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make-ahead vegetarian meze lunch

October 19, 2017 by Kathryn Pauline 8 Comments

If you’re thinking about consuming less red meat for No Red (meat) October and beyond, one of the best ways to reduce the amount of meat in your diet is to eat vegetarian for lunch. If you’re used to packing a deli sandwich or chicken salad, this might sound like a bit of a challenge, but I’ve come up with a menu for lunch meal prep, which takes less than 35 minutes of active time, and yields several days of healthy, filling, delightful lunches.

The menu

Hummus with olive oil and za’atar
Carrot chips
Tabbouleh (optionally add pomegranate arils)
Feta mint wraps
Extra za’atar

notes

Download a PDF to print the grocery list, to do list, and recipes
  • This will give you about four days of work lunches, plus some left over for after work snacking, or about 3 days of work lunches for you and your partner.
  • The prepared food should keep for all 4 days, but only if you use really fresh ingredients, and make a tabbouleh that’s primarily parsley-based (parsley holds up better than cilantro, for instance). Make sure you wash all the herbs in cold water and dry them really well. This will prevent them from turning to mush when you mince them.
  • The grocery list assumes you’re making classic tabbouleh, but I added some optional pomegranate seeds, as pictured.
  • It should take about 35 minutes to cook everything.
  • The feta and mint should be eaten as little wraps, but don’t wrap them ahead of time. Just use a mint leaf to scoop up a piece of feta, wrap it up, and eat it.
  • The carrots are for scooping up the hummus.
  • Using a bento box will keep keep everything fresher for a couple days, but if you don’t have one, fan out the carrot chips in a line down the center of a plastic container. This will create a barrier between the hummus and tabbouleh. Spread the hummus on one side, scoop the tabbouleh on the other, pack the feta and mint in separate snack-size plastic bags, and place them on top of the tabbouleh if there’s room.
  • You can easily make this gluten free by subbing quinoa (or another gluten-free grain) for the bulgur.
  • For a dinner meze menu (also known as mezze, mazze, or mazzeh), check out my easy vegetarian meze post.

grocery list

Pantry

2 15.5 ounce cans of chickpeas
Tahini
Extra virgin olive oil
Za’atar, or your favorite spice or dried herb
Fine bulgur (#1)

Produce

2 cloves garlic from 1 head
5 large lemons
About 5 carrots (or a bag of baby carrots)
4 plum tomatoes
2 bunches parsley
1 bunch green onions
1 bunch mint
optional: 1 small pomegranate

Dairy

8 to 12 ounces feta cheese

to do list

  • Wash and dry the mint
  • Make the hummus
  • Make the tabbouleh (add pomegranate seeds if you bought them)
  • Slice the feta into chunks
  • Slice carrots on the bias (or use baby carrots)
  • Pack everything away. Top the hummus with olive oil and za’atar, or another herb or spice, and pack a little extra za’atar on the side.

Filed Under: every recipe, lunch, main courses, meze, salads, vegetarian Tagged With: beans, carrots, feta, herbs, middle eastern, pomegranate, za'atar

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lydia Kanno

    January 24, 2020 at 11:50 pm

    Love it Usually I make my own hummus and I love how you mix pomegranate seed with tabouli and Za’atar .

    Thank you
    Lydia

    Reply
    • Kathryn Pauline

      February 1, 2020 at 4:53 am

      Homemade hummus is the bessssst, yum! Thanks Lydia! 😀

      Reply
  2. Naz

    May 14, 2018 at 1:41 pm

    Will definitely give this a try! Can you also share where you purchased the bento box from? This one looks just perfect!

    Reply
    • Kathryn Pauline

      May 15, 2018 at 5:15 am

      Oh wonderful, and thank you! 😄 I bought this bento box at a Japanese restaurant supply shop on Shanghai St in Hong Kong. But I guess if you don’t live locally, that’s not very helpful, and if so, apologies, and I hope you find something similar!

      Reply
  3. Priya Sebastian

    March 25, 2018 at 6:01 pm

    Thank you for this!

    Reply
    • Kathryn Pauline

      May 15, 2018 at 5:10 am

      You’re so welcome! Thanks for stopping by 😄

      Reply
  4. Jackie

    October 19, 2017 at 11:22 am

    How beautiful is this?! Love it!

    Reply
    • Kathryn Pauline

      October 29, 2017 at 3:35 am

      Aw shucks! Thank you!

      Reply

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