I need healthy lunch ideas for an active, healthy lifestyle. What do you pack everyday. And no I don’t want to get a 6" Subway everyday…too expensive.
my lunchbox consists of roughly the same boring sandwich daily. I tend to load on the meat- bread varies day to day, week to week- depends what i pick up- but basically just a cold cut sandwich- 4 slices of chicken or turkey, a couple slices of ham and salami to change it up, and whatever dressing/mayo i feel like.
as far as the rest of my munching at work- usually 3-4 pieces of fruit daily, i pack a 32oz yogurt at the begining of the week and eat a little every day, i have a quart of homeade trail mix i munch on… and pack of Wasa crackers- i usually make a PB sandwich on that with the jar of PB i keep in my desk drawer… im eating something every hour or so. I used to bring a carrot every day, but running after work, i often tasted the carrot trying to come back up, so i cut it out
thats all
Mines exciting, typically 4 pieces of Whole Grain with peanutbutter + bag of sun chips. Rarely spagetti with chicken or raviolis with chicken.
Pretty similar every day for me…
coffee thermos for 7-10am
banana, yogurt cup, or nutri-grain bar @ around 10-10:30
baby spinach w/ light italian dressing and leftover (chick breast or turkey burger usually) on 100% WW bread if a meat, or spaghetti occaisionally @ 12:30-1PM
Trail mix or carrots/celery w/ hummus at 3ish
Water bottle always at my side…gives me an excuse to leave the desk relatively often as well since fridge is a decent distance (for an office)
Veggie tacos and cliff bars. I use the soft corn tortillas, sautee some veggies, stuff the tortillas and pan “grill” till they are firm… add cheese if you like.
Some times I bring in mixed nuts and eat so much of that that by lunch time i’m no longer hungry 
My GF says I pack a grade school lunch.
PBJ sandwich, 2 bananas, bag of chips.
Some days it’s Jimmy Jon’s
jaretj
On boring days - Big romaine salad, add/delete your favorite veggies. Avocado FTW. Not sure where you live but Trader Joes has some great no fat salad dressings if you are worried about it. Trail mix, fruit, chicken breast + brown rice with some interesting seasoning.
To avoid lunch burnout, make a huge dinner that you love on Sunday night and pack the leftovers up for the week. There is a chicken thigh/garbonzo bean/middle eastern meal that I really like and whenever we have that on Sunday, I double the recipe and have it at least twice during the week. Same deal with about 10 meals we make at home on the weekends, just double up the quantity and you’re good. I like cold leftover grilled salmon, you can throw that on a salad the next day. Curry and stir fry are good the next day too. Invest in food storage containers and lose the curse of the turkey sammich.
Think outside of the box and you’ll soon find that most stuff you can go out for that costs less than 10 dollars really sucks as far as taste and nutrition. For 10 bucks a day you can get massive volume/nutrition out of your own food.
Lately, I’ve been on this kick:
raw baby carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower dipped in Just 2 Good ranch/French dressings (I keep a head of cauliflower, bag of carrots, and broccoli crowns in the fridge at work.
Piece of String cheese
Jello sugar free mocha/chocolate pudding cup
Some days I add a can of low cal soup or some pretzals to the mix.
Same as a lot of others it seems - Turkey or chicken sandwich w/ yellow mustard on wheat & a bag of baked Doritos or Cheetos (I can’t make myself give up chips but at ~90 cals I don’t feel too guilty). I also keep a supply of Myoplex Lite bars / shakes & almonds for morning and afternoon snacks.
Today at the office I nuked some egg beaters and mixed with cut up sweet potato, avocado and topped with salsa. It’s got everything you need- carbs, fat and protein. Also during the day will have some veggies and hummus, a couple apples and some yogurt/fruit/Kashi 7-grain cereal.
I take a large burrito-sized flour tortilla and throw it in a skillet and fill it with avo, cucumber, carrot, turkey, swiss, sprouts, mustard, lettuce, and put a lid over the skillet for about a minute, and voila, a grilled turkey/veggie burrito. Of course I chase it down with a can of Pepsi and some chips, so that offsets the healthiness of it;)
I try to bring lunch as much as possible - usually either PB&J on whole wheat or leftovers from dinner the night before (had pasta today). I’ll graze during the day on fresh fruit such as bananas, apples, oranges and grapes, plus I’ll bring a mix of nuts (either almonds or walnuts) and dried cranberries. I’ll also throw in an individual Silk chocolate soy milk which I usually have with the banana as a lte morning snack if I’m going to be working out during lunch.
If I buy lunch, it’s usually from the place across the street from my building. They have a great grilled chicken kabob plate with salad and rice pilaf.
My lunch today consisted of Boar’s Head roast beef with swiss cheese(2%) sandwich. Whole wheat bread with honey mustard. Also some raw carrots and a apple for dessert.
I usually change my lunchmeat each week. Most times it’s Boar’s Head low-sodium turkey. I buy a half pound at a time and this makes 3 sandwiches for me. I’m working part time doing maintenance on a paddle boat and like to brown bag my lunch. Got to love those post-retirement fun jobs. The real fun comes in 4 weeks when we put the boat in the water. I’m a crew member thru the summer/fall.
I hate preparing lunch, so I bring what I can get to fast in the morning. A lot of the time I like Lean Pockets. They have a ton of different “flavors” to mix it up daily. Easy to grab in the morning, quick to make and eat at your desk (which I do since I hardly take a lunch hour). I’ll also take one banana, yogurt, bag of baby carrots. I keep a box of Kashi soft baked cereral bars, a mixed can of cashews/peanuts/almonds and a bag of beef jerky at my desk. I do occasionally do the left-over thing, but I’m not a fan of left-overs at home, so something about carrying them with me in a lunch box makes it a little less enticing somehow.
And I always have a bottle of water with me, soda is saved for when there’s vodka mixed in with it and that’s not usually at work.
Today i had a burger and fries from Five Guys and wow was it good. Normally, I just bring whatever was left over from the previous night along with some trail mix (handmade) and couple pieces of fruit.
Today I had a cup and a half of string beans with butter; a piece of cornbread; an apple; and 2 string cheese sticks.
I bring lunch to work every day, even when I’m working on site or outdoors, I’ve always got my tupperware. I pack it packed bento style with small portions of rice, chicken, potatoes, and bread/biscuit (leftovers from dinner). And for a snack, a peanut butter & honey sandwich, half in the morning and half in the afternoon.
Life is simpler if you can stand routine like I do, and eat the same things for lunch and dinner every weekday.
We have a big disgusting 10,000 calorie breakfast and lunch everyday t work
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