Office lunch ideas at 300 calories or less?

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2

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  • Ashly744
    Ashly744 Posts: 60 Member
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    292 calories
    Caesar Chicken Salad (not the salad, more like egg salad, etc)
    3 Multigrain Flax Seed Fladbread crackers
    .25 cup of blueberries

    I love to grill up pork chop, steak or chicken (weighed) and toss it on a bed of lettuce. This can easily be under 300 calories if you weigh your meat and use no dressing.

    Leftovers from dinner

    Sandwiches (can vary, whatever you like) I use 1 slice of bread, no cheese.

    Turkey Sausage & rice

    Turkey Burger (Jennie-O) no bread. 1 slice of 2% kraft cheese single, lettuce & tomato

    I'm sure there is more, but that's all I have at the moment.
  • hellsbells3272
    hellsbells3272 Posts: 128 Member
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    a small container with Ainsley Harriot couscous and a heap of salad :) Nowadays I can eat salad without dressing, I have somehow adapted my taste. Sometimes it takes time to adapt to liking things.

    I also take soups because I have access to a microwave.
  • csk0018
    csk0018 Posts: 219 Member
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    Sometimes I'll just have crackers, a 70 calorie brie cheese wheel and a bowl of fruit. I'm not a big fan of salads either. :smile:
  • kcrxgirl
    kcrxgirl Posts: 114 Member
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    One of my favorite meals is a chicken wrap. I have found low carb tortillas for ~60 calories that I use for wraps, tacos, quesadillas, etc. I'm not anti-carb, I just like that they have 1/2 the calories of a regular tortilla. You can really put anything you want in a wrap but mine is usually 2oz of chicken, spinach, feta and honey dijon mustard. I also have it with 1/2 cup reduced fat cottage cheese and a Cutie. My lunch "allowance" is 400 calories so I also have a 90 calorie Fiber One brownie.
  • hkristine1
    hkristine1 Posts: 950 Member
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    *Two pieces of 40-calorie bread (I like the Franz brand, but there are others) - TOASTED
    *Spread a small amount of light mayonnaise on top of toasted bread.
    *Cut up one hard boiled egg onto each piece of toast (so, two eggs total).
    *Salt as desired (or not).
    *Enjoy

    Approx 250-275 calories depending on how much mayo used, and how large the eggs are etc.
  • SassyCalyGirl
    SassyCalyGirl Posts: 1,932 Member
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    I love to make these individual chicken packets in foil. Way under 300 calories.


    chicken breast 4 to 6 oz
    black beans 1/4 cup
    diced tomatoes (Mexican style) 1/4 cup
    corn 1/4 cup
    sprinkle of cumin
    fresh cilantro

    wrap in foil and bake at 350° 35-40 minutes. Delish
  • haliebest
    haliebest Posts: 17 Member
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    Almost every day for lunch, I eat chicken (boneless-skinless breasts cut up and cooked in a skillet with cayenne pepper and garlic powder), quinoa or brown rice, and green beans or broccoli (I buy the big Kroger Value frozen bags).

    On Sundays, I make 8-10 lunches for my fiancé and I and we eat it all week.

    4 oz. of chicken, 1 serving of quinoa, and 1 serving of green beans comes to: 325 calories, 220 sodium, 6 fat, 31 protein, 2 sugar, 36 carbs.

    Swap the quinoa out for Minute brown rice and it comes to: 295 calories, 230 sodium, 5 fat, 27 protein, 2 sugar, 39 carbs
  • beamer0821
    beamer0821 Posts: 488 Member
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    honestly i just bring my dinner from the night before so i dont have to prep two meals. when im cleaning up dinner i pack up a portion for lunch the next day.

    today was greek chicken breast, tzatziki (homemade), pita bread. you could pair this with a greek salad i did not.
  • Wandering_1
    Wandering_1 Posts: 95 Member
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    You are getting a lot of great stuff up there. I'm not sure why you are only doing 300 cal. for lunch but have you thought about eating more calories at lunch and less at dinner unless you eat the same at dinner? You can google meals for 300 or less calories if you have the time. If you have a microwave at work you can bring a hamburger patty and some condiments. Here's my calorie count for today having a burger:

    Ballpark - Flame Grilled Beef Patty, 1 patty 85g 230 0 19 15 470 0
    Village Hearth - 100 % Whole Wheat Bread, 1 Slice 70 13 1 3 160 2
    Heinz - Ketchup, 0.33 Tbsp (17g) 7 2 0 0 53 1
    Helman's - Mayo, 0.33 tbsp 30 0 3 0 30 0
    Vlasic - Kosher Dill Baby Wholes, 1 oz (pickle) 0 0 0 0 280 0

    If you omit the mayo it will be even lower. I'm not sure if it's less calories using your own ground beef but I like the convenience and the burgers are so tasty. It was so yummy and very filling. Did you know pickles are 0 calories? I didn't know and I am so happy because I can snack on them!

    Pinterest is another great place to get ideas. Skinnytaste.com has great stuff too! have you been to the recipe board here? I could go on. If you want add me and I can give you more ideas. I'm lazy and don't want to do a lot of preparing and I am getting better at planning.
  • 77tes
    77tes Posts: 7,979 Member
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    Sandwiches? Your ham and Swiss probably just needs a large dose of mustard. I also love avocado on my sandwiches instead of mayo. Try turkey, chicken, roast beef, pastrami. Your cheese and bread will be the varibles that make it 300 calories or more.

    Good Luck.:flowerforyou:
  • agarlits
    agarlits Posts: 429 Member
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    Napkins maybe?
  • lilawolf
    lilawolf Posts: 1,690 Member
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    I make large batches of protein whenever I cook, cube or shred the leftovers and freeze in individual portions. At any one time, I usually have pork, steak, and chicken. Every couple of weeks, especially during the summer, I will do a huge batch of sauteed veggies spiced the way I like them, usually carrots and zucchini, but asparagus and other veggies are great too. It depends what is on sale.

    Then for lunch I can grab one of each and one of the following: can of compatible soup; tortilla, lettuce, tomato or avocado, and sour cream; a cup of rice and a bit of sweet chili sauce; some refried beans etc.

    I also keep bigger bags for last minute dinners.

    I know that you said no frozen meals, but the smart ones lasagna florentine is quite nice and actually a decent size. It's the only "lean" meal I've found that fills me up. Not sure about sodium though.

    Big batch things for sunday: Meatloaf muffins or mini quiches in your muffin tin freeze/thaw well and are preportioned and easy to take. Casseroles, soups, and chilis are inexpensive and filling.

    Greek yogurt with cheesecake flavored pudding mix. Sandwiches. Lettuce wraps (turkey cheese and tomato sometimes ranch usually) and fruit are other things I like bringing.
  • suremeansyes
    suremeansyes Posts: 962 Member
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    Green leaf lettuce wraps. I like shredded chicken and a bit of bbq sauce. I'd put cheese in mine as well, but whatever fits your macros.
  • lilawolf
    lilawolf Posts: 1,690 Member
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    It's just chicken, lots of salsa, and a packet of taco seasoning, cooked for 6 hours in the crockpot. We've omitted the seasoning before and it was still good!

    I do this with a big bag of thighs or breasts and 1 jar of medium salsa. First day is burritos/tacos usually. Then I use the lovely broth (choose the heat of your salsa carefully for your taste!) for a soup by adding zucchini, pinto or black beans, kale, and carrots. Then you add back your leftover chicken at the last step to warm back up again after the veggies are cooked. You will probably need to thin it with a bit more broth (I use a qt of organic) or even water. It is seriously good soup.
  • One2Run
    One2Run Posts: 63 Member
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    My usual lunch is:

    Hard boiled egg (80 cals)
    Zero fat yogurt (35cals)
    Apple (80 cals)
    Cucumber slices (20 cals)
    Popcorn flavoured rice cake with 1tsp low fat cream cheese (60 cals)

    Under 300 next to no prep work required.
  • draco706
    draco706 Posts: 174 Member
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    have you tried a fruit and yoghourt parfait? 1 dannon light and fit (90cal) 1/4C natures path pumpkin flax granola (90cal) and add roughly 100cal of your favorite fruit.
  • Snooozie
    Snooozie Posts: 3,447 Member
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    I make large batches of protein whenever I cook, cube or shred the leftovers and freeze in individual portions. At any one time, I usually have pork, steak, and chicken. Every couple of weeks, especially during the summer, I will do a huge batch of sauteed veggies spiced the way I like them, usually carrots and zucchini, but asparagus and other veggies are great too. It depends what is on sale.
    Big batch things for sunday: Meatloaf muffins or mini quiches in your muffin tin freeze/thaw well and are preportioned and easy to take. Casseroles, soups, and chilis are inexpensive and filling.

    :flowerforyou: love this idea lila.. ty! can't believe i never thought of it; I always freeze portion sizes of things like chili or soup, but cooking for one it just never occurred to me i could cook a couple of chicken breasts, chop em and freeze them cooked.. DUH!! thanks for the light bulb moment! Also for some other great ideas for lunches from everyone ty
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,741 Member
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    I do not do salads too often either. So I understand!

    How about a bunch of "snacks" eaten at once? For example...string cheese, fruit, veggies, nuts, hummus, chips, a boiled egg, tiny square of chocolate, small portion of yogurt...mix and match from the above snacks until you reach a calorie count you're happy with.
  • mamahannick
    mamahannick Posts: 322 Member
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    Last weekend I made a crockpot of minestrone soup that I divided up and brought to work each day. It was full of carrots, zucchini, tomatoes, celery, onions, sweet potatoes, and ground sausage. Plenty of recipes floating around online you could make. :)
  • alfiedn
    alfiedn Posts: 425 Member
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    Bebimbop is really good and can be low cal if you don't use too much quinoa or rice ( depending on your preference).

    I steam a whole bunch of different veggies and use raw carrots for a crunch. You can also add a lean protein if you'd like. Then top it with a little sriracha and you're good to go. Yum! And I can usually eat a BIG bowl for about 300cals.

    I do love soups. There are many out here that don't have to be so high sodium.

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