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Let Roast Chicken Save Your Work Lunches

November 19, 2013

As a defiant response to Sad Desk Lunches, the Food52 team works to keep our midday meals both interesting and pretty. Each week, in partnership with Earthbound Farm, we'll be sharing our happiest desk lunches -- and we want to see yours, too.

Today: Food52's Assistant Editor Kenzi Wilbur explains how roasting a chicken at the beginning of the week will save your work lunches.

Not Sad Desk Lunch from Food52

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Roasting a chicken at the beginning of the week is one of my favorite things to do. It's one of the most practical ways to spend a Sunday afternoon (leftovers galore! soup! stock from the bones!), but that's not why I do it. (My socks don't match. I often fail to make my bed.) 

More: Here's our preferred way to roast a chicken.

I do it because it feeds into my pioneer-like, old-fashioned fantasy of self-sustainability. Roasting off a chicken is like making your own bread, in that way -- it feels a little primal, a little olden-days, a lot living off the land

If you're wondering, yes I went to Sturbridge Village camp

Make your first meal roast chicken and this farro risotto. The life of your roasted bird should proceed as follows: leftovers for lunch the next day, then salad, then soup -- all of which you can pack up and take with you to work. See how self-sustaining you are? 

 

We're partnering with Earthbound Farm to bring you always fresh, never sad lunch ideas. Because dinner shouldn't be the only time that you put care into what you're eating.

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The Dynamite Chicken cookbook is here! Get ready for 60 brand-new ways to love your favorite bird. Inside this clever collection by Food52 and chef Tyler Kord, you'll find everything from lightning-quick weeknight dinners to the coziest of comfort foods.

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See what other Food52 readers are saying.

  • Cristina Sciarra
    Cristina Sciarra
  • Bascula
    Bascula
  • Greenstuff
    Greenstuff
  • Kenzi Wilbur
    Kenzi Wilbur
Kenzi Wilbur

Written by: Kenzi Wilbur

I have a thing for most foods topped with a fried egg, a strange disdain for overly soupy tomato sauce, and I can never make it home without ripping off the end of a newly-bought baguette. I like spoons very much.

5 Comments

Cristina S. November 19, 2013
Sturbridge Village! Ah, the memories. I could go for a root beer-flavored old fashioned candy stick right now.
 
Kenzi W. November 19, 2013
Dude. Right?
 
Bascula November 19, 2013
I use a dry rub on large frying chickens, then they bake at 250 for 5 hours - perfect every time. Having roasted chicken is like money in the bank! I like to freeze the chopped chicken for future dinners.
 
Greenstuff November 19, 2013
I did that for years, roasting a chicken or two every Monday. Not only saved lunch, it saved a lot of dinners.
 
Kenzi W. November 19, 2013
So many dinners too! Preach.