When it comes to taking lunch to work, I’m pretty inconsistent. I could be on a hot streak for weeks, but after one wrong move, I’m walking to the Chinese buffet three days in a row. When I do take a lunch, half the time I don’t want to eat it, but I suck it up and think about what I could do with the $8 I’m saving.

My problem is laziness. I think it takes Herculean effort to pull together something appealing and nutritious. So many times, I reach for the Lean Cuisine. Many people really enjoy the low-cal frozen meals; I happen not to be one of them. After all, the term “Lean” is part of the product name. I’m usually starving within two hours of eating one. Then I end up raiding a colleague’s office for candy. It’s a bad scene.

This week, I tried something different. I checked my fridge to see what leftovers I could work with before they went bad. This weekend, I made a pot of soup for my husband to eat when he comes home from work. (He gets in at 2 or 3 am). It took less than a minute to put some aside in a bowl for Monday. Sunday’s leftover brown rice paired with a package of tomato-basil tuna made for a great lunch today. Plus, the rice was already in a small microwave container. Tossing that and a pack of string cheese in a bag took seconds.

Tomorrow, I’m taking more soup. It was really good! And for a snack, I packed a yogurt and strawberries. Total prep time – 2:38. I’m sure it would have taken less time if I had yogurt in single-serving cups.

I hope this new streak holds, because I eat way too much when I go to the buffet.