of the week (this week, it's korean beef and noodles). I think I got mine at Sur la Table - it's made by Oxo, but I don't know any more than that. Head to a really good kitchen store and tell them you need an absolutely leak-proof mug; they'll point you in the right direction. As I recall, it was a bit pricey, but it's paid for itself many, many times over. Best of luck with your new job!!! :

With a cheap lunch being 7 or 8 bucks a pop and with the price of everything being so high these days, I have started to bring my lunch every day. Almost all the time I bring the leftovers from the night before. Pasta, some steak tips and rice, whatever it is. I use a small ziplock type container and then throw it in the office microwave for lunch. I also buy the refrigerator packs of whatever I want to drink and keep it under my desk. Every day I put a couple in the frig and it's there for me the next day. Sure beats spending a $1.25 for a bottle from the soda machine.

I'm going to just repost my post to the other, really similar thread about work lunches! I make a lot of bean salads - black beans, chick peas, niblets, cucumber, red peppers, etc. with s&p, olive oil, balsamic, parsley, red onion, feta, whatever I have in the fridge. They're great because you can make a lot at once and it gets tastier and lasts longer in the fridge.

Also, to keep stuff healthy, I find that keeping healthy snacks on hand prevents me from making an impulse run to D'Angelos. Raw, unsalted cashews are really great, I always have a jar of them in my desk. Also cucumber slices, apples with peanut butter, odwalla bars, the usual. I'm also a big fan of soups for lunch, I make minestrone or butternut squash and then keep a roll of saltines at work.

Good luck! This is my first "real" job out of college, too, and for the first two months I think I spent about $50 a week on Starbucks and overpriced take-out sandwiches for lunch. You get the rhythm down, eventually, you just need to grocery shop in preparation of every week!

It's not really about lunches but as a word of caution, I urge you to bring plenty of whatever it is you like to drink. Unless it's soda. I rarely drank cokes and refused to drink Diet Coke until i worked in an office.

For food, it's nice to be considerate of others and not bring anything too strong or unusual in smell. That can linger, and even if it was positively delicious to you when you tucked into it, not everyone may appreciate it, and even you might not around 4 in the afternoon when it's still there.

Generally, I found that anything based on rice or noodles worked out well for lunch, and that I preferred packing a sandwich to a big salad of greens (in regular life, it's vice versa).

There can be other pitfalls in the work lunch/food arena. I never ate candy on a daily basis except for when I worked in an office. People have it at their desks and it's hard not to go for it. I couldn't believe how entrenched a 4pm hershey fix could become.

Kudos for knowing well enough to brown bag, though. Conversely, though, you'll learn when to accept the invitation to join the group. The intangible benefits can definitely exceed the menu price, and if budget's really tight, I recommend having a savings set aside..

When I did this - I most often took a bagel sandwich - ham and cheese or whatever was left over. The "bread" doesn't get soggy or squished in your briefcase or purse or computer bag. And, it almost looks like something you bought from a deli - and "looking" bought can make it easier to eat in when everyone else is eating out. Mostly: minimal effort.

I've been obsessed with the Bento/Laptop Lunch groups on Flickr and there are always good ideas on how to/what to pack lunches there. Today I brought cold tortelloni from last nights dinner (no sauce), 4 dates, green pepper slices with a little bit of ranch for dipping, and 5 melba toast crackers with a little hunk of St Andre for speading. I eat SO much better when I actually pack my lunches. Much better than bringing those frozen meals...

@Cassaendra: I'm always stuck behind the same person at the microwave! Except mine will always turn around and say "Oh, guess I beat you today" and proceed to putter around the office kitchen while their meal will take 10 minutes to cook. I've been tempted to pour my split pea soup over their head when they say that.

I brought leftover quiche lorraine today (reheated really well on power level 7 for 1:31) and a snack size baggie of black olives (leftover from weekend pizza-making - satisfies the salt craving but healthier than chips).

I also get the frozen panini style sandwiches at the grocery store when they're on sale.