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By the time I turned 10ish I was making my own lunches. Sandwiches made with some leftover chicken, or lunch meat if I had to. Leftover steak, cold perogies! Oh they were glorious. I loved packing my own lunch, it was part of the after dinner clean up.

Then again, I also had to make sure the coffee was made, and prep my own breakfast in the mornings. Sounds terrible to make a kid do that sort of thing, but I thought it was great. I got to eat lunches that I wanted, and had regular chores to do. :)

Size and cut doesn't matter, except in these these things should be changed up on a regular basis, for variety's sake. What does count, and is essential, and in this city seems entirely ignored, is that french fries Must have a crispy texture on the outside! No one takes the time to double dip their fries any more. In the oil till they're cooked, then up, let the oil heat and the fries cool, then back in that oil for a second time to promote crispiness!

Firefox + adblock. Never see any adds. :)

none of the above. Fungus grows on feet, and therefore is not fit to eat. :)

@fewteeth Steaks not tasty? If I told that to my butcher he'd be upset with me. :)

I go and buy my steaks from a butcher. I have a pretty good relationship with him, so he tries to make sure and hang on to nicer ones if he knows I'm coming 'round. I also buy better cuts, only getting the lesser ones for things like beef dip sandwiches, or other sauced meats.

If I am going to have to marinate a steak for some reason, I just use Olive oil, a bit of lemon juice or beer (beer is better), salt, pepper, garlic and a handful of chili flakes.

However, I do make a BBQ sauce that I used most times for company. Southern comfort, garlic, brown sugar, chili flakes, onion, mesquite flavouring, and some regular BBQ sauce just to help thicken it up. I'll let that cook down till it's like a thick almost paste. Then when I need some to put on my steaks, I'll add more southern comfort to thin it to the consistency I need.

My mother was fairly clueless about the whole school lunch thing. She'd pack too much food, and she'd wrap it in aluminum foil so that I'd have no idea what was in there until I unwrapped it. The sandwich was usually pretty obvious, but the rest were mystery shapes that could have been anything. I was a slow eater to begin with, but all the unwrapping of foodstuffs that were packaged to withstand radioactive fallout made me even slower. I'd never finish the lunch, because there was never enough time, so I'd have to bring home the leftovers for mother to look at. It's what I now unfondly call the daily lunch autopsy, where she'd unwrap each item to see what was in there. "Oh, you didn't eat your dill pickle. You like these. Why didn't you eat it?" And she'd look sad, and say that we'd have to throw it out, even though I'd offer to eat it on the spot. I didn't eat it because it was all knobby and weird-shaped in its aluminum shroud, and I had no idea it was there, and no time to unwrap and eat a dozen odd items. "Oh, look, here are the three cookies I packed...and the handful of chips...and the carrot sticks...and the celery sticks...and the olives...and the cherry tomatoes from the garden...and the....." aaargh.

It was a happy day when she agreed to let me buy my lunch from the school for a whopping 35 cents a day. And when she realized that she could sleep in instead of packing my lunch in the morning, it was a happy day for her. After that, no more packed lunches, ever again.

our elementary school had a microwave and all the other kids would bring those chef boyardi lunch ravioli things to heat up and eat or lunchable packets. meanwhile, i had my stacked lunchbox of rice, kimchi, bite-sized pa-jun, fried spam, and a thermos of whatever soup we had leftover from the last night. during the winter, my lunch was often some rice and a thermos of curry and on really lazy days, cup ramen.
I remember one day when my grandmother didn't pack anything and gave me money to buy the school lunch. I was so excited to try out the school food and bought one those mini pizzas. needless to say, i was forever grateful of my packed lunches and never again did i envy those other kids who had to eat those pizzas that tasted significantly similar to the styrofoam trays they came on.

I ate the exact same lunch everyday from ages 8 to 15. One half of a cheese sandwich (one slice whole wheat bread cut in half, 2 small slices mild cheedar cheese, no spread), one carrot cut into sticks, an apple, and a juice box of either apple or orange juice. I didn't graduate to a whole sandwich until age 15. No wonder I was the smallest kid in the class and had a delayed puberty! I wonder if my growth spurt made me hungry for a whole sandwich, or if deciding to upgrade provided enough fuel to permit growth. I basically still eat the same lunch now, with V8 instead of the fruit juice, and a yogourt as well.

My mom always made a ham sandwich with Miracle Whip on white bread and packed me some nacho cheese Doritos. Fruit would vary and I'd get a Little Debbie snack cake of some kind. Can't really complain!

Thin, crispy and salted.