Lunch for Work?

I make up food for the entire week, which was recommended by a few of my friends when I started up here...it makes it really easy and fun, without too much work to prepare outside of the cook day on sunday or saturday.

I like making a bunch of meatballs, chicken, sauce, or pick up fish and freeze it in portions with seasonings / marinades in the bag, defrosting and cooking the night before or simply microwaving it at work. Sometimes when I'm REALLY lazy, I'll pick up a couple of the cooked rotisserie chickens from shop rite, take the meat off and make some stuff up with that. What's nice with those is you can leave it shredded and make different quick dishes each day that's different from the day before.

Day 1: BBQ Pulled Chicken Tacos w/ Cole Slaw
Day 2: Kimchi Pulled Chicken (rinse the cole slaw, add some vinegar and pickling seasonings to use them both up)
Day 3: Chicken Soup (will just throw the chicken together with some veggies and broth and have it ready for the next day in like 5 minutes or so the night before.
Day 4: Chicken Salad Sammich w/ Avocado on Multigrain Bread (open faced so it isnt messy) you can then add remaining cole slaw if you want for some texture.
Day 5: Chicken Stir Fry - take the rest of the pulled chicken, scramble up and egg and mix with veggies and rice in a wok with sesame oil and garlic for a quick stir fry that will take no longer than 5-10 minutes in the morning.

I do salads far more often than not, but I rarely get bored of them because I change up the ingredients so much (I typed out all of the various things I put into salads on here once...it was about 50 lines long, lol). I also do leftovers whenever I can - right now I'm eating cold grilled chicken breast and grilled peppers & onions (leftover fajita fillings) with side of salsa mixed with light sour cream for dipping. Also, every day I bring at least a greek yogurt and a piece of fruit for snacks, plus depending on how the rest of my day shakes out (what I brought for lunch and what I'm planning for dinner and whether or not I ate breakfast, which I usually don't, I just eat a good snack at 10:30 or so) I might bring a string cheese and/or some cut veggies with some sort of dip, and I always have high fiber & protein granola bars in my desk drawer (love the ones from Trader Joe's).

Mostly sammiches - I use those Arnold deli thin rolls or a Flatout wrap, put in 6-8 slices of deli meat (chicken, turkey, pastrami, ham), a slice of pepperjack or swiss cheese and a handful of baby spinch or romaine. And I pack some grape tomatoes or an apple to go with it.

For snacks and breakfast - baked egg cups or breakfast casserole, 100 cal packs of cocoa or cinnamon roast almonds, banana/strawberries, a protein bar and a serving of my awesome sweet potato/pecan/granny smith oatmeal.

Once in a great while I'll bring leftovers for lunch. Depends on what's been cooked and if Hubby will clean it up so I don't have to.

I eat a lot chicken (thighs or breast, both skinless/boneless) with cooked broccoli or green beans. Sometimes I'll have some brown rice, or potatoes with it.

Today it's leftover Chinese food. Not the healthiest option, but the leftovers have to be eaten, and it's nice for a change

I make a lot of chicken and black beans in bulk for lunch, pita pocket with hummus and fat free feta, fish and veggies (yep, I'm that girl that stinks up the office microwaving fish!), and sometimes you can't go wrong with a plain old turkey sandwich! I love it with onion and chive cream cheese on whole wheat bread.

Lately I've been grilling up a bunch of chicken breasts on Sunday, then splitting them up into 5-6 oz portions. Bring that with a tortilla and a slice of cheese, stashed soem mustard at my desk at work, quick and easy wrap.

I do the same thing

My favorite is Broccoli hash with Chicken breast or salmon. It's just sweet potato (pre-boiled), onion, broccoli Pre-steamed), red bell peppers, and mushrooms sauteed together and thrown in a bowl with your choice of meat. It's easy heat and tastes just as good cold. My last batch made about 6 servings for about 200 cal each.

chicken, brown rice and veggies. InstaNOM & good for you.

I grill chicken and bring it with a different side choice every day. I've done:

grilled chicken with steamed veggitables
grilled chicken with peppers and onions
grilled chicken with homemade salsa, & avocado in a st. low carb tortilla
grilled chicken and rice (for those days you feel like you could eat everything)

What are you guys' go to lunches that you take to work, or even just eating at home. I get sick of taking salad every day, but it's always like the easiest thing to make in the morning. I also feel like I sometimes don't bring enough. What is everything you guys will bring, including snacks?

either Chipotle
or I bring grilled chicken breast, white rice or sweet potato, and brocolli

Basic formula is:
- 3oz lean protein (chicken breast cooked on Sunday, pork loin ditto, homemade meat loaf that's presliced and frozen so I can grab one slice in the am)
- raw low carb veg - fill a 2c container (grape/cherry tomatoes, celery sticks, carrot sticks, pepper slices, green beans...)
- 1 slice high fibre bread w optional 1 tsp Hellman's mayo
Lean Cuisine or leftovers makes for variety.

I have been enjoying a whole wheat tortilla, spread 2T hummus, spinach, 2-3 slices turkey, slice of light cheese...roll it up and enjoy. Another thing I have had is the Quinoa & Chicken in the frozen section at Costco, it's about 230 calories. Hope this helps

I do carb cycles while I work.

MW I bring high carb food that I made for dinner the night before (about 500-700 calories)
Then on TThF I bring protein shakes (2 scoops for lunch, 1 scoop for a snack around 3pm) to work with some pita chips (9grams 140 cal)

Doing so I found I dont binge anymore since I am able to satisfy my cravings every other day while still keeping around my calorie goal (1400 - 1700 ) but sometimes of course I go above occasionally. I'm all for healthy snacks and all but doing that every single day doesn't do it for me. During my low carb days, I find that I have 700cal to have for dinner which let's me eat a good variety of food. Sometimes I need meat, sometimes I want brown rice, sometimes I just want what I want and doing this carb cycle actually helps a lot.

Then again, it depends on the person! Goodluck finding what works for you

I find lurking food diaries gives me great ideas. To keep it interesting, I do the bento box idea, small servings of several things make lunches really fun. You can google to find ideas. :flowerforyou:

Sláinte :drinker:

I second the bento box idea, but I always call it my picnic or ploughman's lunch. I pack several things that add up to about 500 cal.