Easy Lunch Ideas

i have my staples that i have to have for my meals during the week.. what i started doing was cooking boneless skinless chicken --usually on a sunday.. i cook it in a pot with a tad of water in it and cover to steam cook it. i add italian seasoning, freeze dried onion and pepper to it before i start cooking it to add flavor. then when its done i let it cool down a bit before i slice and or dice it up to put in a tupperware container.. then i cook about four servings of brown rice and sometimes a high protein pasta.. during the week when i have to make a lunch to go i can grab a hand full of chicken and put it with the rice or pasta or make a sandwich with it you will also have the chicken all cubed up and ready for a salad too if you want one. sometimes ill cook up sweet potatos or acorn squash ahead of time too and dice it up.. all depends what your plan to eat for the week is. i do not eat lunch meat because it is sooo bad for you so cooking ahead of time to save time during the week has been exxtremely successful for me

I was just talking about this with some friends. Here were the ideas that we all came up with...
*Try a Mission Low Carb tortilla wrapped with deli meat, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, light mayo, whatever you want! Or make a big batch of chicken salad for the week and put it over mixed greens w/ some fresh veggies and light ranch.
*I bring smart ones or lean cuisines a lot then like for a side grapes, apples, string cheese or a veggie like this week i'll be bringing turnip a few times. Also sometimes i make the boca veggie burgers on a ww english muffin. Or a smaller portion of leftovers from the night before.
*I would bring the can of soup too. Especially in the winter. I love the Campbell's Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. Really Good!
*today I'm having wegmans minestrone soup for lunch with cottage cheese and pineapple.... I may add a small grilled cheese sandwich
*, I like to bring steel cut oats for breakfast with coffee and Creamer (work coffee) and maybe a clementine or banana with it. I used to do cereal with a banana for lunch and then plenty of healthy snacks (baby carrots, pop chips if I'm craving chips, grapes, laughing cow cheese with crackers, etc)

Lean Cuisine has many low cal, low carb, low sodium meals. Read the lables. I always add some frozen no salt veggies to mine to make them more filling without adding sodium and a lot of extra calories.

For nutritional reasons I can't eat most prepackaged foods and most fast foods (even healthy ones) are out for me.
I cook ahead and slice and package servings. I buy whole wheat tortillas (6-8 inch). I have cut up veggies prepped ahead of time; sometimes a veggie cassorole or homemade soup that I can heat up. I do use some Greek yogurts so I have some of those on hand. Occasionally I have a small apple. I have enough in the fridge for variety all week - I seldom have the same lunch twice.

Every Monday, I take a lunchbox with a package of Foldit's, turkey or ham, cheese, and sliced tomato + onion + lettuce leaves. I have a small container of reduced fat mayo, bottle of mustard and hot peppers. I leave the whole thing in the fridge at work all week, and make myself a nice lovely sandwich every day for about 250kc.

I bring snacks on a daily basis - yogurt, berries, etc.

Note: The Foldit's are whole grain, the turkey and cheese are organic. No nitrites or preservatives.

I eat a Healthy Choice Steamer and a side salad every day. The meals are 330 calories or less, have lots of fiber and protein, and are 600 or less in sodium.

I like to make a big batch of soup on the weekends and put into individual take along bowls. Grab and go!

I also make my own stock to cut down on sodium.

Hi everyone, I'm brand new here and am poking around in all the posts to get some good ideas, and I love this thread! I almost always make my lunch at work and have a couple easy staples. I shop on the weekend and bring in the ingredients for the week to keep in my mini fridge.

The first is a Greek salad from the South Beach Diet. I use a romaine lettuce heart, fat free feta cheese, tomato, cucumber (I prefer the seedless kind), and some bell pepper. The original recipe calls for red onion, but I leave that out. For the dressing it's 1 tsp. dried oregano, 1/2 tsp. salt, 2 Tbsp. lemon juice and 2 Tbsp. olive oil. I make enough containers of dressing to get me through the week and have them ready when I need them.

The second is a chicken salad wrap, and I can't remember where the recipe is from. It's 1 whole wheat wrap, 3 oz. chopped chicken breast, 1 chopped celery stalk, 1/2 cup chopped apple, 2 tsp. olive oil, 1 tsp. Dijon mustard, 3/4 cup baby spinach leaves and 2 slices of tomato.

Check out cookinglight.com this month:
22 healthy lunch ideas:
http://www.cookinglight.com/eating-smart/smart-choices/healthy-lunch-ideas-00412000067923/

I just made a big batch of butter beans with 2 pieces of crispy bacon in the pot. Lunch all week

Cilantro is a leafy herb that is popular in Mexican and Thai cooking. If you've had guacamole or pad thai, you've probably tried cilantro. It looks like parsley, but has a stronger, more distinct flavor. In my community, Cilantro is very easy to find, and always located with the fresh lettuces at the store. Depening on where you live, you may have to go to a specialty market to get it.

I almost always have leftovers for lunch, rather than something new. If there are no good leftovers, quinoa and frozen vegetables, maybe with some chili sauce and tofu.

Pam

I sometimes bring in leftovers or will fix a batch of soup and portion it out, then just grab a container every morning.

Most of the time though, every Monday I bring in a package of wraps/low-cal grain bread/low-carb tortillas, a container of turkey breast, a container of spinach leaves, a bottle of mustard, and a bunch of Greek yogurts. I leave this in the fridge all week at work and just assemble my lunch every day.

I do this too. Once I have made a couple of soups and frozen individual portions, I just grab whatever kind I feel like that day, and microwave it at lunch time. Chicken and vegetable soup with orzo, mexican black bean soup. Thai sweet potato soup, butternut squash soup, etc. lots of different options out there. It is so worth making your own stock, but if you can't then buy the reduced or sodium free broths at the grocery store.

Be careful with canned or prepackaged soups. They usually have a ton of sodium, even the low fat varieties. You are much better off making your own soup, and it will taste way better made from scratch.

I like to make a big batch of soup on the weekends and put into individual take along bowls. Grab and go!

I also make my own stock to cut down on sodium.

bump ;)_