Lunch Ideas needed!

AutumnSal

Hey people, I'm in desperate need of some easy to prepare lunch Ideas to have at work. I'm stuck in a rut! I have access to a microwave so I can re-heat slow cooker recipies and left overs but thought I'd ask what all you folks do for lunch........ I'm also thinking of chaning my meals from the bog standard Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snaks to the following: 8am Breakfast, 11am Meal, 2pm Meal, 5pm Meal, 8pm Dinner. Thinking of reducing portions and speading my meals out more......... any advice?
Thank you muchly

DirrtyH

I recently tweaked my lunch because the salad I was forcing myself to choke down every day was torturing me. I decided to switch to something easy and light - stuff I don't have to reheat or even use silverware for. I cut up a bunch of ham, threw in a cheese stick, a couple celery sticks with peanut butter, half of a sliced apple and some black olives. That's lunch today.

jkwolly

I know you said it there, but leftovers.

I cook lots in the beginning of the week so I can take leftovers for the week! It's the best and then I can change it up with lots of different foods. I also add fresh veggies, fruit, etc with as well!

kali_athena

I break up my lunch into lunch #1 and lunch #2 every work day and it helps me keep from becoming overly hungry.

I generally bring a small serving of leftovers or soup or a sandwich for the first round and a salad for the second.

Today lunch 1 is half a ham sandwich, celery, and carrots. Lunch 2 is a salad of mixed greens, feta, and olives. Tomorrow will be a similar salad but (hopefully) a leftover stuffed pepper.

I also keep Dr. McDougall's soups in my desk drawer. They range from 120-250 calories each but are non-perishable, some versions are lower in sodium, and they only require hot water and waiting.

melaniecheeks

Salads - I'll put in some leaves (baby spinach, rocket) some crunch (cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers) some protein (chicken, ham, prawns, boiled egg) and something a bit fancy (artichokes, capers, olives). Dress it in humous, salsa, or cottage cheese.

Vegetabel/ bean stew. usually at the weekend I'll chekc to see what veg needs using up in teh fridge, and amkea bit pot of hearty soup out of it. Tinned beans are a good addition to these - chickpea, kidney, butter beans. Freeze in individual portions.

Leftovers - I always make a bigger portion of evening meals, and freeze any leftovers for lunches. Risotto, paella, chilli and rice, curry, tagine and couscous.

julieagburton

my lunch is usually left overs too... but today i made a cream cheese pancake, topped it with some mayo, spinach and deli ham, and some hard cheese on the side... full now, and it was delicious!!

rach021979

low carb wrap with anything healthy you like in it. I do tuna with LF mayo or chicken. Quick, easy and filling! I try to do 5 meals a day also..to speed up my metabolism. It helps.

jkwolly

rach021979 wrote: »

low carb wrap with anything healthy you like in it. I do tuna with LF mayo or chicken. Quick, easy and filling! I try to do 5 meals a day also..to speed up my metabolism. It helps.

Eating more/eating less during the day doesn't speed up/slow down your metabolism. Just an FYI

leggup

Some of my standard lunches:

-Can of soup, croutons/chips, hummus singles/guacamole singles
-Tortilla, black bean veggie burger mashed, salsa, guac, sour cream, spinach
-Spinach, walnuts/pecans, feta, craisins, croutons, Italian/raspberry vinaigrette, sometimes a veggie burger sliced up on top
-Easy mac singles, "chicken" veggie burger cut up and dumped in, italian seasoning, hand fruit (banana/plum)
-Easy heat packets of Indian food (madras lentils) with a sweet potato or a bag of steamed edamame.

jamie_lee80

I usually make something on Sunday and divide it into 5 portions and that is lunch for the week. I made a delicious crockpot meal yesterday. Its 1 lb. ground turkey, 1/2 c. uncooked quinoa, a jar of salsa, a cup of water, a can of black beans rinsed, 1 c of frozen corn, 1 chopped up some sweet peppers and added a bit of homemade enchilada sauce that I had left over. Cooked on high in the crockpot for 3 hours and then mixed in 1 c of lowfat shredded cheese. It turned out delicious!

kenmiller75

I make a tuna sandwich on 100% whole wheat bread and instead of mixing mayo with it I mix homemade guacamole. It tastes great and really fills me up. You can also eat it without bread if you want.

As for spreading out your meals, that is a good thing to do. It will help keep you feeling full throughout the day and your metabolism will be higher than if you only ate 3 meals a day.

jen25bl

I really like the sandwich thins with Boars Head low sodium turkey with honey mustard, low fat cheese and arugula. Or leftovers!

BringingSherriBack

I usually do a low carb wrap with ham or turkey and cheese and add some raw veggies like grape tomatoes or cucumber slices on the side. Usually for snack or my pre-lunch, I have a couple light cheese sticks and some raw veggies. I usually eat three times while at work because I tend to eat smaller lighter meals as this seems to keep me from grazing all day on stuff I don't need.

jgnatca

I am having this today. I used bok choy instead of celery and spinach and red bell pepper instead of tomato (what was fresh and what was on hand). It was also lunch yesterday.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/402790760393138130/

Thanks to MFP inspiration, I've been planning more on weekends. This weekend I cooked a beef roast and fried up a dozen chicken thighs, and repackaged for the freezer. That will give me several options throughout the week. I have enough on hand at work right now for three lunches, and yes I am using the office refrigerator.

The leftovers tomorrow will be a curry chickpea (something else hubby religiously avoids) and brown rice baked in the oven (learned here).

I made too much soup last week and hubby is avoiding it. I think it looks too green for him. So I tried eating it at breakfast (Also thanks to MFP influence!) and it sustained me very well until my first snack, as well as keeping my daily calories lower.

A word about customizing your meals; if you want them to show in order you may word them this way:

08:00 Breakfast
11:00 Meal
14:00 Meal
17:00 Meal
20:00 Dinner

MFP will alphabetize your list regardless the order you put them in. I think. Or it might keep the original order no matter how you name it. Play around with it.

With so many small meals, many will be more like snacks so you will have to watch your portions.

AutumnSal

Oh my goodness - thank you so much everyone for your advice and ideas. It's helpped me see things in a more postive light and by reading ideas here I do have more options than I though Planning is certainly key and spilliting meals is a good solution to stop cravings. Thank you. x