Packed Lunch Ideas

ranofearce18

I am looking for some lunch ideas that will keep me full at work while not using all my calories for the day. We do have a microwave to heat food. I do not like raw vegetables or hummus so I know that somewhat limits my options. Also I'm on a budget at home so ideas that don't cost too much would be much appreciated.

jillby6666

You could try cottage cheese with fruit and nuts, wraps with turkey or chicken and avocado. I like to use Lavash for wraps, one big wrap is 100 cals. A big pot of veggie soup will make several low cal lunches for the week, assuming cooked veg is ok!

ranofearce18

With the turkey and chicken do you mean like lunch meats? And yes I enjoy cooked vegetables

jaynerz

They have frozen, already cooked chicken breasts or strips, those are really easy to grab and heat up and make a wrap or salad. I also think tuna is a great cheap protein. If you don't love raw veggies, what about fruit and peanutbutter? I have also found turkey sausage with interesting flavors. There are a lot of easy things that come frozen and I like them because they don't go bad, I would check it out! good luck!

beemerphile1

My regular lunch consists of a Banquet frozen dinner. They cost $1 at Walmart or only $.89 at Savalot.

With that I have a small Activia (4 oz.) yogurt and one or two Dole fruit cups or fruit-n-gel cups.

Depending on which Banquet I eat that day, my lunch calorie count is normally around 500.

ruqayyahsmum

i had home made chicken and vegetable soup. made a huge batch with 4 chicken breasts and a bag of veggies with some stock and got 10 pots out of it

racheljonel

I like ground turkey either mixed with diced tomatoes and tomato sauce and spices (kinda like an italian chili) or ground turkey mixed with rotel tomatoes, extra green chilies and mexican tomato sauce (kinda like a mexican chili). Sometimes I add guacamole or an avocado to this. It's super easy and filling and low calorie and cheap.

lishie_rebooted

Look up stuff on pintrest.

Here's my board if you'd like to poke through: http://www.pinterest.com/lishlash1989/

Whatever you had for dinner the night before is great for lunch. That's typically what I do

leannems

I make food on the weekend and then bring it for lunch.

Last week was grilled peppers, onions and mushrooms with ground turkey that I seasoned with Mexican spices and diced tomatoes and green chilis. I topped it with reduced fat cheese.

This week I made asian style beef in a crockpot. I put it over tofu shirataki and browned up mushrooms. I put about a cup of the mushrooms in the lunch.

Both are about 430 calories and have between 30-40 grams of protein. I find that protein keeps me the fullest.

Lexicpt

Can you handle raw lettuce or no? I usually do tuna or turkey with mustard in a lettuce "wrap" with some nonfat yogurt and a piece of fruit. Keeps me satisfied until dinner.

ranofearce18

Thank you everybody for all the wonderful suggestions i appreciate all the help i can get.

auntchellebelle

Whole wheat with flax flat bread, cheese, lunch meat (I use low sodium), and mustard. Along with a cup of yogurt and a small bag of pretzels. YUM

ETA: I can't eat any of this now, as I have to go gluten free. Bummer.

acheben

I usually bring in leftovers for lunch. When I'm putting away the leftovers from dinner, I just portion them in to lunch sized servings and then I can reheat them at work.

thelittlewoman_2000

Two Ball Park hot dogs, cut into 1-inch pieces, a couple of toothpix, and a few packages of mustard. A fine, low carb hors'deurve.

zdyb23456

When I'm able to I cook and log a recipe, divide it into portions, put it in tupperware, and stick in the fridge as pre-portioned meals. I eat them for dinner and take them for lunches.

It's kind of a pain to do, but I do it all at once (usually on my day off) and have pre-portioned lunches/dinners for the week with the calories already calculated!

Recipes/meals I've made recently:
- chicken stir fry with rice
- rotisserie chicken, rice, corn
- Cajun meatloaf, rice, green beans
- Pioneer Woman's Cajun chicken & pasta (it has peppers, onion, tomatoes, chicken... it's sooo good)

JScottBldrs

Cook more than needed for your healthy dinner and carry leftovers......Sandwich w/ fruit as a side

arabianhorselover

beemerphile1 wrote: »

My regular lunch consists of a Banquet frozen dinner. They cost $1 at Walmart or only $.89 at Savalot.

With that I have a small Activia (4 oz.) yogurt and one or two Dole fruit cups or fruit-n-gel cups.

Depending on which Banquet I eat that day, my lunch calorie count is normally around 500.

Easy and cheap, but very high sodium, of course.

arabianhorselover

racheljonel wrote: »

I like ground turkey either mixed with diced tomatoes and tomato sauce and spices (kinda like an italian chili) or ground turkey mixed with rotel tomatoes, extra green chilies and mexican tomato sauce (kinda like a mexican chili). Sometimes I add guacamole or an avocado to this. It's super easy and filling and low calorie and cheap.

Wow. Ground turkey is certainly not cheap around here. No meat is.

dlvuyovich

Cheaper than pre-cooked option is chicken breasts. I boil or broil up a whole package of chicken breasts and buy large bags of frozen chopped broccoli.

Portion those out (4oz chicken breast, 1 cup of brocoli) either way ahead of time or the night before. That serves as my base. Season with salt/pepper/ceyenne, etc. I freeze portioned cooked chicken breast if I think it will last me more than 3 days.

From there I add good carbs like 1/2 cup quinoa, brown rice or 1/2 sweet potato.

On days that I don't have leftovers, forgot to cook up rice, potatoe, etc. I have at least that and it guarantees my clean eating is on track.

avskk

Yeah, I do what everyone else does -- cook in bulk, portion for the week. I weigh my food raw and figure out what percentage of the total weight my desired portion is, then weigh it again cooked and divide it accordingly. I use a lot of chicken and pork, quinoa, and veggies. If I'm really pressed for time I just do salads; a bed of greens, some chopped colorful veggies, and pre-portioned chicken (or even a can of tuna if I'm uberswamped).

Marianna93637

One of the best things you can make for lunch is a pot of stew. Log the ingredients as you make it. You can decide what goes in and how filling you want it to be.
You can do it with meat (ground beef or turkey, chunks of chicken or beef, etc) or without it. Add all kinds of beans for more filling,corn, squash, etc, or you can stick with lighter veggies like green beans, peas, carrots, cabbage, etc. Squash is really always great, and I always make it tomato sauce based. I love to add beets (kinda like borscht), and even some fat free sour cream to mix in.
You can take a huge bowl to work and you'll be full on low calories.

libbydoodle11

You can bring chili, pasta salad, baked chicken, lasagna, cabbage rolls, rice and beans, burritos, stuffed peppers, soups and stews, some sort of wrap, cheese and crackers. I don't think a microwave is necessary for any of these things. If you want something to stay warm use a thermos and an insulated lunch bag.

SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage

Home made soup. Make a big batch, measure out your servings and store in mason jars, which will keep it fresh for at least a week in the fridge. Done!