Work Lunches
cass0314
Posts: 39 Member
I suck at packing a lunch for work each day. What do you take to work for lunch? I need as many ideas as possible! Eating fast food daily for lunch helped me gain 60lbs over the last 18 months and I'm over it. I've lost 11.5lbs in September and I have a long way to go, so nutritious and somewhat easy to prepare lunches for work are going to be key. Suggestions? Thanks for your input!
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My wife and I usually make double of whatever for dinner and take the leftovers for lunch. If that doesn't happen, I usually have a sandwich...my wife usually takes a salad.
I'm making southwester stuffed baked sweet potatoes tonight...I'll make four instead of two so that we have lunch for tomorrow.4 -
I eat a can of the Walmart chicken breast plus an orange. Black coffee helps too... So far I am losing a pound per week on this method....1
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So it's about $1.50 per day in cost... compared to when I used to go out to lunch daily costing $10 bucks a whack...1
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I usually have leftovers from whatever I had for dinner the day before. Its just easier for me, that way I don't have to spend so much time prepping and its fresh! Of coarse, sandwiches are very versatile and you can also do wraps. I personally do not like processed meats.
A great idea is to get a rotisserie chicken and then make a nice chicken salad, soup or wrap!!1 -
I do the left over thing too or like today have taken in some roasted chicken breast and 2 steamer bags of veggies to pop in the microwave.1
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My box has an apple, some prunes, a slice of cheese, fout Carr's Melts, an oat crunchy bar and some cherry tomatoes , for tomorrow. Bitty but easy and fun to eat.1
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90% of the time it's leftovers. I make extra and then I divvy out a smaller lunch portion for the next day.
On days that I don't have leftovers, I always take a frozen meal such by Evol or Luvo which taste much better than Lean Cuisines and are often better on the sodium and preservatives depending on what you get. I try to do that no more than twice a week.
I'm not much of a "pack a sandwich" person. They just aren't really good to me. I did make a High Protein Chicken Salad recipe that I got off this site that I really like. Made with a rotisserie chicken, greek yogurt, grapes, apples, etc. that's pretty tasty.2 -
I do sandwiches with fruit and baked chips. Sometimes I swap the chips for a yogurt and pickles. Just depends. Or leftovers...often just the meat as a salad topping. I also keep a couple lean cuisine on hand for "emergency" situations. I try to keep lunch around 400 calories because I'm more hungry of an evening than through the day.1
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Today I brought bread, mayo & a perfect tomato from my garden I sliced the tomato and made a great sandwhich. Plus an apple. And, I usually bring an extra apple for the afternoon.
I'm going to make some turkey deli meat wraps and freeze them for fast lunches when I don't have time to fix something.1 -
I do alot of meal prep on Sunday's for my lunches through the week. Monday's Wednesdays, & Fridays I have rilled chicken breast with 1/2 cup brown rice and 1 cup of steamed broccoli. Depending on the size of the chicken it's about 400 calories and LOTS of protein. Other days of the week will be left overs or whatever I though about throwing into the mix. For example, today was a sauteed chicken cutlet (poultry seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, salt & pepper) with melted mozzarella and bacon with baby spinach on a hamburger bun plus 3.5 oz of fresh sugar snap peas.
It's alot easier to avoid temptation for calorie dense fast food if you already have your lunch prepared.
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Usually baked chicken breast in some kind of marinade and some sort of legume/veggie. This week its lentils I prep all 5 lunches on Sunday, that way I just grab it from the fridge and go! 2
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I do sandwiches with fruit and baked chips. Sometimes I swap the chips for a yogurt and pickles. Just depends. Or leftovers...often just the meat as a salad topping. I also keep a couple lean cuisine on hand for "emergency" situations. I try to keep lunch around 400 calories because I'm more hungry of an evening than through the day.
I do the same, I often just have a coffee in the morning, a light lunch, and then a more robust dinner. But I try to eat my carbs earlier in the day and not as much at night. I'm just toying with different things to see what's most doable and most beneficial for me. 0 -
I do alot of meal prep on Sunday's for my lunches through the week. Monday's Wednesdays, & Fridays I have rilled chicken breast with 1/2 cup brown rice and 1 cup of steamed broccoli. Depending on the size of the chicken it's about 400 calories and LOTS of protein. Other days of the week will be left overs or whatever I though about throwing into the mix. For example, today was a sauteed chicken cutlet (poultry seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, salt & pepper) with melted mozzarella and bacon with baby spinach on a hamburger bun plus 3.5 oz of fresh sugar snap peas.
It's alot easier to avoid temptation for calorie dense fast food if you already have your lunch prepared.
In 2014 I lost 50lbs meal prepping every Sunday like you describe. I think I overwhelmed myself in the long run-cardio 7 days per week, weight lifting 4 or 5 days per week, plus my job and the meal prepping and all the tracking and obsessing... eventually I just burned out and quit. Anyway-do you weigh your chicken raw or after you've cooked it? Same with your veggies. I've always done mine after but not sure if that was the generally accepted method.0 -
Today I brought bread, mayo & a perfect tomato from my garden I sliced the tomato and made a great sandwhich. Plus an apple. And, I usually bring an extra apple for the afternoon.
I'm going to make some turkey deli meat wraps and freeze them for fast lunches when I don't have time to fix something.
I've been considering starting my own little garden and growing some fresh veggies. Your description of your tomato made my mouth water a little. 0 -
Leftovers. Tuna sandwich if leftovers aren't available.1
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So many people have leftovers! I barely have enough time in the day to cook dinner. I mean how does everyone that works, work all day, I get home at 6pm- then workout by 6:30-8 - by then its too late to cook a meal so i usually just eat something like a baked potato or a fruit cup. My main eating is at lunch. Its hard to come home-workout-then cook dinner-and get ready for work the next day. I usually pack my lunch in the morning before work, apples, yogurt, and some baked chicken that i make batches of on Sunday.2
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Each person is different. I eat twice a day. No snacks. About 250 of 1340 calories is my lunch, which is flavored wheat thins and cottage cheese. The fat from the cottage cheese tides me over until after work. The rest I have in dinner after my workout.
Sometimes I add half a cup of soup to my lunch. Sometimes I just have leftovers (like lean turkey meatloaf/mashed potatoes/green beans which is about 450 calories)
Light lunch and big dinner works for me. It might not work for others0 -
I do all my cooking on Sunday. I cook all my lunches for the whole week. By meal prepping, I am forced to eat whatever healthy lunch I have packed for that day 2
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For lunch I usually have brown rice and veggies! I microwave both the night before pack it up and I pair those two with a Diet Coke. I'm a big snacker so I bring hummus and carrots and a banana and a Luna bar so I don't choose anything in healthy1
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terrinicolefit wrote: »I do all my cooking on Sunday. I cook all my lunches for the whole week. By meal prepping, I am forced to eat whatever healthy lunch I have packed for that day
Ahh, I used to be so great at this! I was a meal prepper and a gym rat and I loved life. I quit, though, and that was stupid and now I'm fat! Haha. I'm excited to get back there again. 0 -
I pack my breakfast, lunch and snacks for the week on Sunday. Here's today: quest bar, fage yogurt, cherry tomatoes, black beans, salad, nuts, grilled chicken, hard boiled egg, fruit cup, Apple, cheese stick, cottage cheese. Then grilled a piece of salmon, green beans, zoodles and a Yasso bar for dinner. About 1700 calories.3
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Packing lunches is so difficult for me too! Right now, I've just been taking a lean cuisine to work and I'll add a side salad with some fresh veggies and that keeps me full and satisfied. I also like doing just big salads with nuts and fruit or an avocado with some salsa and a few chips.0
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I eat Soylent 1.6 powder for Breakfast and Lunch, if I do get hungry at breaks I will munch on an Apple or Banana.0
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I'm another one who usually takes leftovers. Veggie curries and pasta are my usual fare. In the past, if leftovers weren't available I'd usually take a Sunrice microwave meal, but those usually have a huge number of kilojoules in them (2,200-2,400 if you trust the packaging...) and if I want to stay under goal they don't leave me much room for dinner. So... I started to make sure I always have leftovers!
When I'm going to uni and don't have access to a microwave (at least not without a massive queue) it's a different question! I've taken lots of bagels with cream cheese and bananas. There was one day I was really organised and was able to take a lemon chicken and salad wrap - I got lots of compliments on my lunch that day
But usually I don't have pre-cooked chicken on hand to do that. I've started to stock up on cans of tuna though, so tuna and salad wraps might be a worthy substitute. 0 -
Right now, I'm doing well with salads: chopped spinach, raw vegetables, mixed beans, maybe some cheese or cous cous or a meat, and a light dressing. All measured of course!
In a pinch, I'll just do a can of vegetable soup - cheap and filling. Granted, it's lots of sodium, but it's also got 2 servings of veg and is cheaper/better than the alternatives for me. I always keep a couple of cans at work just in case.0 -
Some things my partner and I do (we have very different calorie and dietary limits):
- make a double or triple batch of dinner, often in the slow-cooker so that our active cooking time is minimal, and take the leftovers for lunches
- batch-cook meals at the weekend and portion them out for lunches (good examples: stew, chilli, enchiladas, pasta or pasta bake, macaroni and cheese, soup, frittata, risotto)
- salads (lettuce, crunchy vegetables, proteins like egg or chicken or tuna or chopped deli meat, nuts, seeds, dressing or crispy toppings like croutons or onion straws in a separate container if you want them); you can also make mason jar salads with the dressing at the bottom and the ingredients layered through
- overnight oats with Greek yoghurt, fruit, and you can supplement with chia seeds and protein powders and so on
- jacket potatoes with toppings (chopped steamed vegetables, baked beans, cheese, turkey bacon, Greek yoghurt)
- sandwiches (chicken, tuna, deli meat, cheese, roasted vegetables, hummus, egg, peanut butter, jam, Marmite); you can make them on sandwich thins or bagel thins if you want fewer calories
- wraps (just like sandwiches, but you can usually cram in more vegetables and sometimes sauce or dressing)
- snack foods (either to supplement, or take several as a full lunch: cut fruit, cut vegetables, dip if you want, yoghurt pots, cereal bars, small baked goods, hardboiled eggs, jerky, chicken snack packs)1 -
Yep another one who vouches for leftovers, We make extra portions of dinner to have the same/similar thing for lunch the next day.
Also every time we have meat on the bone I make a stock. Every few weeks I make a soup of about 6-8 portions, and freeze them individually, so if we eat out/fail to have leftovers. We can just grab a portion out of the freezer and it's defrosted by lunch time, lentil and bacon is a good combo.
ETA: We get big pots of yoghurt and individually portion them with honey and nuts so we have breakfast on the go too, (what can I say we need our sleep)0 -
While I prefer the weekly meal prep idea, my life is just insane right now and out of my control. So I have had to compromise to avoid eating out of the vending machine every day. I brought a loaf of light bread, a pack of lunch meat, a pack of cheese, a jar of PB, a box of crackers, individual hummus containers, and a small jar of mayo and jelly to work and leave it there. Every day I go make myself a ham sandwich or a PBJ sandwich or crackers and hummus. Its not the most nutritious but healthier than the ho-hos I was eating every day out of the vending machine and way cheaper. Someday I hope to be able to get back to actually prepping at home and just bringing in one day at a time, but this is working for now at least.0
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