Meal Planning Lunches - HELP!

Every Saturday cook all my meals for the week throw them in pre-portioned/weighted zip locs. The night prior put the meals into tupperware accordingly, morning wake up put the tupperware in a cool bag throw them in my assault pack(backpack) and go.

^^ salads are good if you have a fridge. roasted chix ceasar salads are good.

Hey new forum friend! I work from home, so I'm extremely lucky with meal flexibility in that regard. However, I have occasional weeks where I'm working on outside projects or whatever and for those weeks I do something similar to semperfit with the pre-cooking and weighing. I buy some chicken breasts, grill them, cut them up and then measure it all out into a bunch of 4 oz. portions in ziploc baggies. Once I've got my protein, I just build from there. Some days I put some spinach in a glad container along with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. You can buy little microwavable containers of brown rice (I forget the brand name) that travel nicely. Those "steam fresh" vegetable bags are nice - just get the kind without the butter/cheese sauce. Another favorite go-to busy day option for me is Starkist Tuna Creations plus an apple or some other fruit. I carry a few in my yoga bag for marathon days. They are so handy, you can just rip them open and eat with a spoon, but they're ridiculous with sodium so watch out. They come pre-seasoned and different flavors are better than others both with regard to taste and what they'll do to your macros.

ETA: another absolute favorite I forgot: cut up some bell pepper (mix and match or just do one color, whatever), spread it on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and season with fresh basil if you have it, or something like Tony Chachere's Salt-Free Cajun Seasoning (one of my favorite blends ever), then stick it in a 400 degree oven for 5-15 minutes. Once they're roasted up to whatever tenderness you like, portion those out into ziploc baggies. I store them in the fridge and eat them cold. I cut them into the long slices so I eat them with my fingers like french fries. I used to make these for an ex and he took a cooler to work as his lunch/snack box. If they keep in a cooler, I'm assuming they'll hold up in an insulated lunch pail if you don't have a fridge.

Another one - thinly slice a sweet potato, spray a plate with non-stick cooking spray, spread the slices onto the plate, drizzle with olive oil, season as you will (I use paprika or cinnamon mostly) and microwave for 5-7 minutes. Let them cool off, then portion off a serving size into ziploc baggies.

I usually pack close to the same thing for lunch every day- a salad with 2 cups of spinach, 1/2 cup red pepper, 1/2 cup carrots and then some chicken. (I bake a couple chicken breasts every Sunday so I don't have to do any *hard* cooking throughout the week that would take a long time.) I pack the salad the night before in a gladware container, then just put the dressing on the next day before I leave for work. I also pack a Dannon light and fit greek yogurt to have around 8:30 am and a baggie with cocoa roasted almonds to have around 3:00 pm. (I eat lunch around noon) Having all my food laid out for the day really helps me because I know what times I should be eating and what exactly I'll be eating. Then it doesn't leave room for choice for me to choose something unhealthy just because I'm craving it. I also purposely don't bring my wallet into work so that I don't have the option of buying any food.

I love to play in the kitchen, and I cook nearly 100% of my dinners - but for some reason, when it comes to packing lunches and snacks for work, I feel totally overwhelmed!

I usually work pretty early in the morning, and I've been working out beforehand (around 5am) so I have little time, and even less cognitive ability to do anything then.

Me too! Except I get up at 6:30 and don't work out beforehand, but I still have very little cognitive ability to organise food preparation in the morning. So my bagel routine works out really well, because I do the same every day and don't have to think about it.

I also boil a few eggs in advance to eat for breakfasts. That way I don't have to think about breakfast preparation either - I just peel a ready-boiled egg and eat it.

Left over pot roast it good either warm or cold. I made some last weekend and took some leftovers a couple of days. YUMMY!

I purchased two packs of Easy Lunchboxes.. Compartmentalized food containers. I love them for portion control.


Oh, and they have a bunch of ideas here:

http://easylunchboxes.smugmug.com/The-Best-Lunchbox-System/Yummy-Lunch-Ideas


[Edited to add link]

I pack my honeys lunch healthy daily.. He gets a wrap with tuna or roast or some form of lean meat and a slice of cheese. Then I place cucumber and tomato in separate containers for him to put on his wrap so the wrap doesn't get soggy while it waits for him to eat. (he says he just eats the wrap as meat an cheese and eats the veggies separate- but it doesn't matter), he gets a bag of sugar snap peas (homegrown) or a bag of cherry tomatoes (home grown), and fruit of some nature and a granola bar or 3. I'd substitute the granola bar for a fiber one bar if it was for me.. Then he gets to wash it all down with the water bottle full of cold water
It takes me about 5 minutes (if that) to pack up his lunch at 5:30 every morning. Using wraps gives you a million options I find, and you can fill em til they are hard to hold with veggies, sprouts, etc. You can do eggs, chkn, shrimp, crab, left over meat from supper etc, etc, etc.. and all the stuff that would fall outta a sandwich, wont fall out of the wrap I find if you use enough cucumber, tomatoes, onion, etc, you don't even need mayo or salad dressing

I work out before work and find my brain doesn't turn on until I'm done working out. I'm up at 4:30. I pack the night before. The kitchen's dirty from cooking dinner, so you might as well prep before you clean it up (or whomever cleans). I will also prep out leftovers and a small salad. Glad has these containers with little dressing cups that fit in the lid, that works for a side salad or veggies and hummus for me. I prep it all the night before, print out what I'm taking (I work 12 hours, so I eat breakfast, lunch and 2 snacks at work), and cross it off as I throw it in the lunch bag. And I'm not kidding you that it's some kind of bag! I also pack a cloth napkin, cheap silverware, and a cup for ice/water during the day and anything that doesn't go in the fridge the night before. I don't use ziplocks because I want to decrease my overall waste, but they do work well. I make a lot of salads (cooking chicken just once a week and proportioning it), but also make wraps, leftovers, and veggie burgers (homemade, cook at home, nuke and serve on a sandwich thin). Having so much selection prevents me from getting bored. If I don't pack my gym bag and food the night before, I do bone-head things like leave my pants at home and have to go home and be late to work.

I'm in a hospital setting as well. I don't swing shift, which is good. But my brain doesn't fire until after coffee, so it's good to do it the night before.