Quick Lunches for Work

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hselby87
hselby87 Posts: 49 Member
in Recipes
What do you bring with you for a 9 hour day at work? Snacks that are easy and healthy? Lunch ideas? I'm getting tired of my turkey bacon, avocado and swiss cheese lettuce wraps and my apples. So, I'm asking for ideas. If it takes too much prep time, I won't do it. So, what do you make that is easy and fun and YUMMY?

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  • patfriendly
    patfriendly Posts: 263 Member
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    baked chicken breast, Quinoa, broiled veggie (Asparagus/broccoli/spinach) for lunch and baby carrots for snacks
  • msanabria1
    msanabria1 Posts: 1 Member
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    I love Purdue shortcuts.. here is a simple easy recipe... http://www.perdue.com/recipes/details.asp?id=793&title=Lettuce-Wraps
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,949 Member
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    I bring leftovers from dinner the night before.
  • Cudleigh
    Cudleigh Posts: 188 Member
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    I almost always make an extra plate of dinner the night before and bring that. All I have to do is remember to grab it from the fridge in the morning.
  • Chezzie84
    Chezzie84 Posts: 873 Member
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    I like pitta bread, carrot sticks, yellow pepper and cucumber and a dip of some kind. The only prep is to chop up the vegetables.
    I am loving salsa or beetroot tzatziki at the moment.
  • jkwolly
    jkwolly Posts: 3,049 Member
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    Breakfast is usually a Quest bar and some fruit
    Snack is more fruit or yogurt
    Lunch is leftovers - honestly THE best thing for lunches!
  • carla113
    carla113 Posts: 27 Member
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    Here are a few things that are in my rotation:

    *packaged tuna
    *sweet potatoes (The individually wrapped, microwavable ones.)
    *cottage cheese
    *yogurt
    *string cheese
    *carrot sticks w/hummus
    *hard boiled eggs

    I have a sandwich about once a week, too. I like all this stuff because I can pre-pack and throw it in my insulated lunch bag the next morning. I'm with you...if it's difficult/complex, it's not happening. So, I keep it simple and pack lots of individual things that don't require a lot of prep the day of.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    Everything I bring is quick and easy to pack. I mostly bring sandwiches - it only takes a minute to grab the stuff out of the fridge, throw it all together, put it in a baggie and toss it in my lunch bag. Leftovers are easy too. You could make a big batch of soup or casserole on the weekend, portion it out into containers and grab that every morning.

    For snacks, I bring protein bars, yogurt, 100 cal cocoa almonds and fruit (banana, apple, nectarine, orange, clementines) again, easy to grab. I was buying big tubs of yogurt and portioning them out but found on the weeks I got busy, I just skipped it so now I just buy the individual containers so there are no excuses. This week I started packing some sweet gerkins with my lunch. Pick a few out of the jar, put them into a container, done.
  • dawnmcneil10
    dawnmcneil10 Posts: 638 Member
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    Typically my lunch is made up of leftovers but I always have a few handy items lying around because sometimes those work days drift into 12 hour days so having extras is handy.
    My best advice is to plan ahead, cutting up veggies for dinner cut up extra and put into containers for grab and go. I use mason jars to make up fruit and yogurt parfaits. Grilling dinner? Toss on an extra chicken breast or steak whatever you enjoy and then cut it up after it cools and toss into individual containers, really easy to toss over a salad or create a meal with. Someone else said soups and casseroles which are fabulous ideas you can also precook and freeze pancakes.

    Crunchy granola bars - temperature safe for the car and weather changes.
    Almonds - variety of flavors to fit any mood
    Peanut butter
    Rice cakes
    Can of soup - in case I'm desperate
    Fiber One dessert type bars/brownies
    Microwave popcorn
    Apples
    Fruit cups

    Also have access to a fridge:
    Greek yogurt
    Fresh/frozen berries
    Cottage cheese
    String cheese
  • NB2563
    NB2563 Posts: 5 Member
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    I totally agree on planning ahead! What I do is grill a couple of chicken breasts, usually on Sunday or any other night where we are grilling some other type of meat, and then make chicken salads a couple of times a week for lunch. I always bring a yogurt, a banana or a pear, and some almonds for snacks. I also keep granola bars in my office just in case.
  • NB2563
    NB2563 Posts: 5 Member
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    Here are a few things that are in my rotation:

    *packaged tuna
    *sweet potatoes (The individually wrapped, microwavable ones.)
    *cottage cheese
    *yogurt
    *string cheese
    *carrot sticks w/hummus
    *hard boiled eggs

    I have a sandwich about once a week, too. I like all this stuff because I can pre-pack and throw it in my insulated lunch bag the next morning. I'm with you...if it's difficult/complex, it's not happening. So, I keep it simple and pack lots of individual things that don't require a lot of prep the day of.

    Ah, yes! I have hard boiled eggs for breakfast almost every day. They are easy to prep in advance and throw in my lunch bag!
  • hselby87
    hselby87 Posts: 49 Member
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    As it turns out, these delicious banana chips I have been munching on for the past couple weeks are in fact not good for me. :-( I hate buying food. I think I am making good choices, and I still find myself making poor choices. Just because it says banana doesn't mean it is good! I might as well have been eating banana taffy. Hahaha
  • DeeVanderbles
    DeeVanderbles Posts: 589 Member
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    I typically meal prep my lunches. I'll bake or grill enough chicken to get me through the week and steam up some veggies to go with it or quinoa or brown rice, then I just package it all in tupperware. It takes about an hour to prep for the week.

    For snacks I bring carrots and hummus, yogurt, pretzels, grapes, cucumbers, green peppers, apples, cottage cheese, etc.
  • summerlovexox
    summerlovexox Posts: 4 Member
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    I take salads for lunch 95% of the time.. Super easy since i prep them all on Sunday and are just oh so convenient to grab and throw into my lunch bag throughout the week, at first it was so hard to just eat this big bowl of spinach & veggies for lunch everyday and now i actually prefer it to anything else. I loooove greek yogurt for an afternoon snack (coconut or lime) or veggies and dip! Green smoothies are good also!
  • Mygsds
    Mygsds Posts: 1,564 Member
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    Another idea is wraps. So versatile, but you can be as creative as you want to be. Right now, I'm stuck on Wellness Red Pepper Tortilla, roasted red pepper hummus, put on with shredded lettuce, red onion, smoked turkey breast (my husband makes) black olives sliced and tomatoes. I try to save time by having containers of veggies all diced and ready to roll so assembly is pretty fast. Roll up, wrap in foil and out the door.
  • mainesm
    mainesm Posts: 107 Member
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    Commenting to I can "bookmark" this and read later. Great ideas!
  • ThinLizzie0802
    ThinLizzie0802 Posts: 863 Member
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    Sabre makes combo pretzel/hummus cups. I also bring carrots to go with it because there is more hummus than pretzels.
    I will roast onions, peppers, carrots, and red potatoes on a sheet pan with boneless skinless chicken tenders, all tossed in olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic and make portioned out containers to take.
    Canned chicken for salads-I like spinach, berries, goat cheese, balsamic dressing, some sort of nut or seed
    I bake a batch of breakfast casserole-eggs, cheese, spinach, onion, pepper, turkey sausage, in a pan then portion out and keep for a week for quick lunch or dinner
    Starkist tuna creations like herb and garlic on some wheat bread with spinach and a slice of cheese
    Boneless skinless chicken tenders baked and tossed in Frank's buffalo sauce with some goat cheese and spinach on a wheat bun
    Kind bars, Fibre One Bars
    Any sort of dip with crackers
  • SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage
    SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage Posts: 2,671 Member
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    I love salads, so I make a bunch at the beginning of the week, pack them in wide-mouth mason jars (dense items like carrots, grilled chicken, etc on the bottom, then lettuce on the very top), keep the dressing separate. I grab one each morning on my way out the door. Something about being in an air-tight mason jar keeps it fresh for at least 4 days so I don't have to make lunches every day.
  • alyssamaryw
    alyssamaryw Posts: 84
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    I agree with the Perdue Short Cuts. I bring those, spring mix, shredded cheese, and Emeril's Sweet Honey Mustard (super low calorie!) and mix them together at lunch time. Sometimes I microwave the chicken if I want it to feel more luxurious. I have also substituted veggie burgers in for the chicken, though I found out that those are not good for me as I am hypothyroid.

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