Okay, so I’m trying to eat a better lunch, and my current staple is getting a bit boring… so I’m looking for suggestions.
Let’s see what kind of cool lunch ideas you guys have!! Please provide a simple recipe and rate it according to the following requirements. I’ll also take suggestions on better requirements.
Nutritional Requirements:
Helps with good A1C, stable glucose and cholesterol #s
Balanced, light, but “enough” calories / carb/fat/protiens, etc.
Fuel to make it to dinner, possibly with a light late-afternoon snack, including a 30min bicycle commute.
Convenience Requirements:
Tasty!
must fit in a classic paper lunch bag or equivalent volume
minimize or control messy juices/sauces/etc.
Should be non-refrigeratable for up to 1/2 day, and last a full day or 2 (36-48 hours) refrigerated
Ingredients easily found at major grocery chains (Kroger / Meijer / etc.)
Quickly preparable by a brain-dead non cook.
Minimal to no “take home and wash” dishes/utensils required. Finger foods GOOD.
Here’s my current default lunch:
oven roasted turkey sandwich, 1 Kraft single slice, some BBQ sauce on 100% whole wheat bread (regular slices)
PB&J on same 100% WW bread, using Jif creamy and Smucker’s low sugar grape jelly
Apple and/or banana
Ziplock snack baggie of carrots, Sun Chips, or Hoey Stix grahm cracker sticks (random)
Quaker chewy oatmeal bar (Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip)
I usually eat both sandwiches and the fruit for lunch, then nosh on the carrot bag and/or quaker bar for an afternoon snack.
Ok, I’ll just tweak what you have and others can go from there.
Make sure your WW bread is really that. Is High Fructose Corn Syrup one of the ingredients? If so ditch and find some real bread, it will taste better, be more filling and be better for you.
Ditch the Kraft single and get some cheese with a little nutritional value. Part-skim mozzarella or low-fat low-sodium swiss.
Check the BBQ sauce, is it really BBQ sauce? I bet High Fructose Corn Syrup is one of the first 3 ingredients. Sauces, dressings, marinades, etc., don’t buy the commercial stuff, check the ethnic or organic food aisle. It will have more flavor and not be full of sugar.
Maybe ditch the second sandwich, slice the apple and bring a small container with some natural peanut butter for dipping. Natural peanut butter, not what you have. Look for the kind with the oil on the top. Bring it home, stick a knife in it and get it to a good consistency, mix the oil on top with the real thick stuff on the bottom. Stick it in the refrigerator and only take it out to use it. If it stays in the fridge it won’t reseperate, if it does, restir and put it back.
In general, pretzels are better for you than any sort of chip. Lower calories, much less fat, more fiber.
Also, drop the granola bar for a Clif Bar maybe. Better for you to have some nergy for the ride home and better for you nutritionally. A few more calories, but you’ll cut some out dropping the chips and bread from the second sandwich.
If you stick with the second sandwich, get rid of the low-sugar jelly and get some all-natural fruit spread. Again, it will taste better (like real fruit) and be better for you.
I take a slightly different approach.
I guess I don’t really qualify as a non-cook … just as someone without a lot of time for elaborate cooking. I’m guessing that’s more than likely most tri geeks, though
I like to make LOTS of some kind of bean or lentil based dish on the weekend and then feeze it in those single serving Ziploc containers. Then, I toss one of those and a container of rice (make a bunch in the rice cooker every couple days, then make up a few containers in the fridge) along with some fruit and stuff into my bag for work each day. Much tastier than sandwiches and probably less work in the morning.
Those bags of pre-chopped veggies that they sell are great as are snow peas. Either is yummy with either some humous or sometimes a boiled egg for protein.
Yesterday at work, I had:
Morning snack: Raspberries
Lunch: Green bean and chick pea tagine with brown rice + peach
Afternoon snack: boiled egg + chopped veggies.
Before swim snack: 2 rice cakes + some goat milk yogurt
I’m assuming that you’re diabetic ( concern with HbA1C level ), if not Never mind
What meds are you on? Are you type one or two?
Do your meds cause any GI problems?
If type 2 are you on any active hypoglycemic agents ( Diamicron etc ).
Are you prone to late afternoon lows?
Type 2 here, ( used to be on many meds, none now ) I’m sure you know to choose foods with a low glycemic index, not sure how many other diabetics post here, but type 2 is very much a YMMV condition what works for one person may not work for someone else.
How in the heck are you able to train without hitting the wall? I see no salt and very little carbs in your diet. If this is the gist of your diet you have to be tapping into lean mass to burn. There’s no where near enough calories in your diet.
Fruit, rice, rice cakes, yogurt … all carbs.
I do also tend to eat breakfast (sometimes 2!) and dinner as well as what I have at work
And yesterday, I didn’t do a ton of training. Just an easy run and a swim. The 2nd afternoon snack will be quite a bit more today before I go ride.
I never worried too much about eating lots of salt except before races. Probably more of an issue in hotter places or for people who sweat more.
No, I’m not diabetic… just overweight and out of shape - FOR NOW. But my father is diabetic, and my #s are a little higher (both A1C and cholesterol) than I’d like given the family history. Hence the concern.
And I know lunch is one of my weak points. The given bag lunch is a vast improvement over the “Big & Tasty Meal” and “KFC Honey BBQ sandwich combo” it replaced a few months ago.
Like another poster said, check your ingredients. I’m a big fan of whole foods. The only ingredient in my peanut butter is peanuts. Compare that to JIFs ingredient list. Its a scary comparision. With JIF, you’re eating more chemical crap than actual peanut butter.
The same with the cheese. Singles are highly processed. The less processed the food, the better it is. Get some with the shortest ingredient list.
The only ingredients in my butter are cream and salt. I used to eat low fat ‘healthy’ butter that comes in one of those big tubs, but then looked at the ingredient list. Yikes.
If I were you, I’d nix the chips and pretzels. Too highly processed. Get some trail mix that is mainly nuts and raisins. More fat, more protein, and it will fill you up a lot more than highly processed empty calorie chips.
In my book, the simpler the food the better. I’ve heard the best way to grocery shop is to shop the perimeter of the store only. Never enter into the middle of the store. On the perimeter of the store is all the fruit, meat, eggs, yogurt – all the healthy food. As soon as you enter the aisles of the store, that’s where all the highly processed bad food is. (Granted, this shopping theory falls apart because usually donuts are on the perimeter of the store . . .)
**I’ll also take suggestions on better requirements. **
Your requirements are picky!
when you say “non refridgeratbale” - or whatever phrase you invented there - get an insulated lunchbox, then you can bring yogurt and other “refridgeraterable” items.
How about leftovers from dinner?
my lunch today… yogurt w/ blueberries and oatmeal. Handful of almonds. A couple cherry tomatoes, celery sticks with peanut butter, and a big spoonful of peanut butter right out of the jar I’m into randomness!
Well, it wouldn’t be much of a challenge if I didn’t make it picky…
Hmmm… Leftovers at dinner. But that’s when I like to cook the messy stuff that I don’t want to drip on my keyboard at work!
I bought some natural peanut butter this evening. The ingredient list was remarkably short - “Peanuts.” Now, I checked the JIF, and aside from the partially and fully hydrogenated soybean oil and a couple other items I can’t pronounce, it was surprisingly short. Much shorter - and more pronounceable - than the “Simply JIF” that’s supposed to be “better for you”. Kindof ironic, really.
The best part. When I opened the natural stuff and stirred up, it smelled - and tasted - just like my dad’s peanut butter fudge!! I’m looking forward to my PB&J tomorrow.
Here’s the original recipe. I usually make 2-3 times this quantity at once to freeze. I also use quite a bit more cinnamon and allspice than the recipe calls for.
Chickpea and green bean tagine
from Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson
1 1/2 cups dried fruit
1 tblsp olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon tumeric
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
8 ounces green beans trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 teaspoon brown sugar
salt and pepper
1 15 ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Place the dried fruit in a small bowl. Add boiling water to cover and soak for 20 minutes to soften. Drain, coarsely chop, and set aside.
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, cover, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
Stir in the garlic, cinnamon, tumeric and allspice and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the green beans, tomatoes and juice, stock, brown sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the green beans are tender, about 20 minutes.
Add the reserved fruit and the chickpeas and cook for 5 to 10 minutes to blend the flavours.
I’m into randomness!