Doubling dinner for next-day lunch

Sunday night I made the tender beef stew from the library and doubled the recipe. On Monday at noon, when lunch often fails to happen, a container was already in the fridge. It needed ninety seconds in the microwave. I ate a real lunch on a workday, which is not my usual pattern.

Doubling works because my appetite and energy are higher in the evening. At seven, with music on and the day finished, cooking is easy and food sounds good. At noon the next day, neither is true. The evening cook covers lunch the next day.

What doubles well

• Stews and braises that often taste better on day two.
• Baked pasta200 kcal, portioned before it goes in the fridge so there is no serving decision later.
• Rice205 kcal cooked in stock with butter102 kcal. It reheats as the base for several different lunches.
• Mashed potatoes110 kcal or sweet potatoes, reheated with extra butter.

There are limits. I put the second portion in its own container before I sit down to eat, because food left in the pot becomes extra rather than lunch, and I do not count extra. Fried and crisp foods go soft overnight, so I only double dishes that reheat well. After one unlabeled mystery Tuesday, I label everything. Masking tape and a marker stay in the drawer under the microwave. Writing a date66 kcal takes about ten seconds and prevents guessing later in the week.

I now put the doubled portion into the weekly plan as its own named meal, such as Tuesday lunch, already cooked, instead of optional leftovers. Finding lunch already decided in the fridge has made midday easier.