Office hours 8 to 5

ForceofNature

Hey Folks!
Looking for some feedback on what people bring for lunch and snacks. My eating habits @ work are horrible!!

StrawberryDrip

I don't work but at school we have the option to go of campus, and get junk food or stay in and get junk food (they even have a Pizza Factory seller), in the end those damn breadsticks bit me in the *kitten*...so it's always best to bring your own lunch because you can control your calories and there's not the pressure of "oh, what should I get" which leaves room for bad choices. So bring your own food most days if you can help it

ForceofNature

What do you bring for lunch when you brown bag it? I need some ideas! I think id get bored eating a sandwich everyday!

StrawberryDrip

You can bring some microwavable meals if you have a microwave in your office (I like Healthy Choice steam thingies). Also a salad is always good, and fruit for a side. You have a lot of options, think about what you would eat on a weekend lunch and if it's portable bring it

EmelyJ

I also work full time. Normally I have healthy snacks in the office like kashi bars or honey oak bars and etc. I also have oatmeal at work (we have a fridge so I can store milk at work). For lunch I normally go out to giant which is a grocery store, there i get frozen food only b/c it helps me control my exact calories. When ever I don't feel like having frozen food, I'll have a salad from their salad bar and only add healthy things with light dressing (less then a spoon full). I also get a yogurt while getting my lunch and I either get fresh cut fruit from the salad bar or I'll get a apple or banana for my pm snack. Trust me I spend the exact same amount (maybe even less) by going to the grocery store to get lunch and my pm snack. Then what my lunch would cost me at a deli would cost me.

elliecolorado

Do you have a fridge at work? I bring lunch and a couple of snacks with me to work every day.

Morning snacks - fruit, yogurt, granola bar, hard boiled egg
Lunches - sandwich (with homemade chicken breast because lunch meats have so much sodium), tuna salad, salad with chicken or hard boiled egg on top, left overs of whatever dinner the night before was
Afternoon snacks - celery/carrot sticks with peanut butter or hummus, cottage cheese, granola bar or protein bar

Noctuary

I have a large re-usable snack bag I take with me to work every day. Since I work at a bowling alley, temptations are RIGHT THERE! When I work an 8 hour shift, I bring enough for a light meal and two ten minute snack breaks. A lean Cuisine meal most days. Or pasta with veggies and chicken. Laughing cow cheese wedges with wheat thins. A mix of fruit like strawberries and apples. Hell take leftovers from the night before in a small portion. If you can eat and snack I would do that. You won't have to eat such a big meal knowing you can have a snack later. String cheese, home made trail mix. I stock my bag up so it's like my own vending machine. Then I get to choose from all my snacks on what to eat.

bluerose84

when i go to work i usually bag up a whole bunch of options so i have choices and dont get bored. Usually some fruits, veggies, I love to make a great salas and pack it with me the wishbone spray dressing are awsome and only like a cal per spray and they tast good, also love the special K meal bars and the slimfast snack bars are awsome too. hope this helps :noway:

ForceofNature

Great tips! I do have a fridge and microwave @ work. I have high cholesterol so oatmeal and some fruit would be good in the morning! I did buy a 10 pound bag of chicken breast @ Costco today. So maybe some chicken sandwiches and I do like the salad bar idea too! Is hummus good for you as far as fat content? What do you eat it with?

ForceofNature

I never thought of those spary dressing bottles! I always over do it on the dressing. Great idea! I love those laughing cow chesse wedges. I'll have to add those to the arsenal! Thanks!

elliecolorado

Hummus isn't to bad, I usually just eat a tablespoon at a time 1/2 a serving and I dip celery/carrot sticks in it or sometimes 1/2 a piece of pita bread or flat bread. I don't worry to much about the fat in it anyways because I never have a problem staying under on fat.

vaughny

I like to make chicken salad knockoff of subways, I use ff hellmans 1 tsp of craisns 1 tsp of golden raisins chopped up some apple and celery mix with 2 oz chicken ( you might have to adjust this if you want more protein and you can adjust the dried fruit if you need a heftier meal) also someone had an idea to mix roasted red pepper hummus w/tuna and it is pretty good i tried it the other day. I use melba toast or wasa crackers as my startch to eat those with. Hope that helps!

Tankplanker

I brought a special ice pack tub to keep my home made chicken salad extra crispy. Bit of a pain as it needs to go in the freezer each night but oh so worth it for a tastier salad. Low fat natural yoghurt with nuts for pudding (I buy a big pot and put a bit in a small tub), a piece of fruit and a decent portion of mixed seed round out a typical day in the office.

warmachinejt

Tuna, beef jerky, nuts and if you can keep it cold then cottage cheese/greek yogurt.

ninpiggy

We have a "snack drawer" at work which seems to consist of nothing but cookies, chocolates, poptarts, and the occasional graham crackers. I used to open the drawer and snack from it and it ended up being a disaster for the waistline, obviously. I slowly began bringing a small bag of strawberries or blueberries, etc. Now I don't even open the snack drawer because I know there is no nutritional substance in there whatsoever.

Now I bring variations of fruits and vegetables; e.g. strawberries, blueberries, blackberries (my favorite), roma tomatoes, celery, carrots, grapes, pineapple, bananas, etc. I'll occasionally bring in a green smoothie (fruit + green vegetable smoothie). I bring a ton of water! I typically bring 3 or 4 bottles of water into work (reusable water bottles - plastic bottles would be too expensive long term). I also bring in pretzels for snacks. I really like Snyder of Hanover's honey wheat pretzel twists. I also like Kashi's cookies that they make. They're delicious.

I am a huge soup fanatic, so typically I like to bring in some sort of soup. Usually homemade because it's easier for me to control the sodium that way. But I also eat Campbell's V8 soups, which are amazing! Yum!

littlenoms

I work similar hours and bring my lunch to work with me. I have an insulated lunch bag which helps to keep things cool.

Some of the typical lunches/snacks I bring with me are apples & peanut butter; yogurt with fruit (I'm currently on a kiwi kick...yum) and some high fiber cereal (instead of granola); oatmeal; wraps made with chicken breast meat, laughing cow, and veggies; carrots and hummus; grapes, mangos, berries; almonds; kashi granola bars (I love the pumpkin pie one); hard boiled eggs; salads (particularly greek style); leftovers from the night before; lower sodium soups.

It helps me fight the temptation of sweets, which seem to run rampant in my office. I really don't even crave donuts or cake anymore when I have big juicy berries waiting for me. If they don't do the tricks, I keep a couple of the 100 calories snack packs around...because lets be honest, sometimes you need a chocolate fix.