Bored with my lunches..... ideas?

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MoooveOverFluffy
MoooveOverFluffy Posts: 398 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Since i'm a busy working mother of 4, i really like the notion of cooking in bulk on sunday so i have ready-to-pack foods for the majority of the week. I work in an area with TONS AND TONS of fabulous restaurants, so packing lunch is a MUST for me to stay on track!!

Lateley i've been grilling loads of chicken and eating it different ways all week. Last weekend i made a Spicy 5 Bean Chili (i loaded the recipe if interested!) and ate that for several days....... but i'm getting bored! PLEASE POST YOUR IDEAS!!

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  • JesaGrace
    JesaGrace Posts: 799 Member
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    I'm always needing more ideas for lunch....
  • adrianelea
    adrianelea Posts: 5
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    My biggest weakness is eating out for lunch at work as well, and I have to be prepared. I like your idea of cooking in bulk on Sunday's, I do that for our dinner's just to avoid eating out or snacking when we all get home. I'd love to say I had some ideas, but I feel so uncreative when it comes to lunches and I usually tend to get burnt out really quick. My food tends to be "snacky" type things, raw veggies, yogurts, etc all day long. I'll have a salad here and there but those get old really quick too.

    You could try some veggies wraps...lots of veggies with some seasoning and a little oil & vinegar wrapped in a WW tortilla or Pita bread.

    Hopefully others will post some good ideas!
  • GinNouveau
    GinNouveau Posts: 143 Member
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    Most of the time I end up bringing leftovers from dinner the night before. Portioned out into "lunch-friendly/lower-cal" sizes. If your office has a freezer, you can always keep a big bag of mixed veggies and a couple cans of soup for sides if the meal is too high cal for lunch and you just want to bring a small helping of the main course. Salad mixes or potatos are good bases to keep on hand and you can add pretty much whatever you want to them to keep them in your calorie range for lunch. Hope this helps!
  • mjshmily
    mjshmily Posts: 137 Member
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    I tend to munch through the day at work so I have gotten into "some assembly required" lunches. I pack some different sliced veggies, some kind of low fat dip, melba toast, lean pieces of meat, pickle spears, and anything else that I can build into a melba toast sandwich. It slows me down so I don't eat everything so fast otherwise I am starved and feel like I could eat my keyboard :-(

    so yeah-more lunch ideas needed here too
  • PlanetVelma
    PlanetVelma Posts: 1,231 Member
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    I also do a lot of bulk cooking on the weekends (makes life so much easier during the week).

    I made the baked potato soup (skinnytaste.com) and it was really yummy. I also made chili this weekend! Sometimes I'll make a couple of extra baked potatoes and put about a cup of my homemade chili on each potato - that's lunches for 2 days! It's super easy and very filling!

    Tomorrow I'm going to have the baked potato soup and a half sandwich, apple and maybe some edamame.

    Clarified my 2nd paragraph - it read weird!
  • hbkanumalla
    hbkanumalla Posts: 61 Member
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    grilled chicken is so delicious! Here are some ideas for you:
    - make chicken salad (there are SO many varieties) and have as a small sandwich or with a salad
    - chicken soups or stew
    - make a little brown rice and reheat chicken with some salsa
    - Put it on top of english muffin or flatbread for a mini pizza
    - Season some of the chicken before you cook it and use it for a wrap

    ...the list can go on and on...but I hope here's a start for you! :)

    Also, here's a website with some ideas. http://www.finecooking.com/Recipes/Chicken/Lunch/50242-50038.aspx
  • H_Factor
    H_Factor Posts: 1,722 Member
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    I wouldn't keep any of this for more than a few days, but here goes:

    1. chicken stir fry. throw your favorite veggies into a stir fry pan with EVOO. my faves are chopped onions, bean sprouts, mushrooms, fresh spinach, broccoli. add in some reduced sodium soy sauce and kikkoman's reduced sodium stir fry sauce (or other flavor you like). cook chicken, chop, and add to stir fry.

    2. my reduced calorie version of taco salad...cook ground chicken or ground turkey in a pan. cut up lettuce and tomatoes. keep each item in a separate container and/or bag until you put the "salad" together. add 2% shredded cheese. add reduced calorie catalina dressing.

    3. chicken or fish and asparagus. I usually cook extra on sunday to have some to take with me for a couple of days. how I season the fish: lemon garlic powder, mrs. dash's original recipe, dill, and at times minced garlic. how I season the asparagus: mrs. dash's original recipe, dill and usually minced garlic. put EVOO on bottom of foil, wrap in tin foil completely, don't punch holes, and put on grill. sometimes I add mushrooms or bean sprouts with the asparagus and put all of it on the grill. how I season the chicken: light salt, some pepper, some garlic. YUM!

    4. cut up thin chicken breasts, cook on grill or on the stove. add reduced calorie tomato sauce, cut up zucchini, cut up yellow squash and mushrooms. tastes great as is or you can add in some cooked whole grain pasta.

    5. chicken provolone....cook thin chicken breasts on grill or stove. saute green peppers, onions and mushrooms. when both are done, put in skillet with reduced calorie tomato paste and add provolone cheese (or cheese of your choosing) to chicken. cover and cook for 5 minutes. serve with or without whole grain pasta.

    enjoy.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    If you have a family, is it safe to assume that you have a healthy dinner each night? Just make a little extra and bring leftovers. I have a few standards I bring when I have no leftovers, but leftovers are the best way for me to get a healthy variety with no extra work.
  • MoooveOverFluffy
    MoooveOverFluffy Posts: 398 Member
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    Knew i'd get lots of great ideas! It's funny, i go through these phases but then i get bored, and FORGET how good they were. Like the veggie pitas mentioned above...used to do that ALL the time with some tuna. Thanks for jogging the memory!

    The mini pizza's on english muffins are a great idea...think i will will try to make a "pizza burger" with an english muffin, turkey pepperoni, little sauce, parmesan and a big fat portobello mushroom cap.

    YES! keep the ideas coming!!
  • kindyteacher
    kindyteacher Posts: 11 Member
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    I was looking for more ideas too because I bring my lunch and get tired of things easily. I have brought
    Weight Watcher Frozen Meals
    Healthy Choice Frozen Meals These both are bood but high in sodium
    Soups with low fat crackers
    Tuna/ Chicken Salad
    leftovers
    Big Salad with low fat dressing
    lunch meat
  • sarah_ep
    sarah_ep Posts: 580 Member
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    I make about two batches of the following and use it in wraps:

    2 15 1/2-ounce cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
    2 plum tomatoes, chopped
    1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
    1/3 cup mayonnaise
    1/4 cup chopped red onion
    2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
    1 tablespoon minced canned chipotle chilies *
    1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

    Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Garbanzo-Bean-Salad-with-Tomatoes-and-Chipotle-Chilies-106106#ixzz1Zknmn6Lh
  • MoooveOverFluffy
    MoooveOverFluffy Posts: 398 Member
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    yum... chicken w/tomato sauce and zucchini over whole wheat pasta.
  • MoooveOverFluffy
    MoooveOverFluffy Posts: 398 Member
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    yes, i have a family who eats healthy meals...but they are TIRED OF CHICKEN lol...and they won't eat fish =-(
    Getting home around 6:30pm and having homework and other things to keep me busy, there is no way to cook a meal every single night....

    These "some assembly required" meals listed are great ideas! I could just form an "assembly line" and hand each kid a plate and they can serve themselves. Then pack my lunch with the leftovers. Great alternative to a 3 course dinner which just takes too much time to do 5 days a week.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    Try some vegetarian meals a couple of times a week. It's so quick and easy to fix a pot of beans and brown rice, or bean burritos. You might also try fish tacos to get your kids to eat fish. Or a quick veggie stir fry. Make some ground turkey or lean ground beef and oats meatballs and do double duty with them - meatball sandwiches one day, and spaghetti with meatballs the next (using store bought low sodium sauce and how grain pasta).
  • PoppyinBoulder
    PoppyinBoulder Posts: 103
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    I'm in the same situation as you - work on the Pearl Street mall - too many places to eat (fab restaurants), drink (Starbucks), and snack (candy, Cheesecake factory, Rocky Mountain Chocolates) all within walking distance.

    I'm going to try that low-cal taco salad - yum!

    I got into making pasta salad on Sundays for work lunches. It can be fairly high calorie but I watch the portions/calories when cooking and as soon as it's all mixed up I put it right into individual containers. Without meat/tuna it's about 300 calories, 400 or so with meat, so it's a little high in calories but it sticks with me all afternoon and it tastes so fresh. Or at least it did while all the veggies were so good. I could easilty eat all 4 servings at one sitting, but I'm trying to learn "portion control" and the individual containers/servings really helps.

    I never take more than one serving to work at a time - trying to teach an old dog (me) new tricks.
  • MoooveOverFluffy
    MoooveOverFluffy Posts: 398 Member
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    DOUBLE DUTY MEATBALLS.... awesome idea!!

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