Cheap, healthy lunch ideas for office?

[Ali from The Office Diet]

Hey all,

What are your favourite healthy and reasonably cheap ideas for packed lunches? Do you tend to stick with sandwiches? I had fun devising a fortnightly shopping list/plan for weekday lunches (posted it at The Office Diet » 17 ingredients, 6 sandwiches, 10 days of fantastic, healthy, lunches if anyone's interested) but that was deliberately basic without too many options!

I'm looking for ideas to take to work which:
- Don't require heating
- Only need minimal (if any) preparation at lunchtime
- Don't cost too much
- Can be thrown together in 5-10 minutes in the morning.

I'm pretty good on basics (ham sandwiches, roasted veg in pitta breads, green salad) but looking for some slightly different options... my standby of "pitta bread with cream cheese, ham, lettuce and pickle" is starting to get a bit monotonous!

Cheers,

Ali

[robc]

1 protein shake (500ml), 1 litre of water, 2 apples, 1 or 2 small yogurts, tossed salad with tuna (1 whole can) or 6 boiled eggs (to be de-shelled at work). Throw in a multivitamin and you're set until supper time.

Works for me, tons of energy, very clean eating, carbs are kept relatively low, muscles & brain are fed decent amount of protein.

You can substitute the tossed salad with tuna for a tossed saled with chicken breast or turkey breast or ham (if you can't cook it the previous night, you can buy these items canned)

[AttractIt]

I use a lot Sunrider products, they have great shakes
for the morning,
I use to run a lot, and it's pretty amazing how I get my body "back"
after running for 1-2 hours.

If you would like I can give you link directly to the company and
see the products.

Take Care.

[jenniferwilliam]

Healthy Lunch Idea :
1.Main Food
2.Water
3.More Fruits
4.Some Juices

[Keith]

Quick Bean salad: A tin of drained and rinsed Beans (I like Canellini), lemon juice, diced red onion + other ingredients as desired (tomato, pine nuts, whatever).

[spacekadet]

Here are a few of my recent packed lunches.

• Bean salads are great... here's one: chickpea, tahini, lemon juice, tomato, cucumber, parsley, salt and pepper.
  
• In general, beans are pretty good cold, and some you can even eat like finger food (chickpeas and butter beans come to mind). Some grains do well cold, too, like quinoa and bulgar wheat.
  
• There's the ol' veggies and hummus option. Or mix it up with refriend beans instead of hummus. I used to make a sandwich of refried beans, avocado, tomato and lettuce. SO good.
  
• I often make a meal of salad by just adding big ol' butter beans to the usual salad mix.
  
• If I need a snack, my favorite is an apple or banana with a few raw nuts.
  
• When I bring breakfast, I do bircher style muesli.
  
• Never did this but always wish I had brought a thermos to for hot soup.

Do you have a fridge? There's always yogurt and cottage cheese.

Monica
SmarterFitter Blog

[Ali from The Office Diet]

I like the idea of bean salad, never occured to me to make one for lunch but I enjoy it at buffets etc.

Robc - I don't go for high-protein myself, I favour a focus on wholegrain carbs, a bit of lean protein and plenty of fruit & veggies. Works well for me!

Ali

[jenniferwilliam]

Ingredients:

* 1 can water-packed tuna, drained
* ¼ cup chopped dried walnuts
* 1 medium green onion
* 1 ½ ounce box seedless raisins
* 1 tbsp. mayonnaise
* 1 tsp. mustard
* ½ cup grated carrots
* 4 slices 100 percent whole wheat bread

Directions: Mix together first seven ingredients. Serve on wheat bread. Makes two servings.
Click here to find out more!

Nutritional Information:

Calories 407
Calories from fat: 162
Total fat: 18g
Total carbohydrate: 35g
Dietary fiber: 6g
Sugars: 6g
Protein: 29g
Vitamin A: 80 percent
Vitamin C: 6 percent
Calcium: 10 percent
Iron: 20 percent

[Amandaaa]

I'm looking for ideas to take to work which:
- Don't require heating
- Only need minimal (if any) preparation at lunchtime
- Don't cost too much
- Can be thrown together in 5-10 minutes in the morning.

...I don't usually like eating lunch while I'm gone, but when I do take something, I try to keep it simple.

Maybe you could try taking...

*a light 6-oz. yogurt
*a banana
*a red delicious apple
*a fruit smoothie (either made in the morning, or purchased from a smoothie place) (with protein blended in, if you like that stuff)
*a small package of sunflower seeds
*a few slices of LightLife Smart Deli turkey. (There are 80 calories in 4 slices.)
*string cheese
*a little box of raisins
*a handful of dates
*a clementine

or, if you want to get a little messy...
*a small container of pre-made salad, with avocado, cucumber, broccoli, & kidney beans. (That would definitely fill you up, and would only take about 10 minutes to make, but it's probably not the best "office lunch." )

[Lauxa]

Sometimes I will pre-make a large salad with some of the following: lettuce, cucumber, cherry tomatoes (I don't like to pre-cut tomatoes), cauliflower, broccoli, jicama, red bell pepper, onions, beans or peas, deli meat, eggs, and cheese. How long it takes to prepare depends on how many ingredients you use, but it will keep for a week refrigerated and makes a pretty good lunch. Or you could try another kind of salad -- cole slaw, broccoli slaw, carrot salad, potato salad, pasta salad -- maybe with a hard-boiled egg or handful of nuts for protein.

[Barcs]

Usually I have a fruit breakfast (cantelope & berries), then mid morning I'll have a probiotic fat free yogurt. Lunch is usually a salad with nuts, and I'll sometimes have some leftover fish or cooked veggies from the previous night's dinner, then midday I have a fruit (apple, banana, or orange). It delays me an extra 10 minutes in the morning to put it all together and then there's more cleaning later on, but I think it's worth it.

[DayInTheLife]

Today I had an easy tuna salad:

Baby spinach leaves
1 can tuna
Italian dressing

That's it but you can add whatever you like. I added cilantro and chopped ginger and almonds.

Fruit like bananas and apples are convenient and healthy. Add one or two to your lunch.

[robc]

Originally Posted by Ali from The Office Diet

I like the idea of bean salad, never occured to me to make one for lunch but I enjoy it at buffets etc.

Robc - I don't go for high-protein myself, I favour a focus on wholegrain carbs, a bit of lean protein and plenty of fruit & veggies. Works well for me!

Ali

To each his own, it works for me though, so I thought I would put it out there. Salads are very easy and quick to put together, change it up by changing one of the ingredients each day. Raw vegetables & fruits are ideally the way to go, as mother nature intended them to be. Throw in some chicken breast, lean beef or eggs or beans into the salad for some protein and your main lunch component is taken care of.

Stopped doing the sandwich thing myself years ago and I'm better for it.
No more white bread for me.