Bring a Picnic to Your Office

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

Today: With a little thrift, you can turn your office leftovers into a classy desktop picnic -- bubbly not included.

Sometimes, eating lunch at your desk can be a real bummer. Sunny days tempt you from just outside the window; so close and yet so very, very far. You have the sudden urge to leave your TPS reports behind and run through the hills, roll in the grass, and feast on a picnic of crusty bread, good cheese, and wine.

We can't help you with the running through the hills part, but we can definitely satisfy your picnic urge. With a little thrift and some calculated indulgence, you can make an office picnic worthy of a tablecloth -- or at least a cloth napkin.

Scrounge around in your fridge for some cured meats, cheese, and a few hunks of bread. Or, if you want to be extra thrifty, wait until you have an office party and then re-vamp the meat-and-cheese plate leftovers. Pick up a tart green apple and a bottle of bubbly (water, that is) from the corner store to round it all out. Voilà! You've got a spread fit for a picnic.

How do you add a touch of class to workday lunches? Let us know in the comments!