healthy lunch ideas besides salads

cutesized

I need some good quick and inexpensive lunch ideas that don't involve salad. I like salads, but not if I have to eat them every single day. I usually only have about an hour to prepare and eat my lunch and I would really like to get away from buying Healthy Choice/Lean Cuisine frozen meals, because they're expensive and not very filling at all. I share a tiny refrigerator with two other people, so I'm basically looking for ideas for things I can prepare quickly and things where the ingredients won't take up much space in the fridge. I'm also on an extremely tight budget, so I need things that are also super inexpensive.

Any suggestions would be appreciated! Right now, I usually end up eating a frozen dinner or a can of turkey chili or sometimes some kind of sandwich or leftovers (if we have any from dinner the previous night). I feel like my lunches are one of the biggest downfalls in my keeping under my calorie goal and I'm trying to find some ideas to help me change that!

smarieallen85

I either go to a salad bar and get some fancy shmancy salad (not the same as home salad) with a can of yellow fin tuna or another protein, or cottage cheese with blue berries and strawberries. I cannot be bothered with taking lunch on a train.

sportychic87

Refried beans (fat free), instant rice, and tomatoes for a Mexican style meal.

Bok choy boiled with rice, and a tiny bit of chicken (and soy sauce) makes a Asian inspired meal.

1/2 cup chicken breast with your veggies of choice.

Half a bagel with tomato sauce and low fat cheese for 'pizza.' (Microwave it).

Turkey hot dog on single slice of bread, cup of strawberries.

Just some ideas :-)

cutesized

I have never heard of boo choi, but I love asian food, so I will look for it! I also really love the homemade bagel pizza idea and the turkey dog suggestion is a good one, too! Thanks so much

sportychic87

It's 'Bok Choy' kind of like a chinese cabbage, and relatively cheap ~$2, easy to find, and around 30 calories per cup :-)

You're welcome :-) I have other food combos I use. Feel free to add me, my food diary is open (when I log).

RangerRN507

I do meal prep every sunday and therefore have all of my food for the entire week already made and its all healthy so it makes it super easy to stay away from unhealthy choices that being said I prep chicken breast, quinoa and broccoli for my lunch then just warm it up every day. <2>

rowanstuff

Flower tortillas and pita breads make great pizza bases, too.

Quinoa based salads are a good, easy choice and very different fr usual green salads

higgins8283801

Pita bread, hummus spread, lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber and maybe some turkey if you're wanting meat. Wrap it up in Saran Wrap, place in fridge.slice it in half in the morning and add some carrots or sliced green peppers for a side

juliet3455

Compliments Balance - Smoked Sausage (Fully Cooked) ~130 cals
Peas - Green, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt, 100.0 g ~75 cals ( 205 cals )
Bread Rye - Winnipeg Style Rye Bread, 1 slice with Humus ~ 55 cals ( 260 cals )
Dannone - Oikos Greek Yogurt Coconut, 100 g ( Desert ) ~ 80 cals ( 340 cals )

Homemade Greek Salad with low sodium feta. ~ 240 cals ( Approximately 580 cals Total)
40 gms each of Tomatoes, Mixed Sweet Bell Peppers, Cucumbers, Pitted olives and 1 Tblspoon of Dressing.

These can be made at home and refrigerate well.

For variety replace the Sausage with Lean beef, pork or chicken.
Replace the Peas with Carrots or Sweet Corn
Replace the bread with a Pita pocket.

ErinRibbens

Make a big batch of soup, freeze in individual containers. Then all you have to do is pull out your soup for the day & reheat. Chili, stews and veggie soups all freeze really well and are healthy choices.

cutesized

These are all really great ideas! Thank you so much for sharing. I'm going to do some grocery shopping this week so I can try some of these out!

AmyRhubarb

I never eat salad!

Favorite lunch for me is a burrito bowl -

Leftover grilled chicken (or lean beef or pork)
Beans (black or pinto)
Rice if I have it on hand already cooked
Plain Greek yogurt/sour cream
Avocado
Salsa
Tomatoes
Lettuce if you want

Protein, fiber, healthy fats, potassium - good stuff. I tend to cook extra meats at dinner time for this reason, same with rice. I'll portion out the leftover rice into little ziplocs and freeze it -easy to pop into a bowl with the other ingredients and zap it in the micro.

lexidear

Amy that sounds awesome! How do you do the beans? or are they straight from the can?

rybo

My typical lunch is baby carrots, cucumber, a home made trail mix, hard boiled egg, a banana & an apple. Very satisfying and cheap. I figured it at a little more than $3.00 a day. And could probably be cheaper with a little better shopping savvy.

Jdigs88

Buy hi fiber lo fat whole wheat large tortillas (La Tortilla Factory makes some) that are 80 calories. You can make a variety of wraps:

-option 1) a few slices of red pepper, 1 slice provolone cheese, 1 tablespoon hummus (on the wrap before anything else as "glue"), 2 slices deli turkey, 2 slices avocado, handful or so of romaine lettuce
-option 2) same as above but instead of the avocado, use another tablespoon of hummus on the inside
-option 3) same as above but use 1/4 cup of reduced fat feta instead of provolone

You can basically swap the cheese for any low fat option, such as reduced fat pepper jack or provolone, feta, or ricotta. You can use any type of bell pepper or a variety. You could use spinach instead of romaine, or any green really. You can add tomato or carrots if you like them. You can add dijon or regular mustard. You can swap out ham for the deli meat.

All of those options are 250-280 calories and roughly 25+g protein.

You could also use a can of chicken, 1/4 or 1/2 cup cooked quinoa, and dijon mustard or a wedge of laughing cow cheese to make a chicken-salad-esque entree.

I'm also a fan of leftover baked chicken with steamed veggie and microwave-minute brown rice. Just eat less rice for lower calories. Cottage cheese, fruit, whole grain crackers, and peanut butter make good additions to fill up if you aren't already full after the above.

reachingforarainbow

2 slices of bread (or pita or wrap)
2 tbsp of nut butter
a bit of soft fruit (bananas or raspberries or even sliced apricots) in the middle

Delicious sandwhich.... and healthy. Read that people who have nuts in their diet have sustained weightloss (don't gain as much back)

Lauramh31

I'm not a big salad or sandwich person, at least not ones I make myself - love to buy both out

For my lunches I do some or all of the following, which are designed to get me healthy foods with a lot of protein and some fat. This kind of lunch keeps me full all afternoon.
- hard boiled egg
- string cheese
- greek yogurt - either the cups you buy or my fav is to buy a big 64oz plain greek yogurt and portion out a cup in a tupperware and add a tablespoon of ground flax seed and blueberries, raspberries and blackberries or strawberries. healthier and cheaper than the cups of yogurt you can buy!
- fruit - depends on season but things like berries, apple, pear, peach, cherries, watermelon, cantelope
- banana with 1 or 2 Tbsp of almond butter or peanut butter
- fresh veggies with some greek yogurt dip or hummus - whatever I have on hand, usually some mix of: broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, carrots, celery, grape tomatoes
- lunch meat - sometimes I buy lunch meat and just portion out a serving in a sandwich baggie and eat the meat by itself. It's good protein and easy and no bread

Some other options you can premake are:
- egg salad
- tuna salad or grilled chicken salad
- homemade chili (I make a big pot on sunday and portion into containers for the week and freeze some)
- protein shake (preblend at home and stick in the fridge at work)
- soups, either homemade or cans

donorton

I love homemade soup (esp. in cooler months - Cooking Light has some great recipes). Also, check out the SkinnyTaste site for good, clean, healthy recipes. http://www.skinnytaste.com

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kennie2

soups!
warm "salads" with like grains (rice, quinoa, kasha, cous cous, etc) and grilled meat if you eat that
wraps of all sorts
quiches or savoury bakes

beccabeccac

I make a faux egg salad sandwich (in college I used to call it a poor man's egg salad sandwich since lunch wasn't included in my meal plan, but I could get all of these ingredients at breakfast and save for later). Spread miracle whip on 2 slices of whole grain bread and top with 1-2 hard boiled eggs sliced up. Quick and filling (under 400 calories). Add some fruit and it's a meal.

lporter229

Now that fall is on it's way, it's a good time to make a giant pot of soup, stew or chili (easy to find good crock pot recipes for these too). Freeze them in individual containers.

Also, when I was single and on a tight budget my go-to lunch was to bake (or microwave) a sweet potato, top with a half can of black, red or pinto beans, a few tablespoons of salsa and a bit or greek yogurt or sour cream. Very tasty and amazingly filling.

beccabeccac

I also make open face avocado sandwiches with whole grain bread, spread with hummus, and top with sliced avocado (and a sprinkle of salt).

Sabine_Stroehm

Whole grain tortillas (or low carb, or whatever you fancy) with turkey and hummus, or whatever meat and cheese and mustard. etc. etc. etc.) Add some greens and you've got a hearty, healthy portable lunch!

higgins8283801

Wheat pita flat out

2oz turkey

1-2 tomato slices

A leaf of lettuce

2 tablespoons hummus

Sliced cucumbers.

Make your sandwich and enjoy.

xmichaelyx

1) Get a microwavable steamer.
2) Fill with tilapia, broccoli, cauliflower, and a little water. Add spices and lemon.
3) Cook for 2-4 minutes, depending on your microwave.
4) Eat.

meridianova

i follow low-carb, so i keep a head of lettuce (green, red, or iceberg depending on my mood), mayo, mustard, thin-sliced provolone, deli sliced meats, and shredded rotisserie chicken breast in one of the work fridges. most of that stuff fits in one grocery bag. every day i make a couple of lettuce wraps by spreading 1T mayo and 1t mustard on the face of the lettuce leaf, then layering the sliced meat, a slice of cheese, and about 1oz of the chicken breast in each leaf. wrap it up and it's a decent lunch for me.

usually two lettuce wraps are enough for me for lunch, and leave me enough calories for a good dinner.

colors_fade

Whole grain tortillas (or low carb, or whatever you fancy) with turkey and hummus, or whatever meat and cheese and mustard. etc. etc. etc.) Add some greens and you've got a hearty, healthy portable lunch!

This.

I eat a lot of tortillas for breakfast and lunch. Breakfast burritos taste great. Lunch wraps are tasty and you can cram a lot of fun stuff in them.

My job is sitting at a desk thinking all day. If I don't have some carbs, my brain doesn't fire as well. Tortillas do the trick.

TR0berts

Meat that's on sale - portion it out and freeze it.

Cook it up the night before and eat it like a leftover with some veggies.

NoxDineen

2 hard boiled eggs and an avocado is my current favorite easy and cheap breakfast or lunch.

Sabine_Stroehm

Whole grain tortillas (or low carb, or whatever you fancy) with turkey and hummus, or whatever meat and cheese and mustard. etc. etc. etc.) Add some greens and you've got a hearty, healthy portable lunch!

This.

I eat a lot of tortillas for breakfast and lunch. Breakfast burritos taste great. Lunch wraps are tasty and you can cram a lot of fun stuff in them.

My job is sitting at a desk thinking all day. If I don't have some carbs, my brain doesn't fire as well. Tortillas do the trick.

Tortillas and pitas. :glasses: