Healthy Lunch Ideas

gogigi

gogigi

Cathlete
Hi all,
I need some suggestions for healthy lunch ideas. I like things that I don't have to spend a lot of time preparing. I am following Weight Watchers again to lose a few pounds I have regained. Anyhoo...I just could use some healthy yet good yet easy to prepare lunch ideas. I'm not asking for too much am I? I'm a teacher and try to bring my lunch every day to avoid buying the lunches at school. Thanks to anyone who can help!
Angela who is going CRAZY waiting for the BB DVD's to begin shipping! :7
 
Hi. I am a school counselor. I know what you mean by staying away from those school lunches. I take my lunch every day too. I keep some of those salad packs at home. My favorite is the spring mix. I love to put some chicken strips on the George Foreman. I can easily heat those and toss on a salad, along with a few walnuts or sesame seeds. I also eat turkey or grilled chicken wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla. When I leave the house, I have my lunch and a snack packed for the day. Another favorite is homemade chicken salad. My husband is nice enough to make that for me. Unless I take leftovers, this is pretty much what I eat most of the time. It is quick and convenient and easy to pack.
 
I too am a big fan of the whole wheat tortilla wrap.

My favorite option is vegetarian; a gardenburger (or any veggie burger), which you can heat in a standard toaster or toaster oven. I wrap them with low fat mayo, soy cheese, spinach (pre-washed & cut from the bag) and toasted almonds (sunkist bagged variety).

Now I'm hungry!

Kim
 
Of course, there's always dinner leftovers. And I like tofu salad. Just like egg salad, only with tofu. I make some into a pita sandwich with lettuce, sprouts, tomato, or just eat it from a container with some baby carrots and other raw vegetables.

Hard boiled eggs are good. Also granola with plain yogurt and fruit.
 
I like bean salads. One I recently came up with (for a picnic, where everyone seemed to like it) is as follows:
"Multi=bean salad:
Rinse and drain: 1 can kidney beans, 1 can garbanzo beans, 1 can black beans (or, for more nutritional punch, black soy beans, which don't taste "soyey" at all), 1 can green beans; 1 small jar pimentos, 1 small can sliced black olives.

Mix together. Top with about 3 TBSP Zesty Italian Dressing (or other flavorful dressing of your choice). Serve on a bed of romaine or other lettuce or spinach.

This makes about 8-10 servings.
 
I cannot encourage you enough regarding packing your own lunch. I have done this for over 15 years and let me tell you -- now that I'm 46, it shows. My favorite lunches are leftovers because most of my recipes come out of Cooking Light magazine. Also, I frequent pact monster salads with every veggy under the stars.

Not only is this the healthy alternative, it is also the financially prudent way. I put the savings from packing my lunch against my mortgage and became debt-free in 7 years.

I am a BIG FAN of the brown bag.

Juli N.
 
What a great idea! I love beans and I love pimentos! I always pack my lunch and often fix red beans and rice - that's probably my current favorite lunch. I like the bean salad idea though. I'm going to try it.

Thanks Kathyrn!:7 :7
 
I like to whip up a chicken or beef veggie stew in my crockpot. Four hours on high on a Sunday afternoon or eight hours on low overnight Sunday night and I've got enough to stew to eat on all week.

Angela
 
Here's another easy and nutritious lunch idea. Microwave a yam (it takes about 6 minutes for an average-size yam), then wrap it in aluminum foil and let it steam for a couple of minutes. I sometimes will just do a yam and a salad (with lots of dark greens, raisins, sunflower seeds, garbanzo beans, etc.) for lunch, accompanied by some soy milk. (Can you tell I'm vegan?)
 
Mogambo,

Please post your recipe for Tofu salad. I'm trying to eat more non meat protein sources and have tried to include some Tofu in my diet, but other than stir frys, I'm not quite sure what to do with it.

Thanks in advance.

Alexandra
 
>Mogambo,
>
I'm trying to eat more
>non meat protein sources and have tried to include some Tofu
>in my diet, but other than stir frys, I'm not quite sure what
>to do with it.
>>
>Alexandra

Not a tofu salad recipe, but some ideas:
Use the water-packed tofu for any broiling, stir-frying or crumbling. It holds it's shape better. Rinse before using. You can make it more "dense" by wrapping it in a clean dish towel and pressing it between two plates, with a weight on top (like a heavy pot) to get out some of the moisture. It also will soak up other flavors better that way, for marinating, for example.

Tofu "frittata":
Stir fry (or use cooking sherry instead of oil) some onions, red pepper, and whatever other veggies you like--mushrooms, for example--in a skillet. Crumble up some tofu and add some "tofu scramble" mix (there are a couple of them out there) or just some nutritional yeast (for a bit of a cheesy taste---I usually add a tablespoon of nut. yeast even when I'm using the mix), seasonings of choice (garlic, pepper) and turmeric (for flavor and color). When onions are cooked,add the crumbled tofu and mix. Pack down into the skillet. Cover and let cook for about 5 minutes. It won't actually hold together, but it will be in larger "chunks".

Take pressed tofu (see above) and marinate it in your favorite barbecue sauce or other marinade for about 20 minutes or more, turning to make sure all sides are marinated. Bake in a 350 oven for about 40 minutes. (As you can tell, I don't really use "recipes" too much!).

You can also freeze this tofu to make the texture different. Freeze, then thaw and squeeze out the excess water. This works best crumbled, and can be added to chilis or other recipes where you might use hamburger.

Use asceptically packaged tofu (like Mori Nu) for anything that needs a creamy base, like puddings (add cocoa and sweetener--maybe maple syrup--and some vanilla), dips, soups. (I personally find the texture of this really icky when used for stir fries or, especially, for scrambled tofu. It's reminiscent of the white part of a deviled egg. )

www.vegsource.com has a recipe section where you are sure to find more tofu recipes.
 
How about hummus with veggies for dipping? Carrots, celery, cherry tomatos, cucumber. Throw in a pita too!

Vegweb.com also has a ton of veggie recipes.

For salads - my coworker recently purchased this cup/container thing at The Container Store that holds the lettuce in one compartment and the dressing in another. When you're ready to eat, you pour on the dressing and voila! It's awesome.
 
I don't know if you can find these in your area, but Tabitchnik soups are FANTASTIC!

They come frozen in a box. Each box has 2 individual servings. You have to check the labels because only some are healthy choices. I find the following choices great: Mushroom Barley, Minestrone, Vegetarian Chili, Southwestern Bean Soup, and I think there is a vetetable one too,not sure. Oh, anther-- Seafood Chowder is good too.

To make them more filling and get in more vegetable, I add more vegetables to them. For example to the chili, and southwestern bean I add a can of diced tomatoes. This is an easy and filling lunch you can eat any place that has a microwave. Just bring a bowl and a spoon.

These are always in my freezer and always on my grocery list! I hope you can find them.


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Judy
 
For lunch today I took a chicken breast and cooked it on the stove with some olive oil cooking spray and a little bit of taco seasoning sprinkled on it. Once it was done I cut it up and added a couple Tbls. of black beans. I toasted half a whole wheat pita and put the mixture in the pita with a little sprinkle of low-fat cheese. This was very good. It made enough for two pita's so I will save the rest for tomorrow. I know you work so you could always make this the night before or on Sunday.

Jessica
 
I'm gonna have to save this thread (our printer is broke :( :( ). There are some great vegan recipes out there and I'm in need of something new and different. And whoever it was that was debt free up there by taking their lunch is extremely wise and healthy to boot - congratulations, we did this a while back too!!

My lunches have been a little boring lately...I make a whole wheat or spelt tortilla and load it with salad and veggies and I LOVE the "fat free spicy refried beans" by ...oh I can't remember, maybe taco bell, you'll see it by the refried's. Home made tortillas taste so much better and they are quick and easy. I fry them in olive oil. You can put almost anything on a tortilla. If you are into fish.....fish is excellent on a tortilla with some fresh avocado and mix some quacomole with salsa and YUM!!

Briee
 
I checked out the vegweb site last night, and it has some amazing recipes!!! Fantastic for anybody, so if you haven't looked at it yet, it's worth it! Thanks for the suggestion :)

Sara
 
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