Lunch at work ideas

I pack ingredients the night before to make myself a healthy wrap or cook couscous with steamed veggies, lite soups, fruit salad, yogurt with granola, veggie platter, etc.

Today is cottage cheese, fruit, and a veggie side.

Soup, whole wheat crackers, fruit

Snacky type things - hard boiled egg, string cheese, veggies & dip, fruit.

Wraps (like a sandwich) but it changes things up with different veggies added. Wrap turkey, cheese, romaine, shredded carrot, a dill pickle spear..... and smear on dill spread (greek yogurt & dill weed).....or reduced fat cream cheese.

Instead of just turkey.....tuna salad or egg salad

You can do so many things with salad.....I grill up a bunch of chicken (put in ziplock sandwich bags)....have a southwest chicken salad, or an oriental chicken salad. Spinach salad with feta, strawberries, almonds & raspberry vinaigrette

A few of my lunches for the past few days:

1. Vegan jerkey + Dr. Mcdougall's Vegan Split Pea Soup With Barley + Seasoned Croutons

2. Portable single serve hummus + baby carrots + stuffed grape leaves

3. Vegetarian Chick'n patty + bag microwavable vegetables in light sauce (Fave: Birds Eye Steam Fresh Tuscan Vegetables With Marinara Sauce)

4. Cedar Lane - Spinach Quinoa Cake + jalapeno greek yoghurt + salsa + tortilla chips

I never eat salads for lunch, or sandwiches but I have access to a kitchen to heat my food. My normal practice is to plan to have leftovers from dinner. I also make dishes and freeze them in lunch size portions. They defrost on my desk by lunch time.

Suggestions for lunches:
Lentil Stews/Soups
Curry stews/soups
Kale Lasagne
Left-over rotisserie chicken and steamed veggies
Twice Baked potatoes & mini meatloaves
Chickpeas over rice
Chili (or White Chili)

I had homemade Curry Chicken Corn Chowder (from my freezer) for lunch today with Chocolate Squash pudding.

Today I had a steak wrap with lean steak, feta, spinach, and beets in a whole wheat wrap.

I bring leftovers as I prefer hot food...lasagna, quinoa with kale and sweet potato, curry chicken are a few recent ones.

Today I packaged up 3 oz lean low-sodium roast beef slices, .25 oz shaved Parmesan, .5 oz arugula/spinach mix, and 2.75 oz French bread and made myself a sandwich. I'll be doing that all week.

Last week was Caesar salad with grilled shrimp. Week before that was chicken tacos - two corn tortillas with 3 oz chicken (seasoned with homemade taco seasoning and shredded), a bit of an avocado, and fat free refried beans. A few weeks before that was red beans and rice. I haven't decided next week's lunch quite yet.

My lunches are usually only about 250-300 calories because I like to have a snack around 3:30. Lately this has consisted of a boiled egg, light string cheese, and flavored Greek yogurt. That's another 208 calories.

I've been bringing an apple everyday for lunch, usually with whatever leftovers I have from the night before. I eat the apple first and then the leftovers, and I usually get full before I finish the rest of the food. For a while, I would bring an apple but it would just sit there in my lunch bag for days because I would eat everything else first and forget about it, but now I'm making it a habit to eat it first!

bump for ideas

I made Quiche Lorraine (bacon and swiss cheese) for dinner last night - my wife and I each had a quarter. Today's lunch is the other quarter each and a few slices of cucumber and grape tomatoes. Dessert was a segmented navel orange and 1/2 cup 2% cottage cheese.

For snacks I have a couple of schneiders pepperoni sticks and if I'm still hungry I have a choice between green grapes, almonds and trail mix or a penguin bar.

Wow I cant believe how little some people eat for lunch :bigsmile:

Currently my work location has a sink, fridge and microwave so I usually bring left overs. This week it is homemade enchiladas, other times it is a frozen meal I had made previously (stew, rice and beans, etc.) Since I am also currently living on my own I will make 2 servings of a meal and have 1 for supper and 1 for lunch the next day (tomorrows lunch is porc chop w/asparagus and quinoa).

The night before I might also make a quick meal for lunch, my favourite is sautéed pasta with lots of veggies and usually chicken.

Rarely do I make a salad since the idea of it doesn't satisfy me. I will make a regular spinach/garden salad and add chicken, avocado or quinoa. I keep dressing in the fridge at work.

I am one of those people that need to eat constantly so my 'lunches' include not just the main meal but more food. My current work also has set coffee times twice a day. Food for coffee is toast and peanut butter, yogurt with added fruit, multiple pieces of fruit (usually apple, banana, I have mango and kiwi today), cheese and crackers, etc.

I have no idea what I am going to do in the summer when my job changes and no more kitchen or even safe drinking water for me. Ill be packing a cold lunch wherever I go in my cooler. I may need even to start a post to get ideas.

Hard boiled eggs are the best take out food and even if your in a rush in the morning, you can boil while you're putting on your make-up.

Cut up Carrot sticks and dip into pre-prepared home-made Roast Eggplant and Red Pepper Dip ….. super easy to make if you are into cooking.

1 Eggplant
1/2 Red Pepper

Cut the Eggplant in half and roast face down with a little olive oil on medium heat in oven. Do same with the red pepper on the same tray and roast both till you get the tops a bit blackened/burnt. That adds the smoky flavour. Pull out of the oven, cool slightly and mush up with a fork.

Add sautéed chopped onions with herbs of your choice and season with salt and pepper. Mush this all together with 1 - 1 1/2 TBS of really good olive oil.

Tastes amazing !