non-sandwiches

Gong family aspirational phrase of the last 8 years: "We're going to stick to our budget this month".

Here's my current dilemma. The easiest category for me to overspend on is food. The category I always want to overspend on is entertainment. In our family, these budgets are interrelated. In an attempt to keep the food budget on track, we don't count restaurants as food but as entertainment. However, whenever we do something for entertainment (a long morning outing or evening out), I always want to have yummy food as part of it.

Peanut butter sandwiches, carrot sticks, and string cheese do not count as yummy, people.

When I say yummy, I mean the cute little bistro on the corner, or the sizzling taco stand across the street, or the Indian buffet just down the road. But if entertainment always means food, then we end up over our entertainment budget after the second weekend in the month, without really being entertained all that much.

So here's my challenge to you: Give me a list of super-delicious box lunches that I'll actually look forward to eating on our family outings. For reference, here are some things you should know about my food tastes:

1. Hold the pickles
2. Mushy makes me gag
3. I often crave hot lunch over cold
4. I'm always looking for ways to pack in fruits and veggies
5. I usually have approximately 5 seconds to prepare lunches on the day of the outing

... Go! ...