Beating the lunch box blues

"Nobody wants a lunch cookbook. Especially not a lunch box cookbook. Because in the morning rush most of us aren't going to break out a recipe to bang out a brown bag special. What busy people need are ideas. And lots of them. If they're healthy, fun, easy and fall on the hipper end of the foodie spectrum, even better. That's what Beating the Lunch Box Blues is - an idea book to inspire anyone daunted by the daily ordeal of packing lunch. This is an un-cookbook, a collection of 180 delicious ideas for thinking outside the (lunch) box. The format is user friendly -- photos with tips and ideas, not recipes. Because you don't need a recipe to know that a grilled cheese with manchego and fig jam with a side of fruit salad splashed with balsamic is a delicious lunch. Or that kids and adults will go nuts for a DIY taco kit made from leftover chicken or steak, whole-wheat tortillas, shredded cheese, sour cream and veggies. The result is a cookbook-meets-flipbook approach to thinking about lunch, allowing parents and kids to page through fresh, healthy ideas for awesome meals. Hirsch also slipped in 30 recipes for fast and flavorful dinners. Because great lunches often are built from the leftovers of killer suppers"--

Includes index.

Introduction. The tips ; The gear ; The book -- The cheat sheets. Feel-good convenience ; Leftover by design ; Mix it up ; Too cute to eat? ; The greatest thing since sliced bread ; In a jam? ; Feeling nutty? -- Feeling fowl : 18 lunches inspired by our favorite birds -- Fast & easy : 13 lunches that will have you packed in minutes -- Catch of the day : 10 lunches inspired by the sea -- Breakfast for lunch : 15 lunches that start at the breakfast table -- Sandwiches & things bready : 30 lunches for when you're feeling carby -- Linked : sausages : 8 lunches for when sausage is screaming out your name -- Little bites : 6 lunches for when you want to nibble -- Use your noodle : 13 lunches packed with pasta -- Salads : 18 lunches to lift you out of your iceberg doldrums -- Beefy : 14 lunches built big and beefy -- Vegetarian : 7 lunches that pack the produce -- Soups & such : 10 lunches thaat are slurpy good.