What do you pack for lunch?

Most days I bring a massive garden salad that weighs in around 9 ounces. I usually have 1/2 an avocado with that and some kind of protein (usually leftover from the grill the previous evening). About once per week I have a sandwich and in the colder months of the year I make a lot of homemade soups and stews and whatnot that make for easy leftovers.

I don't eat dinner until around 8:30 or 9:00 in the evening so this generally doesn't last me until then and I work snacks into my afternoon/evening.

Can of albacore in water, six triscuts.

I've been getting really into casseroles lately. You can make some very filling ones for surprisingly few calories. I'll usually try to have two going at once in the fridge - a lunch one and a dinner one. It's nice to be able to put in all the effort cooking one day to eat for the next week.

Right now I have the shrimp/quinoa casserole that was on the mfp blog post about a week ago (though I used polenta instead of quinoa because it's way cheaper) and this one which is really good:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/02/baked-wheat-bulgur-with-sweet-potatoes-almonds-recipe.html
though I cut down on the cheese and almonds to lower the calorie count.

I'll usually cut a small portion of casserole over a large handful of salad mix and it's filling and lunchy and great.

Or I'll just bring a tuna salad pita pocket.

doktorglass wrote: »

Today: an open-faced sandwich made of ...

@doktorglass - if you don't mind, how do you pack the open-faced sandwich for work to keep it from spilling all over when carrying or unwrapping?

Thank you, that's clever!

Mediterranean chic pea patty (Morning Star) on a 100 calorie sandwich thin. Sometimes I'll add a slice of low-cal cheese and some yellow mustard. I have a serving of Snack Factory pretzel thins with it & carrot sticks with low-cal dressing.

I work at a hospital so we have a cafeteria, and I don't pack lunch. We have a pretty basic salad bar and I just add on whatever protein they have going on that day, so long as it isn't fried or covered in oil or something.

Seed crackers with tzadziki (treat: add crumbled bacon pieces or sun dried tomatoes).

Homemade bean dip with corn chips and veggies.

Haven't done this for a while but I love smoked oysters (bring a can and spread them on whole grain/seed crackers.)

greek yogurt with pb2, sometimes also with an oreo cookie. A can of some kind of fish (tuna, smoked trout, sardines), with spinach. I like shrimp with black beans, hot sauce, and broccoli slaw. I usually need a snack around 4 though, a coffee and a quest bar or dark chocolate.

The key for me is to bring a snack to work that I can eat between 3-5pm. No matter what I eat during lunchtime, I'm on the go for most of the work day so I need a pick me up to tide me over to dinner (I have a 40min commute home so I don't eat dinner until 6/7pm once I walk the dog, heat up dinner, etc.). Little containers of granola, a serving of pistachios, pretzels/crackers with 1oz cheese, strawberries/bananas, etc....anything that is portable and keeps me from becoming hangry works. I just need to bring something or I find myself walking down to the vending machine and making not-so-perfect choices.

I like to freeze soups, stews, chili, stuffed peppers, meatballs, etc in single servings. Pull one and go in the morning. I also label each serving with calorie counts, but I really don't have to anymore since it's easy to just log one serving from mfp

I like to make big batches of something and eat it as lunches for a week or more (or, freeze some and alternate with another batch of something). I have a convenient lunch sized thermos. I've been taking this lazy enchilada casserole a lot lately: iowagirleats.com/2013/03/25/lazy-girls-chicken-enchilada-casserole/, although I reduce the cheese on top and add in some black beans.

I also take some other things for afternoon snacks, such as half of a Quest bar, a banana chocolate chip muffin (runningwithspoons.com/2014/06/24/banana-oat-greek-yogurt-muffins/), some fruit, etc.

I'm looking into ways to bring wraps or burritos and such too, but my work doesn't have a microwave or a fridge, so I'm still thinking about what to do with those.

I usually bring an arugala salad with feta, a mini cucumber, and a dressing of olive oil/basalmic/spices. That plus a peach or banana, and some nuts or a protein bar, usually does the trick.

My work lunch is usually a peanut butter and honey sandwich (100 calorie sandwich flat, 1 serving of peanut butter, half a serving of honey), some pretzels and greek yogurt with honey.