Ideas for quick lunch please

nico1244

My new favorite thing to do is get a can of chick peas, rinse and distribute between 5 baggies. Next I peel and slice a large cucumber and evenly distribute. In the morning when I'm packing my lunch I'll add just a bit of low fat italian dressing to one baggie, seal it up and go. It's a great snack that really is satisfying. For lunch itself I like to cut a green pepper in half, spread with lowfat spreadable cheese and add a couple slices of deli meat. It's a great alternative to the lettuce wrap that I tend to get bored of. Hope that helps a bit!

jmconway83

Nurse here with 30 minute lunch. I always bring lunch.

I cook a couple of things on my day off for the upcoming week.

I make a breakfast quiche and a lunch/dinner quiche and freeze.
I boil chicken breast for salads and sandwiches.
I bake eggplant slices and freeze also for parmesan.

Always a salad. I prepackage my dressing and cheese so all I have to do is drop in my bag.

I get ooh's and aah's from my co workers daily.

I can furnish recipes if you like.

I would love a recipe for a breakfast quiche, I have never made one. So include any secrets

jmconway83

NancyM221 has the right idea: Spend part of your day/s off cooking ahead.

My personal favs are salmon/cream cheese quiche (freezes well in individual containers), protein no-bake cookies, parmesan tuna patties. Of course I have protein bars, too, but I have to watch my consumption of these; not only are they expensive but they're pretty high in calories, too.

This week I 'm trying a recipe for protein noodle lasagna and chicken patties.

My sister is a rad tech who works Sat morning through to Mon morning (double shifts and on-call thru the nights). She uses Carbquik and makes blueberry muffins, brings a protein rich cold cereal and ff 1/2 & 1/2, and sometimes Carbquik pizza leftovers.

Hope this all helps! And if you want any of the recipes I use, let me know!

Kat


I would also love some of these recipes you are trying. The salmon/cream cheese quiche especially.

Thanks

nickscutie

I like the evol frozen burritos for lunch - they even come in mini snack size versions.
They have lots of flavor options, some of them on the website i have never even seen in the stores, but my favorites of what I have tried are the mini bean and cheese (190 cal) and the regular size chicken fajita (360 cal). The pork carnitas (380 cal) is also not bad, I did not like the veggie fajita. I also like to defrost them the night before so they heat up quicker, and they are good out of the microwave but better from a convection/toaster oven.

When all else fails, I carry around a clif bar or clif builder bar or two in my purse. They will do in a pinch.

My other advice would also be to try to make a little extra whenever you have time to make dinner, and then bring leftovers with you. Also, make a big pot of hearty soup and freeze it in small containers. A well crafted soup can be very filling.

Stay away from the tins!

elf618

yum, some great ideas.

couscous with roasted veges is another option that is good warm or cold.

i tend to have to graze at work if I get a chance to eat at all, so i keep lots of different finger foods. Cut apple and peanut butter is one of my favorites.

Katybun3

Wow...what a fantastic response. I'll never run out of ideas now. My co-workers are going to be so jealous when I start bringing some of these exciting recipes for my lunch. Thanks to everyone on MFP :0)

mo11ybloom

I bring my own lunch to school every day. I like a BIG meal, low-cal, obviously, so I pack a little bit of a lot of things. For example, today I had:
-Grilled chicken with lettuce and bell peppers tossed in a tad of OJ & hot sauce, wrapped in a low-cal wrap
-Babybel light cheese wheel
-14 Almonds (Wasabi and Soy Sauce flavor... high in sodium, but great flavor!)
-1 Apple, cut into wedges and tossed with some OJ to prevent browning (I don't like lemon juice, and I just used one slice of the orange I had for breakfast for the juice for this and the wrap)
Total: about 400 calories. It's a lot of food, though, so you can certainly leave out one or more of the "sides" to cut calories.

Wandami

Hard boiled egg, 10 almonds, 1/2 apple & 1 cup spinach...yum!

k4evans1

Snack plate with pitas, hummus, and veggies
Chili
Hebrew National Hot Dog (40 cal) in 1/2 of a thin bun (50 cal)
Lettuce, tomato, onion, and cucumber with dressing (2 T apple cider vinegar, 2 T EVOO, 1 packet natural sweetener)
Turkey, lettuce, cheese, and fat free ranch dressing in an Italian flat out wrap
Broccoli with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese
Fish burger (mahi mahi from TJ's on a sandwich thin) with sweet potato fries
Slice of breakfast lasagna (layers of scrambled eggs, cheese, veggies, and tortillas)
Yogurt with 1 c. blueberries
English muffin with pb

Sometimes I make homemade soup/chili on Sunday and have it for lunch throughout the week. I also try to pre package my meals to save time. For example this week I have salad in cylinder Tupperware containers with a smaller Tupperware of dressing inside so I just grab and go.

bizybeemom

I also only get 30 minutes for lunch. I have two staples. I grill some chicken and then add it to some field greens. Pour on my favorite dressing (measured and accurately counted of course). Or I combine 1/2 cup brown rice, stir fry veggies and grilled chicken in a bowl. Heats up in a minute. Delicious! The key is making sure you have a lunch all prepared the night before. The good thing about a 30 minute lunch is that I don't have time to go to a sit-down restaurant and face temptation.