Quick and Easy Lunches :)

baileybiddles

Hi guys!

I am getting back full swing into MFP and need some ideas for lunches that are easy to throw together. I have already thought about doing grilled chicken caesar salads a few days a week, but more ideas are needed.

I am a big chicken eater, and I love pasta. Just a few things to throw out there

Also, how about some low calorie snacks that you enjoy?

WifeofPJ

I cook on weekends and freeze stuff in individual servings and just grab out of the freezer in the morning and go to work. I let it thaw at my desk and by the time it's time to eat it's almost completely thawed out. Skinnytaste.com has lots of good freezer receipes.

melissafaith24

pasta salads are easy and would cover 2-3 days of lunches. add in beans and veggies with a light dressing.

cyclist_44060

I love chicken as well. I usually cook a couple of chicken breasts in the crockpot on the weekend and make shredded chicken, I mix in Quaker Steak buffalo wing sauce with the shredded chicken (I like the spicy taste and it is low sodium as well). Then throughout the week I use it on a small soft taco shell with a slice of Sargento ultra thin swiss cheese and lettace. It is easy to throw together each day, filling, and around 200 calories.

AmykinsCatfood

I usually bring some hummus and whole wheat crackers, some cherry tomatoes and ham slices for a cold salad plate kind of thing. You can also do wraps, or peanut butter and banana sandwiches, or even a chicken salad sandwich. Cold pasta salad with ham or chicken chunks, light cheese, light mayo, and celery, green pepper, chickpeas and onion is one of my favorite things to bring in the summer.

For snacks I like a cheese string, almonds or any type of nut, hummus and crackers or naan bread, veggie sticks, celery with peanut butter.

baileybiddles

I just recently discovered roasted garlic hummus... So good with Stacy's Simply Naked pita chips, but I don't know what a serving of those is calorie wise! I'll have to find out, they are absolutely delicious.

dorthymcconnel

Chicken salad with whole grain crackers or whole grain bread,
Chicken taco with baby spinach instead of iceberg lettuce
fruit, cheese and veggie plate

Brandilynnrose

For a super fun lunch make your own "Bento box"- fill a tupperware container with small amounts of different foods (I seperate the food by placing it in silicone Cupcake liners). You can also buy real bento boxes in stores or online. I throw in some of the following: low fat cheese, cut up veggies, cut up fruit, hummus, almonds, low fat pasta salad, chunks of whole wheat pita, a low fat deviled egg, chunks of roasted chicken, low fat wheat thins, Quaker oat squares cereal, salsa, whole grain tortilla chips, black bean salad, a couple Dove dark chocolate squares, fat free spinach dip, pickles, low fat macaroni salad, light tuna salad, olives, light feta cheese, a stuffed grape leaf, couscous, guacamole.

You get the picture, haha. Generally I throw in anywhere from 4 to 8 different things. Since you are just eating small portions of different foods you can put in as many as you want. This kind of lunch is never boring and the possibilities are endless.

Librariangetsfit

http://spoonful.com/recipes/asian-chicken-slaw

I use this recipe, with no sugar and replace the peanut butter with P2B.

Throw in extra veggies I have on hand that would taste yummy in it.

Keep the protein out of it, either tuna packets or chicken breasts.

Take a portion to work with my protein.

baileybiddles

Thanks for the ideas guys, very helpful I just read a thread on trader joes and now I want to go there and poke around! Haha!

Librariangetsfit

Trader Joes is awesome, but read the labels carefully some products have lots of sodium in them.

maureensimmons92

http://spoonful.com/recipes/asian-chicken-slaw

I use this recipe, with no sugar and replace the peanut butter with P2B.

Throw in extra veggies I have on hand that would taste yummy in it.

Keep the protein out of it, either tuna packets or chicken breasts.

Take a portion to work with my protein.

What is P2B? Ive been seeing a lot about this?

Librariangetsfit

http://spoonful.com/recipes/asian-chicken-slaw

I use this recipe, with no sugar and replace the peanut butter with P2B.

Throw in extra veggies I have on hand that would taste yummy in it.

Keep the protein out of it, either tuna packets or chicken breasts.

Take a portion to work with my protein.

It is peanut butter that has the oil removed, great to put into recipes without including the extra fat.

http://www.bellplantation.com/

I also put it in oatmeal to keep my macros in check with fat.
What is P2B? Ive been seeing a lot about this?

shinesunfish

Love pita pizzas - Pita, marinara, mozzarella, favorite pizza toppings, bake until cheese is melted or toasty, depending on how you like it.

lexidear

some great ideas bump

avskk

I've recently started keeping a bunch of (small; think Yukon Gold or similar size) baked potatoes in the fridge. I just grab one or two of those (depending on how many calories I have to play with), a 1/4 cup (61g) scoop of low-fat cottage cheese, and some combination of the following:

a cooked, crumbled slice of turkey bacon
dices or strips of sweet peppers and onions
50g broccoli or cauliflower
a crumbled turkey sausage patty
half a flavorful chicken sausage link (two favorites are artichoke/fennel and apple/Gouda), sliced into coins
hot salsa or sriracha
leftover grilled chicken or steak

If you keep everything on hand, it's really easy to throw this together on the way out the door. Having all the topping possibilities on hand also makes it easy to protein-ize a basic salad or jazz up a canned soup.