Fuss-free is a lifestyle I choose whenever possible so I can avoid objectionable tasks and spend more time and money on worthwhile pursuits. For example, most of my clothes are machine washable, dryable and wrinkle-free, thereby eliminating hand washing, ironing and dry cleaning, freeing me to go out. (Clothes requiring more maintenance are reserved for when the extra effort is worth a particular effect.)

When eateries near my job became too expensive for lunch, I realized I’d have to start bringing lunch from home. At first this seemed problematic. I did not want to make lunch but packaged lunches from the market didn’t appeal and dinner leftovers, if any, don’t always travel, reheat or eat easily outside the house. Furthermore, lunch has typically been the best part of my workday. I would need to bring a lunch that would nourish me in many ways. What to do?

My first step was deciding what not to do. I would not dice, peel, de-seed, fry, bake or the like. These activities take too much time and make a mess. Instead, I would combine pre-cut and/or pre-cooked ingredients to prepare tasty, healthy meals specific to my taste, something often unavailable at eateries. I would achieve maximum flavor with minimum effort, and with minimum mess made. My meals would also be priced right.

When to make lunch needed to be determined. Mornings before work were out as then I function primarily on autopilot. I set out clothes and prep my to-do list the night before. The fewer decisions I make between getting out of bed and getting out of the house, the better. But then, after work hours are spent recovering from the day. Some evenings I come through the door only to plop on the couch and not move until it’s bedtime.

I make my fuss-free meals at night during no more than one or two T.V. commercial breaks (I’m back on the couch between those breaks). I need starch as part of every meal so I will include pasta, potatoes or rice even though they take longer to prepare because a) cooking rice in a ricer only entails adding water to rice grains, pressing a button and letting the ricer do its thing, b) a few drops of olive oil in the boiling water with the pasta and/or only partially covering the pot helps keep the water from boiling over so it can be left for periods of time, and c) setting a timer for a pot of boiling potatoes means not having to watch it at all as long as you can hear the timer when it rings. (I only use short-cut pasta like fusilli, penne, etc. Long strands, like spaghetti, are too messy.)   I prepare my starch in quantity and mix with different ingredients throughout the week.

Despite best efforts, however, lunch doesn’t always get made the night before. Fortunately I can make lunch in the morning, even when running late for work.

Much to my surprise, lunch making has been beneficial and even fun. I’ve always required that food I purchase be microwaveable. (Many packaged meals have called to me, only to be instantly returned to a shelf when heating directions don’t include microwaving.) But there is a lot of fuss-free food out there that isn’t marked as such and I delight in adding new flavors to my meals. Frozen roasted corn kernels are more versatile than I realized. Salad dressings can dress dishes other than salads.

I will never be a Top Chef contestant, but my dishes are culinary works of art in a bowl. Yesterday I mixed rice with brussel sprouts, pre-sliced crimini mushrooms, frozen, shelled cooked edamame and frozen pre-grilled chicken strips, microwaved for 4 minutes, and tossed with cilantro salad dressing. I didn’t plan ahead. I chose from what was already in my kitchen. It was hearty, nutritious, delicious and pleasing to the eye. Furthermore, my dish cost less than five dollars. I eat this way every day.

Co-workers have called me lazy for not spending much time in the kitchen (I do spend time exploring the fuss-free universe), but I don’t mind. I get the last laugh at lunch as I eat while they continue to wait for food to be delivered, especially on rainy days

It’s not that I’m lazy

Or that I don’t care,

It’s just that my time

Is wanted elsewhere.

So I’m finding it funny

That these hours I’ve freed

Are being spent writing

About how I feed.