Bringing lunch to work...

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Balaru
Balaru Posts: 203 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi there - just started a new job yesterday. There's not actually a "lunch room" but a dining room table in a large open area. In about six months I'll be going to a new location which hopefully will have a lunch area. In the meantime, looking for easy lunch ideas to bring from home.

We ate out tonight because my daughter was supposed to cook but she worked too and didn't time it right. It would have been too late by the time we cooked.

Adjusting to the new hours I am exhausted. Hubby and DD are taking up the slack and cooking the dinners. Of course DD just started a new job about a month ago so she's still adjusting too.

I'm sure we will adjust in a couple of weeks. In the meantime any no-brainer easy lunches to bring would be great! I think I'll bring a salad tomorrow or get one from Subway.
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Replies

  • jvtchong
    jvtchong Posts: 59 Member
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    I take left overs from previous dinners (stir fry and pasta's mostly) or make big batches of sandwich filling (egg salad, rosemary chicken salad) that I add to sandwiches, wraps or salads.
  • kschramm7
    kschramm7 Posts: 72 Member
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    I'm bringing a taco salad for lunch tomorrow. I make a lot of regular green salads and top with grilled chicken, wraps with chicken with buffalo sauce, light ranch, lettuce, tomato, onion, or cold cuts on a wrap. When we make turkey burgers, I try to make several extra and freeze individually so I can grab one and some frozen veggies for lunch.

    Tuna is also a great option, and when all else fails, there are frozen dinners.

    I've packed my lunch nearly every day for 20 months now. Once you get used to doing it, it's not so bad.
  • OldAssDude
    OldAssDude Posts: 1,436 Member
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    I usually bring a ziplock bag with some cerial mixed with a handful of nuts & seeds. I munch on that throughout the morning. I bring a lean cuisine (or similar meal) for lunch. I spend my lunch hour jogging/power walking, and eat my lunch while I'm working at my desk. After work I usually do another jog/power walk before dinner.

    Hope this helps.
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
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    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    I batch cook and freeze lunches in takeaway containers. My current go-to dishes are:

    Spinach and Ricotta cannelloni
    Chicken veggie soup
    Turkey and black bean chilli
    Minestrone
    Taco soup
    Chickpea and squash curry

    All but the cannelloni are easy 'chuck in a pot and forget' cooks which take me all of 15 minutes to prepare on a Sunday, then I leave it to cook, then ladle them out. Sometimes I won't have much time and will only make one and have the same thing every lunch, other times I'll make 3 or 4 different dishes, so I can just grab what I feel like in the morning.

    Same!
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,287 Member
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    I bought some nice pyrex containers to pack my lunch. I love packing a lunch.. you can eat tasty stuff and keep right on track. I have a big round container where i make a salad with cucumber, tomato, green pepper, radish, and feta. Then i have another square large container..in which I will transfer a lean cuisine and add frozen vegetables on the side to microwave (no plastic container) I have a small container where I put my face yogurt with cinnamon..and then i pack about 2 ounces of chicken breast. And all that keeps me fed throughout my day and as I head to the gym after work.
  • MaybeLed
    MaybeLed Posts: 250 Member
    edited August 2016
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    Most days I have a variation of what I had for dinner the lunch next day, like last night I had salad with ribs and coleslaw, for lunch I had the same salad and coleslaw (prepped at the same time as dinner) with a salmon fillet cooked in the oven at the same time as the ribs.

    At the weekend (when the freezer is low) I cook soup, and freeze it in individual portion bags bags, so if my normal plan doesn't work out (we go out, forget to get enough, thought we had stuff we didn't etc.) I just grab a portion of soup out of the freezer.

    ETA: it works well as my OH and I are on slightly different schedules there's always something to just microwave, and soups and stocks are a great way to use up any leftover veg and bits left over from the week
  • MonkeyMel21
    MonkeyMel21 Posts: 2,388 Member
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    I have a few different variances. I try to keep one or two Amy's frozen meals in the freezer (that's the only brand of frozen meals I actually enjoy eating, between 380 and 480 cal's). Each week I try to buy two pre-made salads from the grocery store. They come complete with a fork even and they're all between 240 and 350 cal's, also they're delicious. Or I bring leftovers.

    We also get food brought in most Wednesdays and on the odd occasion I'll eat out or get Jimmy John's delivered to the office.
  • hlltwin
    hlltwin Posts: 55 Member
    edited August 2016
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    I have always brought lunch because it's more convenient. Presently, I've been bringing wraps (small fajita sized tortillas) with a salad (chicken, egg, tuna, ham) or lunch meat (chicken, turkey) or, when I'm in the mood for it, peanut butter along with some sort of trail mix. I rarely reheat meals because the microwave we have here is prickly. As Raptor2763 said - insulated lunch box and ice pack to keep everything chilled.

    I also pack a couple of light snacks to eat during the day when I need a pick me up. I only have a half hour for lunch and usually spend twenty minutes of it briskly walking on the Plaza. I also walk on my two fifteens.

    A lot of my co-workers bring lunch (usually frozen dinners that they heat and eat) because we have a large refrigerator in the office. As you have found, we don't have a lunch area. We have a central area where the refrigerator and coffee pot are beside a large table. We don't use the table except for office parties though.

    Most everyone eats at their desk. I don't because I'm the secretary and if I tried to eat at my desk, I'd never eat for the work I'm given. I have to leave for my breaks (I actually really think it's good for your mental health to differentiate work time and alone time, take a physical break away from your work sapce).
  • daniip_la
    daniip_la Posts: 678 Member
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    My lunches are either leftovers or tuna, usually. On the rare occasion that I don't have time to fix anything, I keep 230kcal tuna lunch kits at my desk so I can have lunch available.
  • tuckerrj
    tuckerrj Posts: 1,453 Member
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    I take yogurt, cottage cheese, fresh fruit & vegetables and a healthy sandwich along with a bottled green tea. With a slightly larger cooler/lunch bag, I can take 'cool packs' and don't even need to use the (nasty!) work refrigerator.
  • GYATagain
    GYATagain Posts: 141 Member
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    I spend a couple of hours on the weekend prepping for lunches and some dinners. I have FitPacks to pack in. And leak proof glass containers when I want to heat things up. Prep the chicken by cutting into strips and grilling or crockpotting & shredding. I cut up fixings for salads and put in mason jars (I don't like the already mixed mason jar salads - taste yucky to me). I can just throw salads together really quick each morning. Hard boil a dozen eggs to grab. Always have avocado, bananas, carrots/celery, containers of weighed peanut butter, mason jars of yogurt with fruit. Then I mix it up by using whatever leftovers from night before and put together at night. Baked chicken Fajitas (my fav), Spicy cabbage soup, Taco Soup, Roasted veggies. Since my husband and I don't do sandwiches, we have gotten creative in our foods. Prep 100 calorie bags of skinny pop, nut crackers, hummus..... okay I am going to quit, since it could go on and on and on. It seriously takes me maybe 3 minutes to grab and go and I am always in the office by 6:30 a.m. Took a few months to get comfortable with all of this - 3 years later, it is just Life.
  • k8mcminn
    k8mcminn Posts: 49 Member
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    I use these boxes
    https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Portables-Container-Configurable-Compartments/dp/B017AJS63G/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1472220868&sr=8-5&keywords=plastic+lunch+box
    to pack my lunch after dinner each night. I put salad in the big portion and the smaller portions hold 100 gms of chicken, cottage cheese etc and fruit.
    My husband and I also cook together and have some quick basic recipes that can be made in 30 minutes or less for the hectic nights. Tasty and delicious and keeps us from ordering out.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,910 Member
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    Dinner leftovers
    Sandwich
    Batch cook on weekends
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,910 Member
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    k8mcminn wrote: »
    I use these boxes
    https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Portables-Container-Configurable-Compartments/dp/B017AJS63G/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1472220868&sr=8-5&keywords=plastic+lunch+box
    to pack my lunch after dinner each night. I put salad in the big portion and the smaller portions hold 100 gms of chicken, cottage cheese etc and fruit.
    My husband and I also cook together and have some quick basic recipes that can be made in 30 minutes or less for the hectic nights. Tasty and delicious and keeps us from ordering out.

    Ya, I don't feel like putting much effort into cooking tonight and am going to have spaghetti with frozen meatballs with jarred sauce. Going back and forth between broccoli and swiss chard for the green.
  • VioletRojo
    VioletRojo Posts: 596 Member
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    My lunches are one of three things:

    1. left overs from last night's dinner
    2. salad with lots of veggies and 100-120 grams of meat or chicken
    3. I make a box sort of like Starbuck's Bistro boxes. They usually contain a sliced a sliced apple, almond butter, 100-120 grams of chicken/meat, maybe some cheese, maybe a muesli bread, maybe some carrots. You get the picture.
  • bshrom
    bshrom Posts: 71 Member
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    I cook maybe 2 times a week. I choose whatever few meals I am hungry for that week, and cook them in bulk. Then I measure and portion everything out into Tupperware containers. I love cooking this way, my meals are always ready to just grab and go. This prevents me from making poor food choices and keeps me on track all week, even at work and on the go.
  • jdhcm2006
    jdhcm2006 Posts: 2,254 Member
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    For lunch, I'll pack a protein bar and peanut butter and ritz crackers or those microwavable chef boyardee bowls and peanut butter and ritz crackers. That's what I'm doing now. It will change one day once I get sick of that.
  • enterdanger
    enterdanger Posts: 2,447 Member
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    I also take leftovers, but I tend to batch cook my proteins so that I have leftovers. Like, why make 1 NY strip on the grill when I can make 3 and eat strip all week. I just season with only salt and pepper so I can add seasonings right before I eat it to make it work. So far this week I've had steak on salad with arugula, blue cheese, and cucumbers, steak fajitas, steak sandwich, and steak and egg burrito. lol. Cooking chicken tonight cause I am now tired of steak.

    I don't like to pre cook whole meals and eat the same meal over and over since I get bored and end up going out for lunch, but I like to pre cook staples. So meats, eggs, grains....then I'll just keep using them in different preparations. I don't do like a huge batch of cooking on Sundays either. I just make a ton when cooking regularly. So, if we are having quinoa with dinner I'll make enough we can eat it for dinner and I can add it to at least 3 meals during the week.

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