Think soups, think stews
I don't recommend that you eat a food that's been made more than two or three days previous unless it gets an aggressive heating. Pasta takes on a kind of nasty, rubbery consistency if you nuke it to a high temperature, and salads start to rot after a day or so. Soups and stews improve with age, and if you keep your portion chilled until you thoroughly heat it, nothing nasty gets a foothold.
Start cooking!
Try the recipe for Bulghur Chili that I've included here. It keeps well, and the spicy smell of chili will sure make the coworkers jealous when it's spinning around in the lunchroom microwave. Epicurious.com has some fantastic stews there. Buy a cookbook specializing in soups and stews (The James Peterson book Splendid Soups is a winner) or get your friends and family to share their recipes.
Ta Dah!
Once you've made your big pot o' food, portion it out into your containers and put the lids on.
Help - my lids are inverting!
Common problem - the food is too hot. Crack the lid and let it cool just a bit. Don't let it cool completely, because you want to seal the lid while it's hot and get that nice vacuum seal that makes a noise when it breaks open. Mmm, freshness.
Should I leave this out or refrigerate?
Let the containers cool a bit more before putting them in the fridge or freezer; putting away piping hot food will heat up the interior of your fridge or freezer to an unsafe level. Don't leave it out overnight. That is too long, and you've just issued a bacteria invitation.
Mark the containers
If you're going to eat your wares that week for lunch, no need to mark. However, if you're going to freeze them, please get a little freezer pen, or a pencil and some tape, and mark them as to what is inside and date they were made. Trust me on this, you won't have the vaguest idea what it is in two weeks. It will just be reddish-brown with ice on top. You'll think, "What is that floating in there? zucchini?"
Eat at lunchtime
Before you leave for work, open the fridge (or freezer), grab your lunch, go to work. When the lunch bell rings...enjoy!
What do you mean you can't eat Bulghur chili every day?
Try making two or three selections of soup or stew your first time, portion them out and freeze 'em. Yeah, yeah. It'll take a little longer than usual, but think of it as your "initial investment." Each week following, make and freeze a new one. That way, you'll always have a few to choose from.
