Quick and Easy Lunches

BrandyMo

I'm looking for some ideas for quick and easy lunches throughout the week. I'm a teacher so my lunch time is with my kids and I get at the most 15-20 minutes to eat. I don't mind taking a sandwhich now and then but I'm not a huge sandwhich person and I need something that doesn't take a lot of time if it needs to be heated. Just trying to give myself some variety! Thanks!

ccbing

I'm doing mostly frozen meals and soups for lunch. Super walmart has a line of diet frozen foods that are $.98 each But some require more heat time than others. This prob. wasn't much help

phoebe2488

I take hummos often with carrots, red peppers, pretzel crisps or whatever else I can think of. I usually take a yogurt (Dannon light because it's only 80 calories). LaTortilla makes 100 calorie wraps that I will take sometimes instead of a sandwich. You can put meat in it or lettuce with veggies.

shiseido_faerie

Soup
Salad with various proteins to change it up (chicken, ham, ground beef w taco seasoning, beans, eggs etc.)
Sandwich
Hummus with veggies and a wrap
Hard boiled eggs
Leftover supper from the night before
Chili (make a big pot and freeze in lunch size containers)

azzacca

I've taken to cooking a lot of chicken breasts, cut up into about 4 oz portions, baking them portioning them out into meals. I freeze a lot of it, because I"m buying about 8 pounds at a time at Sam's Club. I then weekly roast my vegetable choice for the week (broccoli, cauliflower, whatever) and add that to the portioning. I just have the meals all set to grab in the morning then. It's healthier than a prepackaged, over processed meal from the store. It's only taken me 8 months to listen to my trainer/nutrition coach to start doing this.

xmandadollx

I like to make things that I can warm up at work. I get less than 30 minutes for my lunch break and I have to take it at my desk without leaving my workplace. I really love to bring homemade soup. This is one of my favorite recipes for shrimp gumbo:

Ingredients

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup canola oil
3 celery ribs, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 carton (32 ounces) chicken broth
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 pounds uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 package (16 ounces) frozen sliced okra
4 green onions, sliced
1 medium tomato, chopped
Hot cooked rice

Directions

Over medium heat, cook and stir flour and oil until caramel-colored, about 12 minutes (do not burn). Add the celery, green pepper and onion; cook and stir for 5-6 minutes or until tender. Stir in the broth, garlic, salt, pepper and cayenne; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in the shrimp, okra, green onions and tomato. Return to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Serve with rice. Yield: 11 servings.


Nutrition Facts: 1 cup gumbo (calculated without rice) equals 159 calories, 7 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 102 mg cholesterol, 681 mg sodium, 9 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 15 g protein.

chicklidell

Make a really thin egg white omellette and use this as bread...roll up your favourite filling burrito style. I like, smoked salmon and brie, slasa and low fat cream cheese. Diced chicken broccoli and swiss. Grilled veg and feta.....

ddiestler

I am an Instuctional Aide so I understand the time crunch. 30 minutes is not a lot of time. This is usually what I eat:

Greek Yogurt with granola and fruit
cottage cheese with sunflower seeds
hummus and vegetables
hummus with arnold pocket thins.. with or without turkey breast from deli
chicken salad on multigrain crackers
Near east brown rice pilaf with vegetables or chicken
vegetable lettuce salad with tyson grilled chicken
southwest salad..tyson grilled chicken, corn, blackbeans, lite ranch dressing
Homemade soups( Often I will make a batch on Sunday at freeze..take out what I want when convenient)
tortilla wraps

Lately, I've been having leftovers.. for instance we had roasted chicken, brown rice for dinner tonight..so tomorrow I'm having chicken salad on multigrain crackers with brown rice..

On occasion, I do buy lean cuisines and smart ones to fill in..however, they are loaded with sodium and I'm trying to stay away from that kind of processed food.

Hope that helps,
Dawn

Nikki582

I like to get a salad, plus some source of protein (chicken breast, left over meat from last night's dinner etc) and add those together for a quick, healthy and tasty lunch

thejackswild79

Leftovers. Keeps me honest at dinner and gives me something delicious to look forward to for lunch.