Need Lunch Recipes - No Heating up

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muird418
muird418 Posts: 6
Hi everyone,

I work in an office building where the last thing I want to do is stand infront of a microwave even if its for 2-3 minutes. My lunch breaks are short but I like to spend the majority of time walking around outside.

I try to keep low on carbs for lunch and I don't like to eat much lunchmeat so sandwiches are never a good idea for me. If I take a sandwich for lunch I normally scrap it and go eat at qdoba.

Anyone have anything that might fit what I'm looking for?
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Replies

  • kittyloo123
    kittyloo123 Posts: 300 Member
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    salad with tuna, or roasted chicken on it.
    veggies and dip, and fruit
  • misscfe
    misscfe Posts: 295 Member
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    You can make a wrap. They have 98% fat free tortillas that are about 100 cal. Spread some laughing cow cheese on the tortilla or boursin cheese spread. Then put a slice of cheese, meat and/or any veges you want. You can also do a chicken caesar wrap. Put some chicken strips, romaine lettuce, parmesan cheese, and light caesar dressing. You can also make a wrap out of any salad you like.
  • Melonpaul
    Melonpaul Posts: 323 Member
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    I work in an office as well and I usually do vegie lunches, I've got a receipe for vegie stew (which tastes pretty good cold), also ratatouille is pretty easy to make (that can be eaten cold as well). let me know if you would like some receipes and I can message them to you.
  • markomark
    markomark Posts: 22
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    Heartily recommend a bulgur wheat dish. Easy to prepare, can be done in many many ways and fantastic for lunch as high fibre, low carb, high protein. Have you heard of it?
  • byHISstrength
    byHISstrength Posts: 984 Member
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    Greek non fat plain yogurt with fruit
    Salad greens with lean meat, tuna, or beans
    Hard boiled eggs with cheerios ( I know that is more like breakfast, but I have done it)
  • kutterba
    kutterba Posts: 107 Member
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    I make my husband sliced up vegetables & meat leftover from our dinner. He eats it cold - you know, like chicken or ham or even cold salmon.
    make it for dinner & set aside the leftovers in a sandwich bag for the morrow.
    Of course, I'm a great cook.:wink:
  • alwaysenl
    alwaysenl Posts: 197 Member
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    When I was in a similar situation at my old job I started making myself nice big salads to bring for lunch. I bought a salad to go container at Target...it's a big bowl with a lid and built into the lid is a fork and little container for dressing. I would make all different combos so I didn't get bored with eating salad everyday...it was when I was doing this I lost most of my weight by the way!

    I would throw in grilled chicken, or leftover turkey taco meat for a taco salad, turkey pepperoni & low fat mozz cheese, dried cranberries and f.f. feta cheese...the possibilities are limitless! Search online for healthy salad entrees and you will find a lot of good stuff if you need inspiration! Try food.com, they have so much on there!
  • prettysmart
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    I am a huge fan of Ready Pac brand Bistro salads. They are between 200 - 300 calories each and come with a fork. You will pay a little premium because they come nearly assembled, but for me to have the calorie controll and convenience it is worth it. I find them in the refridgerated section of the produce isle in the grocery store. My favorite is the italian - it is only 200 Kcal!!!!
  • liberty741
    liberty741 Posts: 122 Member
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    Hello,

    I also work in an office and I don't care for lunchmeat. I usually bring salads. My favorite salad is mixed greens with white albacore tuna (from a single serving can or pouch), crumbled feta cheese, white beans or chickpeas, tomatoes, red peppers, and olives. For my dressing, I have olive oil and vinegar OR ken's light olive oil dressing. it's delicious!

    i also love egg salad or chicken salad on a mini sandwich round. try added hot sauce or curry powder to the egg salad to spice if up, or grapes and almonds to the chicken salad.

    Also, did you ever think of bringing cold pizza? they have mini boboli whole wheat pizza shells that are great. you could make one at night and bring it the next day. It's amazing!

    visit my food blog for more food ideas, www.fairytalefeasts.com.

    good luck! :-)
  • superjae5
    superjae5 Posts: 64 Member
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    Probably a lot of salads. I personally don't buy into the "no carbs" philosophy--I see a difference between healthy carbs and filler carbs. You can do a nice chicken rub and grill it, then cut up those pieces to throw in a salad to make it more filling. If you can use lemons or limes as your salad dressing you'd be surprised how much salad you can eat and still keep your calories low, even with the chicken. (The rub: cumin, oregano, garlic powder, little onion powder)

    You can use cottage cheese with herbs (I often do basil) as a kind of dip, with a high-fiber cracker to gain protein if you're looking to avoid meats. I would also suggest lettuce wraps, maybe just with beans and a low-fat cheese (in addition to any other veggies you like, I would probably do peppers, cucumbers, etc.).

    Maybe veggie salads with either beans (like garbanzo?) or some kind of cheese. What I mean by that is like diced cucumber, tomato, pepper, carrot (real, not sugary baby), maybe cilantro or some other kind of herb, use lemon juice to flavor it, or add just a little olive oil and an herb (or even the lemon juice too) to give it a little flavor. You could add a fruit in too, like pineapple or apples, grapes, etc.

    You could check vegetarian recipes (you don't have to be one) for ideas, as the ones I've seen often could be eaten without being heated. I particularly love Food.com for all kinds of recipes.
  • jackieelizabeth
    jackieelizabeth Posts: 14 Member
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    my favorite lunch is greek yogurt (honey on the bottom) its too die for! with a green apple, and a low calorie snack :) for instance a large caramel rice cake, 100 calorie packs, a few sugar free cookies, or some more cut up fruits and veggies!
  • tanyaMax
    tanyaMax Posts: 524 Member
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    Tuna.
    grilled chicken salad.
    wraps..
  • LaurenH2010
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    bump
  • breyn2004
    breyn2004 Posts: 162 Member
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    I'm onto crab salad recently!

    8 oz. imitation crab meat
    1/4 c mayo
    1/8 chopped purple onion
    Dash of lemon juice
    A little pepper and Tony's Creole.

    Makes 2 servings at about 185 calories each depending on your mayo.

    Mix and chill. I usually make it at night and then I put over shredded lettuce with a little red wine vinegar and stash in the fridge at work. It's ready to eat with you are!!
  • MissMaryMac33
    MissMaryMac33 Posts: 1,433 Member
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    Greek yogurt with fruit, walnuts, flax seed....huge protein boost and very filling. (make sure its the real greek yogurt -- not the fake crap that says greek yogurt and has more sugar than protein)

    Egg salad, chicken salad, tuna salad.... get some whole grain crackers, or protein bread (p28, ezekiel, bagel thins etc)

    I make a lot of salads using quinoa or millet or mixed grains... shrimp, turkey bacon, avocado..yum and great cold too!
  • jenniferreid84
    jenniferreid84 Posts: 4 Member
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    If you are looking to still have a hot meal - Do what they did in the land before microwaves: Store it in a thermos! Soup, Chilli, Stirfry, leftovers..... you name it! In the morning before work, heat it up really hot and stick it in your thermos :)
  • Sarahdangerfox
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    My favorite go-to is to make a wrap with arugula, bell peppers and egg salad. I love the egg white salad from Trader Joe's, and their whole wheat lavash sheets are huge and super low cal. Lots of alternatives...chicken salad or turkey with laughing cow cheese, maybe feta, walnuts, hummus and spinach? Easy peasy and yummy.
  • eviltwinkie
    eviltwinkie Posts: 153
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    Ever try some cold noodle stir frys? I've had them with shiritaki or saimin noodles, lots of veggies, chicken or shrimp, usually a spicy sauce with curry powder, some peanut flour, and soy. Make it the night before when you cook dinner and it's wonderfully melded by the next day.

    This is my favorite way to eat those shiritaki noodles - in a next day cold dish.
  • dimond1610
    dimond1610 Posts: 46
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    i know the calorie count is low on those salads, but have you looked at the amount of fat in one of them? its insane. for example the chicken ceaser salad for only 230cal has 16grams of fat. I used to eat those salads all the time until i found out the calorie to fat ratio just didn't seem normal
  • marlisold
    marlisold Posts: 11 Member
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    I like making extra grilled chicken for sandwiches the next day. You can always grill extra turkey burgers for your lunch too. Cold turkey burgers are yummy.