Pratical Weekday Lunch Ideas

Great website for dinner items that can be taken as leftovers for lunch the next day: skinnytaste.com

I eat more frequent smaller meals throughout the day at work and bring some of these regularly:
- Greek Yogurt
- Fresh Fruit - whatever berries are on sale that week (put in yogurt depending on what I have on hand)
- Blue Diamond Almonds (24 nuts portioned out) - I like the dark chocolate and cinnamon flavors for an afternoon snack
- I bring one low carb/whole wheat wrap (Wrap-Itz brand) and a tupperware of what I have to fill it with when I am ready to eat such as: rice, black beans (rinsed to reduce sodium) corn and salsa or chicken salad made with fresh chopped chicken breast from the night before, light mayo, celery and brown mustard or immitation crab meat mixed with light mayo, brown mustard, celery, lemon juice....or really whatever you want to wrap up for lunch - I bring it in tupperware so I can portion it out and it also doesnt get soggy.

I used to buy lunch every day at work and realized how much I was spending (on top of the groceries I bought for home) as well as the unhealthy choices I was making...so I started bringing my lunch and snacks and it works great for me. What helped me the most was investing in good tupperware! Sounds kind of funny, but if you have a variety of sizes and lids that don't leak you can portion things out for each snack or meal making it much easier to pack a lunch for work. Bringing for me is much more economical and healthier than buying!

I usually make up some tuna salad, egg salad, and/or chicken salad on Sunday nights for the week ahead. I have entered each of the recipes into my profile already (including the Sara Lee 45 calorie bread) so they are easy to add each day. With Scotch tape and a Sharpie, I label the containers with the serving size & calorie count (as reminders to me) and an expiration date 7 days out. Then, in the morning, all I have to do is throw a piece of bread on the scale, set it to zero, and measure out the "filling" the each sandwich. I like to pre-measure and label snack bags of baby carrot, nuts, etc too so I can just grab and go in the morning. Feel free to contact me if you're interested in any of my really simple recipes.

Almost every day I bring a big salad (lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber) with some grilled chicken on the top and some feta cheese. Makes a super-tasty lunch, which is usually around 300 calories or so. I bring greek yogurt and fruit for snacks.

What I do a lot of the time is I'll buy some dry cheese tortolini, cook it the night before work, then the next morning make a pasta salad with it. I put cucumbers, tomatoes, italian dressing, carrots, and sometimes I'll just mix it with a cole slaw mix/shredded carrots. It's DELICIOUS and so easy! I usually have about 3/4 of a cup of the tortolini and just mix however much else i want. p.s. the tortolini doesn't have any sodium in it, just make sure you don't add salt when you boil it and you'll be good:)

Amy's products have a "light in sodium" line with some healthy frozen entrees and soups.
http://www.amys.com/products/product-categories/light-in-sodium

I also like to do 1 serving of tri-color rotini pasta with lots of veggies like broccoli, carrots, onion, peppers, cauliflower for a pasta salad with some light balsamic dressing. You could add grilled chicken tenders as well.

Amy's products are great! Especially if you're trying to eat less processed and more natural foods. There are also gluten-free alternatives. I also buy bags of organic Spinach and baby kale for a quick salad...spaghetti squash and organic marinaras.

Hello!
I usually add veggies(favorites-zucchini, onions, peppers, spinach) and sometimes meat (ground beef or turkey sausage) to pasta sauce, and use trader joes or market basket 100% whole wheat pasta. I love it hot or cold.
Sam