Adult lunchables. A recipe that does not require that word to be in quotes.

The original lunchable is a piece of genius: portioned, self-contained, requires no assembly skill, delivers protein and fat and something vaguely sweet in a format that is its own container. The problem is the ingredients, which are fine for a child and nutritionally questionable as a daily meal for an adult.

The adult version keeps the concept and upgrades the components.

What you need:

Good crackers. Mary's Gone Crackers, Joonji rice crackers, a good seed cracker, or whatever holds up without going soft. Avoid anything that tastes like the box it came in.

Real cheese. Something that has some age to it. A sharp cheddar, a manchego cut thin, a gouda. Not the orange squares. The cheese is doing real work here.

Cured meat or protein. Prosciutto, soppressata, smoked salmon, or good turkey if that is where you are. A hard-boiled egg if you are building it at home and have a few minutes.

Something acidic. Cornichons, olives, pickled peppers, a few capers. This is what makes it taste like a meal rather than a snack plate.

Something for dipping or spreading. Trader Joe's hot honey mustard is the current recommendation. It does exactly what it says. The honey cuts the heat enough that it works on everything, and the heat makes it interesting enough that you want it on everything.

Optional: dark chocolate at the end. One or two squares. Not a dessert. A finish.

Build it in a container with separate sections if you have one. Eat it cold. Do not heat it. The cold is part of it.

This is a real lunch. The fact that it resembles something from a gas station cooler is not a mark against it.