Healthy Lunch Ideas
One of the most common strategies that I give to my clients when discussing meal planning is to plan ahead (go figure right)! The easiest way to do this is to make your lunch the night before. This is important for everyone regardless of if you go to work or not…yup, mommies this is for you too!
One of the things I notice on the days I stay home with my daughter is that I often eat poorly compared to the days that I am at work! It is too easy to skip lunch because I am preoccupied, or grab something quick, like a sugar loaded meal replacement bar. I’d much rather prepare myself a well balanced meal, but busy children make it challenging. I now make everyone’s lunches WHILE I am making dinner so I don’t feel like it is as burden at night before I go to bed.
Having an appetizing lunch not only makes you enjoy your lunch break a little more, and makes the morning go by faster, but it can also help you lose weight. I make sure to pack lots of snacks and spread my meals out throughout the day. This keeps your metabolism high, decreases blood sugar crashes and increases energy levels.
Read on for some healthy lunch ideas to try this week! All of these take less than 5 minutes to prepare!
Main Course
- Rotisserie Chicken Wrap
- 4 oz rotisserie chicken
- Whole wheat tortilla wrap
- Lettuce
- Tomato
- Cucumber
- Dressing of choice
- Cobb Salad
- Spring mix salad
- Shredded carrots
- Cherry tomatoes
- Chicken or turkey breast (shredded)
- 1 hard boiled egg (chopped)
- Dressing of choice (oil and vinegar preferred!)
- Peanut Butter and Banana Wrap
- Whole wheat tortilla
- Banana
- Peanut or almond butter
- Fancy Turkey Burger
- Turkey patty
- Whole wheat hamburger bun
- Hummus
- Cucumber
- Roasted red pepper
Snacks
- Yogurt
- Plain yogurt
- Can add fresh fruit, cinnamon, nuts, honey
- Overnight Oats
- ½ cup rolled oats
- Cinnamon
- Milk
- Stevia
- Leave in fridge overnight
- Hard boiled egg
- Chopped fruit
- Watermelon
- Apples
- Pears
- Sliced red pepper and hummus
- Mixed unsalted nuts
- Dried mango
- Carrots and greek yogurt dip
- Roasted and unsalted almonds
- 3 pieces of dark chocolate
- Apple sauce (unsweetened)
- Roasted chick peas
- Roasted kale chips
- Low sodium vegetable juice (V8)
- Protein shake – find some of my favorite recipes here!
- Air popped popcorn
- Homemade granola bars
Other things to remember when packing a healthy lunch!
- Avoid anything that will go soggy! Nobody likes soggy salad, put dressings on the side!
- When putting condiments on sandwiches, put the lettuce or protein on the bread side and condiments in the middle.
- I personally avoid anything that needs to be warmed up, half the time those items don’t get eaten because I’m not close to a microwave.
- Don’t forget a fork and spoon!
- Put some lemon juice on pre-cut fruit (like apples) to keep it from going brown.
- Put a little bit of water in a container with vegetables like celery or carrots to keep them crisp
What do you love to pack in your healthy lunch? I want to hear! I always need new ideas!
