Healthy lunch options

Rocketqueeen

Living in NYC, it can get so expensive buying a healthy lunch everyday when I'm at work. I'm so tired of spending 15 bucks a day on a salad that doesn't even have that many add ins. I've been trying to think of healthy things I can take to work (that doesn't require heating up) and I find I get bored after a week of this. What do you guys bring? Any tips will help. I need to save money AND stop sabotaging my diet. Thanks guys.

MommaMeatus

I have the same lunch everyday apple cut into slices, yogurt and a ham sandwich = 400cals as long as you use a sensible bread or I will swap out the ham sandwich for a pita with cucumbers, feta, tzatziki, lettuce and tomaoeos, you can add chicken if you like.

jamie_reynolds

make your own salads! you can change up the ingredients daily, so you don't get bored. my favorite rotation of ingredients include greens (romaine, spinach, arugula), tomato, onion, radish, sunflower seeds (raw and unsalted), chickpeas (or any kind of bean), carrots, cheese (shredded cheddar, parmesan, feta), bell peppers, roasted beets, roasted sweet potato, hardboiled egg, jalapenos, croutons. you can buy all the produce on sunday. then chop and store all the veggies separately. and then mix a salad the night before, changing the combo of ingredients and/or dressing. make sure you don't put the dressing or croutons on until ready to eat. i love nuts and beans for protein, but i'm sure you could add chicken or turkey or whatever you like. as far as dressings go, i love using different vinegars to save calories. i can use as much as i want with one serving of bottled dressing. plus, since your salad will be in a takeout container, you can apply the dressing and then shake it up to evenly coat all the ingredients. so much better than just pouring the dressing on top.

WickedPineapple

I have an apple, either a mini turkey sandwich (~200 calories) or I just roll up some turkey and cheese if I don't have rolls, and either greek yogurt or cottage cheese.

prudencemusic

I live in Toronto, ON and with a busy lifestyle, I completely understand how you feel! For my lunches, I like to make a quinoa salad! Quinoa is full of protein which should be good on filling you up Here's the recipe I use/made up, but you can easily tweak it to your liking:

Ingredients:
- 1 pack of quinoa (I always make a big batch so I have enough to last me for all/most my lunches during the week)
- Red/green/any peppers
- Small broccoli florets
- Red onion
- Olive oil
- Lemon juice
- White balsamic vinaigrette
- Garlic spice
- Salt and pepper
- Cherry tomatoes (sometimes)

Directions:
- Cook the quinoa as directed on the box, then drain and let it cool
- Cut up all other ingredients and place them in a mixing bowl
- Add the quinoa to the mixing bowl
- Drizzle olive oil, white balsamic vinaigrette and a dash of lemon juice (you'll eventually figure out how much of each you'd like in there)
- Add in the garlic spice, salt and pepper, then mix it all up
- Put it in the fridge for at least 30 mins before you eat it so it'll be cold and delicious!

For my lunch, I usually pack about 1/4-1/2 cup of this meal Hope this helps!

Rocketqueeen

Thanks guys! These recommendations are awesome! I'm hungry already.

dandydan99

Tabachnik soups. Individual servings in frozen bags.
Take out of freezer in the AM, take to work, microwave.

I like to add about 3 oz. of boiling water to thin it out a bit.

Enjoy!

jetortola

I often go weeks eating the same thing for breakfast and lunch during the week -- but its food I enjoy that I have found fits my macros, is super easy to log, and I can make it on auto-pilot... so I'm not complaining.

So lunches last week (and now this week) are:

Apple & Cheese string (morning snack)

Lunch salad (pre-washed baby spinach, add in sliced cucumbers, carrots, 0.5 chicken breast or tuna, top with a sunflower/pumpkin seed mix and use either diluted ranch or homemade vinaigrette).

Homemade granola bars (afternoon snack).

dandydan99

Just had this for lunch today:

1. Grilled 1/2 salmon steak with pistachio crumbs on top night before.
2. Quinoa
3. Steamed broccoli this morning.
4. After allowing the broccoli to cool, packed it all into a clear plastic container with lid saved from a cut up fruit container.

Kept it room temp until I ate it for lunch.

Super nutritious, yummy, and satisfying!

Would be nice to show pic but I dont see an option for uploading pics.

Rocketqueeen

Oh man! That sounds so good!

dandydan99

Ok, rocketqueeen, checkout my profile pic for today's lunch pic.
I strongly suggest you try it sometime

arditarose

I live in NYC too. I have been spending a stupid amount of money on lunch every day. I just started bringing lunch to work this week so hopefully I'll get better but so far there has been a lot of Fage yogurt with PB2. Today I also brought like 70 grams of brown rice with left over shrimp from dinner, and some broccoli slaw with soy sauce. Tomorrow I'm bringing chicken and a little salad, along with an Applegate turkey hot dog...So random. I'll get better.

Rocketqueeen

dandydan99 wrote: »

Ok, rocketqueeen, checkout my profile pic for today's lunch pic.
I strongly suggest you try it sometime

Looks great! I definitely will

Rocketqueeen

arditarose wrote: »

I live in NYC too. I have been spending a stupid amount of money on lunch every day. I just started bringing lunch to work this week so hopefully I'll get better but so far there has been a lot of Fage yogurt with PB2. Today I also brought like 70 grams of brown rice with left over shrimp from dinner, and some broccoli slaw with soy sauce. Tomorrow I'm bringing chicken and a little salad, along with an Applegate turkey hot dog...So random. I'll get better.

Isn't it crazy how expensive it is to eat out here? There is a salad place that is so good right around the corner from work and your lucky if you leave spending less than 15 bucks! I CAN'T do that everyday. Then I wonder where all my money has gone haha! I've been trying to bring my food and snacks to work. It has to be something that can be eaten cold since we have a refrigerator but not a microwave. We're in the same boat girl. We will both get better

lovelylightz

I live in NYC as well. it can get tad a bit expensive if you eat out a lot...I mostly stick to things that can be refrigerated and eaten like that..I eat a lot of Greek yogurt, fruit + veggie smoothies, blueberries, cold salads w/ egg whites, granola bars...

hanab1987

prudencemusic wrote: »

I live in Toronto, ON and with a busy lifestyle, I completely understand how you feel! For my lunches, I like to make a quinoa salad! Quinoa is full of protein which should be good on filling you up Here's the recipe I use/made up, but you can easily tweak it to your liking:

Ingredients:
- 1 pack of quinoa (I always make a big batch so I have enough to last me for all/most my lunches during the week)
- Red/green/any peppers
- Small broccoli florets
- Red onion
- Olive oil
- Lemon juice
- White balsamic vinaigrette
- Garlic spice
- Salt and pepper
- Cherry tomatoes (sometimes)

Directions:
- Cook the quinoa as directed on the box, then drain and let it cool
- Cut up all other ingredients and place them in a mixing bowl
- Add the quinoa to the mixing bowl
- Drizzle olive oil, white balsamic vinaigrette and a dash of lemon juice (you'll eventually figure out how much of each you'd like in there)
- Add in the garlic spice, salt and pepper, then mix it all up
- Put it in the fridge for at least 30 mins before you eat it so it'll be cold and delicious!

For my lunch, I usually pack about 1/4-1/2 cup of this meal Hope this helps!

This sounds so good, i'm definitely making this!

FeliJD

Get an obento box with sections in it and just add last nights dinner or any left over bits in fridge/cupboard that need to be used up. i.e grapes, nuts, left over roast veg, cut up meats, dried fruits..... The more colourful the better. I use this every day and the plastic box folds up into itself once emptied. You feel like you are having a different lunch each day so its never boring.

JoRumbles

I've been eating the same salad all week-

4 servings-
2 small chicken breasts, cooked
1 red and one orange pepper, 1 small red onion, 20 cherry tomato all tossed in 1tspn olive olive oil and 1tspn balsamic all roasted
100g (raw weight) giant cous cous, boiled and cooled

Throw it all together, add fresh basil. 211calories.

The good news is that I miscalculated the overall weight so I thought I had 200gs for each day, but today somehow there was 260g left- so I have undereaten last 3 days and get a big portion (so slightly over the 211 cals) today.

Next week I will do a salad with salmon I think. It will be more calories than the chicken but I need some omega 3

arditarose

Rocketqueeen wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

I live in NYC too. I have been spending a stupid amount of money on lunch every day. I just started bringing lunch to work this week so hopefully I'll get better but so far there has been a lot of Fage yogurt with PB2. Today I also brought like 70 grams of brown rice with left over shrimp from dinner, and some broccoli slaw with soy sauce. Tomorrow I'm bringing chicken and a little salad, along with an Applegate turkey hot dog...So random. I'll get better.

Isn't it crazy how expensive it is to eat out here? There is a salad place that is so good right around the corner from work and your lucky if you leave spending less than 15 bucks! I CAN'T do that everyday. Then I wonder where all my money has gone haha! I've been trying to bring my food and snacks to work. It has to be something that can be eaten cold since we have a refrigerator but not a microwave. We're in the same boat girl. We will both get better

Yeah. I hear you. My salad ends up being around that. Plus 4.50 for coffee and a quest bar in the morning, and another 5 bucks for a snack sometimes. I need to stop.

Chazsteers

Bring your own lunch in prepared the night before, buying lunch everyday costs a fortune and this way you know exactly what's in your meal.

Lentils can be eaten hot or cold you could take lentils to mix with fish or meat.
cous cous is also a good one you don't need to heat up.

kristydi

FelicityDonert wrote: »

Get an obento box with sections in it and just add last nights dinner or any left over bits in fridge/cupboard that need to be used up. i.e grapes, nuts, left over roast veg, cut up meats, dried fruits..... The more colourful the better. I use this every day and the plastic box folds up into itself once emptied. You feel like you are having a different lunch each day so its never boring.

There's a whole long thread about using bento boxes for lunches in the recipes section that has lots of ideas. I mostly lurk there because I only pack lunches for my 7 year old.

jamie_reynolds

i remembered this thread when i saw this article today: http://www.oola.com/cooking-tips/10209/19-super-easy-healthy-lunch-ideas-perfect-for-bringing-to-work#slide/0

good ideas!!!

jaga13

I refuse to buy lunch. Sunday nights I make a big salad at home (for our whole family to eat at dinner), and I portion some out for my lunch the next day. Each night I add a little more to our family pot-of-salad, and again pack some for my lunch the next day. All I have to add is nuts, seeds, or other leftover protein from dinner, and I top it with some salsa as my dressing. I add a piece of fruit to my lunch bag and sometimes a small string cheese. Done.

truelight_photo_craig

I'm a school portrait photographer, and we don't usually get a real lunch break, so I take stuff that can be eaten whenever we get a break. Things like protein bars, cheese sticks, hard boiled eggs, greek yogurt, raw veggies, and my favorite, PBJ on a low carb wrap.