Lunch is the meal most likely to be eaten out of the home, so it presents its own specific challenges. A salad bar, a row of cooked cold vegetables and grains, room temperature grilled vegetables, even rice and beans, all are preferable to the company cafeteria steam table or a sandwich or grill station.

The best bet is often to bring your own lunch. And this is a solution that may be easier than you think, as long as you’re equipped with the right containers. The most convenient for all-around use are tight-sealing plastic (or better still, glass) so you can either dress your food at home, or carry dressings and sauces separately. If you have access to a microwave at work, you have even more options.

Here are recipes for dozens of different brown-bag lunches: soups, salads, sandwiches, and even noodle and stir-fry dishes. Personally, I bring lunch to work about half the time, and it’s usually a soup (or something soup-like if not an actual “soup”), one that contains vegetables or legumes and grains, so it’s pretty substantial.

They’re based on the same quickly prepared foods you would eat if you were home. Any of them can be made in the morning and reheated if necessary; most can even be made the night before. If you prepare just one or two of these every week (doubling them if you’re feeding a family this way), you have lunches all set, especially if you add to the bounty by bringing leftovers from dinner once in a while.