6 No-Recipe Formulas You Can Use To Become A Packed Lunch Pro

We are big fans of lunch recipes at Refinery29 — heck, we even came up with a whole month's worth of them. But sometimes, when you're in a rush, recipes can get in the way – or require extra grocery trips for missing ingredients. Not to mention time spent measuring (trying to figure out what exactly counts as three heaping cups of spinach), and having to keep your phone from getting covered in vinaigrette as you reference step-by-step instructions. Sometimes, a recipe is just what you need. Other times, you want an easy packed lunch, and fast without all the hubbub.

For those days, we have six go-to formulas you can use to create amazing lunches with no cookbooks and whatever you already have on hand. Even better, many of these suggestions use the same few ingredients, meaning you can make one batch to last all week long, or change it up as needed. No running out to the store for one lemon, ever again.