Tips on packing lunch when you are just too busy!

Andi67
Andi67 Posts: 41 Member
edited October 5 in Food and Nutrition
Hi Everyone,

I need to get better about planning my meals away from home, like lunch and snacks for work. I get up every morning and make breakfast for the kids...do I eat...NO. I also make sure they have their lunches ready that they packed themselves the night before....but do I make something for myself...again NO. I always seem to be at a loss for time when it comes to myself, so I grab a protein bar and a piece of fruit...and its gets VERY boring. Any tips for me or ways that you have overcome this....

Replies

  • Can you eat the same thing you pack for them?
  • j_g4ever
    j_g4ever Posts: 1,925 Member
    I have heard several people say that they make all their meals the weekend before and that way all they have to do is grab a meal on their way out the door.
  • determined2lose89
    determined2lose89 Posts: 342 Member
    Make your lunch while they're making theirs or make extra for dinner and take a smaller portion for lunch. I know you're busy and have kids etc, but there's time in there somewhere. Make yourself a lunch after the kids go to bed. For the days where there is absolutely no time...keep a few healthy <300 calorie frozen dinners in the fridge and take one of those to work.

    Also, consider making large batches of soups, stews, chilis, etc in your large cooking pot or crockpot and freeze lunch size containers. You can just take them out of the freezer and let them dethaw overnight :)
  • I buy a bunch of stuff on the weekend that I can take to work on Monday and toss in the fridge, like salad fixings or soup-in-a-box; that way I've got a week of lunch "raw material" ready to go, and I don't have to think about it in the mornings.
  • CashierCantin
    CashierCantin Posts: 206 Member
    Why can't you make an extra sandwich and snack for you when you make your kids lunch?
    I make my lunch at night before I go to bed. I make a sandwich, bag up some baby carrots and put a soda near them on the shelf. Then the next morning I put them in my lunch tote with cold packs and I add a yogurt and a bag of baked chips or pretzels and a bottle of water and away I go.

    What do your kids eat? Can you eat what they do or vice versa? That way you just make an assembly line and do em all at the same time.
  • juliep1974
    juliep1974 Posts: 222 Member
    I usually cook extra at dinner time and when I'm cleaning up, portion out the extra for lunch. I also use my Sundays to cook something that I can eat for lunch all week (soup, chili, tuna salad, etc). I usually try to portion it out also so I just have to grab it in the morning when I pack my stuff for work.
  • Keep a variety of low calorie items on hand and let your kids pack your lunch when they fix theirs --- a surprise each day!!
  • mbakken90
    mbakken90 Posts: 202 Member
    I make my lunch the night before! You should try doing that :)
  • kristilovescake
    kristilovescake Posts: 669 Member
    I pre-pack as much as possible on the weekends. I chop up salads or batch cook pastas, etc. Usually I just make sure when I have leftovers, I put them in single-serving tupperware so it's grab and go in the morning.

    I also will make it the night before, even if I have to stay up late doing it, so it saves me stress in the morning.

    You gotta make it a priority and it will eventually become habit :)
  • 77tes
    77tes Posts: 8,571 Member
    Pack your lunch the night before and set it out with the kids. Eat breakfast when the kids do. Make sure you have healthy snacks for you like you shop for the other members of the family. This practice will take maybe 2-3 minutes, so you really do have time. Making it a habit is the key!
  • batgirlmama
    batgirlmama Posts: 99 Member
    I try to do a few things.
    1. make sure I have some leftovers from the night before. I go ahead and pack it up even before I serve dinner.
    2. have some type of frozen entree. - trader joes is freakin awesome about having good meals to go. I eat their burritos and its about 1.25 for one.
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    Every Sunday (now that it's getting colder) I made some big batch of soup or chili for my husband and I to have for lunches at work. I also prepackege individual servings of baby carrots to take with the soup and usually an apple or banana and a yogurt for a snack. For breakfast I just heat up an instant oatmeal (my new favorites are by Better Oats) and I mix in a tablespoon of peanut butter to add some good protein. As far as having the time in the morning, get the kids lunches ready the night before and yours as well if you have to make sandwiches or salads (just don't put the dressing on). Then you'd have time to eat in the morning. What are you making for your kids for breakfast that you don't have time to eat? Why can't you eat what you are making for them? Another yummy breakfast is to take one of those bagel thins, lightly toast it, put on one ounce of fat free cream cheese, raspberries, deli turkey and baby spinach. Those you can technically make the night before if you don't toast it. Good luck!
  • mbmorse1011
    mbmorse1011 Posts: 492 Member
    I make mine on the weekends too. Sunday night I wash my fruits and veggies, make my breakfasts (usually granola fruit and yogurt) and prep some salads for lunch.
  • surfrgrl1
    surfrgrl1 Posts: 1,464 Member
    If you have access to a fridg at work, you could take in some yogurt, fruit, etc. at the beginning of the week, so you know its there when you need it.
    Now, keeping the idiots at work away from your food may be a new challenge.

    Someone on MFP posted one time a story that went a little like this: She would take fresh fruit and put it in a bowl in her drawer at work, but people would come eat it. She decided one day to put a plastic apple in the bowl. The next day, the plastic apple was still there, but it had teeth marks in it. Guess she got her message across!
  • Great ideas!
  • MercenaryNoetic26
    MercenaryNoetic26 Posts: 2,747 Member
    I buy bags and containers of nuts. I find the serving sizes specific to my needs/goals and I measure and put them in baggies. I also love BLENDER bottles. I put my protein scoops in baggies (which is funny because it looks like DOPE) and then I take them with so I can blend my shakes anywhere. If I'm too busy to sit and eat breakfast, I prepare it and pack it up and take it to work to eat it there.

    This link has many recipes. The ones that make lunches "convenient" are the protein bars, TKY meatloaf and TKY muffins (and you can alternate with ground beef or chicken):

    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jamie-eason-livefit-recipes-main-page.html

    You bake the bars and meatloaves on a 9 X 12 (pyrex) pan and cut it up into 24 bars. Servings can be as many as 1-4 squares depending on what your goals are for that day... So you bag em up and in the mornings throw them in your lunch bag! This makes life easier. Cook/bake on weekends and you got lunches throughout the week. Bon Apetit'
  • Andi67
    Andi67 Posts: 41 Member
    Can you eat the same thing you pack for them?

    They pack their own lunchs before I get home from work...if they packed it for me it would be PB&J everyday....but once in awhile they do make me one. :)
  • marasw
    marasw Posts: 75 Member
    I used to try to make my lunches ahead of time and take them to work but that wasn't working for me. I just kept getting lazy and not doing it, and then picking up fast food. Finally I caved and bought the overpriced packaged salads from the deli, some overpriced prepackaged presliced fruit, and some yogurt, and those are my lunches. I know I am wasting money and that it wouldn't take long to put that stuff together myself, but it's working! The extra expense is worth it for me. The way I see it, it's still cheaper than the fast food I would have got when I inevitably got lazy and didn't pack a lunch otherwise.
  • november03
    november03 Posts: 205 Member
    It took me some time to finally get in the habit of doing it the night before, but it is so worth it!!!! It only takes and extra couple min on top of the kids lunches. Good luck!!
  • piebird79
    piebird79 Posts: 201 Member
    About once a month on the weekends I make a bunch of wraps and freeze them. I use whole wheat tortillas (about 10" diameter) and cook a couple of dry cups of brown rice or quinoa. At the end of the rice cooking, I add a packet of hot taco seasoning and a bunch of cayenne pepper.. Then I add 4 cans of drained black beans, 2 cans of drained pinto beans, 1 can of drained corn, 1 can of drained diced tomatoes with chilis and 1 can drained chopped jalapenos to the cooked rice and mix it well with the rice. I put about 1/2 cup of the rice/bean/veggie mixture into each tortilla, roll them and then wrap them in aluminum foil. All of them go in the freezer. All I have to do in the morning is grab a frozen wrap to reheat in the microwave at lunch, a greek yogurt and some veggies or fruit. It takes me about 1 1/2 hours total to cook, mix and roll the wraps.
  • shauna121211
    shauna121211 Posts: 575 Member
    Your kids pack their lunches themselves, so why can't you pack your lunch while they are packing theirs? There are a lot of busy people out there, and you simply just need to make time for yourself. I don't understand how you can make breakfast for your kids and can't just make an extra serving for yourself... You need to keep yourself healthy for yourself and for your kids and that means making time to make yourself breakfast and lunch.

    As for snacks, try different trail mixes. Buy a big bag and measure out servings in plastic bags or Tupperware on the weekend for the week ahead. Stews, soups and chili are all really good things to make and freeze... you can just grab one on your way out the door and there you go, lunch! I'm not sure what you do for work, but if there is a fridge there, buy some wraps and stuff to go inside them and leave them in the fridge! Easy to assemble, healthy and delicious!
  • nygiantschick
    nygiantschick Posts: 289 Member
    I don't know if you have access to a frigde at work, but sometimes I just pack soup, salad fixins,, etc and just take them to work on Monday and then that way I know that I have food in thefridge for the week at work.r just pack the same thing for yourself that you are already packing for the kids.
  • Andi67
    Andi67 Posts: 41 Member
    You all are AWESOME!!! Keep the suggestions coming....I am taking notes. I know that I truly have time, I just don;t use it on myself, so the suggestions really help. I love the idea about having the kids make my lunch for me, provided I give them the options for the items I would like to have. They may even like this....However, they will complain to all their friends that I make them make their own lunches and now I am making them make mine too!!! HA
  • Pick a day that you have a few hours, to cook for the week. Like Sunday I take a couple hours and cook and pack my lunches for the week, as much as it stinks its so easy for the week. One less thing I have to worry about :).
  • Im new to mfp and I guess I shouldve read the quotes before I wrote :/ Sorry for a repeat! :)
  • geekymom57
    geekymom57 Posts: 176 Member
    The only thing that has worked for me is to eat pretty much the same basic things every day at work and to prepare/pack it the night before. Even though I no longer have kids at home, if I wait until the morning I procrastinate, or my husband's doing the dishes, or I don't feel like it, etc. I make it brainless and quick, so it works. For a while, I made all my salads on Sunday and put them in the spare fridge but that ended up being over-kill once I had established my routine. So here's my current routine:

    Every Sunday I go to Costco and get the large mixed fruit bowl, a large container of mixed salad greens, English cucumbers, and bell peppers. Every month or so I buy a fridge pack (24) of 6 oz Light and Fit yogurt and a large tub of cottage cheese. I also keep on hand Kashi Go Lean Crunch (good protein and very filling) or another filling, nutrition-rich cereal..

    Every night, Sunday through Thursday, I measure out 1/2 serving of Kashi and put it in a snack size bag or a small Tupperware containers. I prepare a large fresh salad in a round Gladware container, using salad greens, a cucumber, a bell pepper, and some sort of protein--cottage cheese, left-over grilled chicken, hardcooked egg, etc. That's where the "variety" comes in. I keep on hand a good variety of low-fat, low-calorie salad dressings, as well as alternatives, such as salsa, muffalatta, etc. This keeps it from getting boring. I put 1 to 1-1/2 cups of fresh fruit in another container and often take a piece of fresh fruit as well.

    I eat breakfast at work, since I take a medication in the morning and need to wait at least an hour before eating. I have the yogurt, the Kashi (or other cerael), and sometimes the fruit. If I don't have all three, I save one for a mid-morning snack. Sometimes I get crazy and mix it all together. :0)

    For lunch, I have the salad, which is huge and takes a long time to eat. The fresh fruit I keep until the afternoon.

    This works for me because I hate sandwiches, it's very filling, and find that the combination of salad + protein allows for enough variety that I don't get completely bored. .
  • me and my fiance' are bag lunch makin FOOLS! (well, i am anyway, he just eats them :P) after we eat dinner, when i'm putting away the dishes, whatever is leftover i pack in a container for him. whatever needs to be cold goes in the fridge, and anything that stays out (like gummi snacks or peanut butter), goes right into his duffel bag, so he doesnt forget it.

    also, why not employ one of your children to make you your lunch, while they make theirs? if they can make their own sandwich, they can certianly make you one too.

    and i strongly suggest what others are saying about taking some time during the weekend, or week, and makeing your own portion bags of fruit, nuts, veggie chips, etc. so that theyre easy grab and go when you dont have the time during your work week.

    and my best tip? buy some of those cheap waterbottles in 12, or 24 packs and keep them in the trunk of your car. if you forget your drink at home, you've always got a bottle of water to grab before you go into work.(not to mention WAY cheaper than buying it for a 1.50 from the soda machine everyday)
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