Lunch at work ideas

skinniestminniest

Hey everyone -

I've been at this lifestyle change since August and I have to say, I've grown really tired of the salad-for-lunch-everyday thing. I occasionally bring a turkey sandwich or leftovers, but I mostly bring salad because it's easy to make and fast.

What does everyone else bring to work for lunch?

Thanks!!

Marcia315

Yogurt and fruit.

aem135

I pack ingredients the night before to make myself a healthy wrap or cook couscous with steamed veggies, lite soups, fruit salad, yogurt with granola, veggie platter, etc.

Shell_1384

I make this about twice per month. Change up the veggies to whatever I have on hand - radishes, carrots, celery, peppers, onion, etc.

LENTIL, BLACK BEAN, AND VEGGIE SALAD

Makes 5 2-cup servings. Lasts all week in the fridge, perfect for people with little time for daily meal prep!

*Could easily replace Greek dressing with any other oil & vinegar based dressing; beans and/or lentils could be switched out for other hearty legumes like chick peas, etc. according to your likes and dietary needs/restrictions.

Green Lentils, cooked and cooled, 2 cups
Black Beans, cooked and cooled, 1 cup
Baby Carrots, raw, chopped, 1.5 cup
Celery, raw, chopped, 1.5 cup
Red Bell Pepper, raw, chopped, 1 cup
Purple/red onion, raw, chopped, 0.5 cup
Sugar Snap Peas, raw, chopped, 1 cup
Broccoli, raw, chopped, 2 cups
Kraft - Greek Vinaigrette With Feta Cheese and Oregano Salad Dressing, 150 ml

Lightly fold all ingredients together, careful not to mush the beans and lentils. Divide equally into 5 containers for ready-to-eat meals.

Nutrition info per serving according to MFP recipe builder: 340 Calories, 49g Carbs, 11g Fat, 17g Protein, 378mg Sodium, 6g Sugar

TeaBea

Today is cottage cheese, fruit, and a veggie side.

Soup, whole wheat crackers, fruit

Snacky type things - hard boiled egg, string cheese, veggies & dip, fruit.

Wraps (like a sandwich) but it changes things up with different veggies added. Wrap turkey, cheese, romaine, shredded carrot, a dill pickle spear..... and smear on dill spread (greek yogurt & dill weed).....or reduced fat cream cheese.

Instead of just turkey.....tuna salad or egg salad

You can do so many things with salad.....I grill up a bunch of chicken (put in ziplock sandwich bags)....have a southwest chicken salad, or an oriental chicken salad. Spinach salad with feta, strawberries, almonds & raspberry vinaigrette

bsoxluvr

I tried something new this week that I'm enjoying. I cooked a bunch of whole wheat pasta on Sunday night and pack a container each night. I use 1 cup of pasta and add grilled chicken (2 oz), frozen veggies (fresh mushrooms, frozen broccoli, frozen sprouts....whatever I have) and a 1/2 of Prego light pasta sauce. It tastes great and it's a salad or sandwich! Comes to about 350 calories for a hot, home-made lunch.

leggup

A few of my lunches for the past few days:

1. Vegan jerkey + Dr. Mcdougall's Vegan Split Pea Soup With Barley + Seasoned Croutons

2. Portable single serve hummus + baby carrots + stuffed grape leaves

3. Vegetarian Chick'n patty + bag microwavable vegetables in light sauce (Fave: Birds Eye Steam Fresh Tuscan Vegetables With Marinara Sauce)

4. Cedar Lane - Spinach Quinoa Cake + jalapeno greek yoghurt + salsa + tortilla chips

maz504

I'm a horrible morning person and I'm always either super lazy or running really late, so a lot of times it's a lean cuisine or something. If you're more picky about your nutrition, if I have time or think about it ahead of time, I like doing a half of a whole wheat pita with hummus, fat free feta and turkey or chicken and lettuce. And I always have snacks like string cheese, fruit snacks, granola bars, boiled eggs, almonds, etc. on hand.

CorlissaEats

I never eat salads for lunch, or sandwiches but I have access to a kitchen to heat my food. My normal practice is to plan to have leftovers from dinner. I also make dishes and freeze them in lunch size portions. They defrost on my desk by lunch time.

Suggestions for lunches:
Lentil Stews/Soups
Curry stews/soups
Kale Lasagne
Left-over rotisserie chicken and steamed veggies
Twice Baked potatoes & mini meatloaves
Chickpeas over rice
Chili (or White Chili)

I had homemade Curry Chicken Corn Chowder (from my freezer) for lunch today with Chocolate Squash pudding.

kea9f

I'm big on whole wheat pasta, partly because I love pasta, but mostly because I can't make it all day without a carb. I just can't get my calories high enough without a serving of carbs for lunch. This week I have pasta with kale and pasta with brussel sprouts. The kale one is amazing, the brussel spouts one is only ok.

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/whole-grain-spaghetti-with-garlicky-kale-and-tomatoes-00000000051131/
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/whole-grain-spaghetti-with-garlicky-kale-and-tomatoes-00000000051131/)

DrJenO

Today I had a steak wrap with lean steak, feta, spinach, and beets in a whole wheat wrap.

melissat888250

Last night I attempted to make hard boiled eggs to eat for lunch the rest of the week... but they turned out to be soft boiled eggs when I cracked one this morning. I think I'm going to make it into egg salad (mash egg with mustard) instead of just taking eggs for lunch.

toronto_j

I bring leftovers as I prefer hot food...lasagna, quinoa with kale and sweet potato, curry chicken are a few recent ones.

katro111

My lunch is usually leftovers from dinner the night before.

_lyndseybrooke_

Today I packaged up 3 oz lean low-sodium roast beef slices, .25 oz shaved Parmesan, .5 oz arugula/spinach mix, and 2.75 oz French bread and made myself a sandwich. I'll be doing that all week.

Last week was Caesar salad with grilled shrimp. Week before that was chicken tacos - two corn tortillas with 3 oz chicken (seasoned with homemade taco seasoning and shredded), a bit of an avocado, and fat free refried beans. A few weeks before that was red beans and rice. I haven't decided next week's lunch quite yet.

My lunches are usually only about 250-300 calories because I like to have a snack around 3:30. Lately this has consisted of a boiled egg, light string cheese, and flavored Greek yogurt. That's another 208 calories.

allbarrett

I make extra dinner and just package some of it up for lunch the next day.

Tuna in sandwiches or on crackers.

Chicken/beef and vegetables (a stir-fry, curry or whatever).

Sometimes I'll make up a big batch of something and just portion it out all week (pulled pork, lasagna, tourtiere, roast beef, ham, roasted chicken, quiche, you get the idea).

I'm not a salad-for-lunch type, that can get old pretty fast. Lunch is just food so I don't really have special lunch meals but I always pull something together the night before...I'm too slow getting going in the morning to try to figure out lunch on the fly.

redsoxmj

I've been bringing an apple everyday for lunch, usually with whatever leftovers I have from the night before. I eat the apple first and then the leftovers, and I usually get full before I finish the rest of the food. For a while, I would bring an apple but it would just sit there in my lunch bag for days because I would eat everything else first and forget about it, but now I'm making it a habit to eat it first!

easjer

An easy one for me is paleo meatballs over spinach. I have a great crockpot recipe I do, with fabulous sauce and it's yummy and lasts me 3-5 days, depending on the size of the meatballs and what else I eat.

Sometimes I double a recipe for dinner to ensure I have leftovers. Sometimes I make an entire casserole and portion it out for my lunches.

I mean, there are tons of options, you know? You're only limited by cooking skills and imagination.

JesiDM

bump for ideas

skinniestminniest

thanks everyone! there are a lot of really great ideas in here that i'll be snagging!!

sjaplo

I made Quiche Lorraine (bacon and swiss cheese) for dinner last night - my wife and I each had a quarter. Today's lunch is the other quarter each and a few slices of cucumber and grape tomatoes. Dessert was a segmented navel orange and 1/2 cup 2% cottage cheese.

For snacks I have a couple of schneiders pepperoni sticks and if I'm still hungry I have a choice between green grapes, almonds and trail mix or a penguin bar.

Aaron_K123

Chicken Lentils for a filling high-protein meal.

Ingredients:

Skinless chicken breast (poached)
Lentils
Tomato sauce
Spices

Can be a bit heavy though could see lightening it up a bit with some spinach or if you aren't trying to go so protein heavy just having it as a topping to some rice.

ashenriver

Wow I cant believe how little some people eat for lunch :bigsmile:

Currently my work location has a sink, fridge and microwave so I usually bring left overs. This week it is homemade enchiladas, other times it is a frozen meal I had made previously (stew, rice and beans, etc.) Since I am also currently living on my own I will make 2 servings of a meal and have 1 for supper and 1 for lunch the next day (tomorrows lunch is porc chop w/asparagus and quinoa).

The night before I might also make a quick meal for lunch, my favourite is sautéed pasta with lots of veggies and usually chicken.

Rarely do I make a salad since the idea of it doesn't satisfy me. I will make a regular spinach/garden salad and add chicken, avocado or quinoa. I keep dressing in the fridge at work.

I am one of those people that need to eat constantly so my 'lunches' include not just the main meal but more food. My current work also has set coffee times twice a day. Food for coffee is toast and peanut butter, yogurt with added fruit, multiple pieces of fruit (usually apple, banana, I have mango and kiwi today), cheese and crackers, etc.

I have no idea what I am going to do in the summer when my job changes and no more kitchen or even safe drinking water for me. Ill be packing a cold lunch wherever I go in my cooler. I may need even to start a post to get ideas.

AllOutof_Bubblegum

When I have long days at school I usually just bring a meal replacement protein bar, a hard boiled egg and a can of V8. I'm not picky.

conqueringweightissues

Hard boiled eggs are the best take out food and even if your in a rush in the morning, you can boil while you're putting on your make-up.

Cut up Carrot sticks and dip into pre-prepared home-made Roast Eggplant and Red Pepper Dip ….. super easy to make if you are into cooking.

1 Eggplant
1/2 Red Pepper

Cut the Eggplant in half and roast face down with a little olive oil on medium heat in oven. Do same with the red pepper on the same tray and roast both till you get the tops a bit blackened/burnt. That adds the smoky flavour. Pull out of the oven, cool slightly and mush up with a fork.

Add sautéed chopped onions with herbs of your choice and season with salt and pepper. Mush this all together with 1 - 1 1/2 TBS of really good olive oil.

Tastes amazing !

SnazzIT

pre-made green smoothie