Need healthy lunch ideas!

[diam124]

The area near my company has very little in the way of healthy lunch choices. For the past 2 years I've eaten most days at Subway (turkey sub). But then I discovered the microwave lentil soup at Trader Joe's. I've eaten that most days since mid-December. On the surface it seems healthy (no fat, etc.), but it has a lot of sodium (960 miligrams) and I think I am retaining a lot of water because of it. The fiber also makes me feel bloated a lot.

I do prefer to bring my lunch to work but I don't think I can continue to eat these soups. So, can anyone share some lunch ideas? Salads tend to not fill me up (and then I snack). I usually bring a lunch bag with a freezer pack and in it I have string cheese, yogurt (breakfast), either hummus with a whole grain pita or else carrots. It's the main lunch part that I have trouble with!

Thanks!

[Oakley]

I usually eat a Lean Cuisine for lunch- but again, that has a lot of sodium. If you love soups so much, why not make your own? That way you can control how much salt you put in. There are a billion recipes online and you could tailor them to make something you love!

Or:

- Sandwiches or wraps
- Tuna/chicken or any meat on salad (will help you fill up)

[ignutzz]

We cook for the week on Sunday and those dishes (usually 3-4) provide lunch for me during the week and a few dinners for both of us.

If you don't want to cook all day Sunday, plan to make extras of whatever you're making for dinner and take the leftovers for lunch. DH will make pasta for us one night and make enough for me to have lunch the next day - same with chicken or other meat dishes.

For example, I had curried chicken over rice for lunch today. Tomorrow is a gourmet mac and cheese, Thurs. will probably be some of the leftover brisket (hot or as a sandwich). Other times we plan to have deli sandwiches a few times and buy our favorite Boar's Head deli meats. Make your own Tuna (or egg, chicken etc) salad sandwich. Heck, even a simple PBJ with some veggies or nuts on the side could be delicious.

Does your office have a small kitchen area? I have a toaster oven at work that would be perfect for making a hot sandwich (like turkey melt).

If you like soup, it's a great dish to make ahead and it'll store for quite a while (and it's actually pretty fun to make). Try the Daily Soup cookbook (http://www.amazon.com/Daily-Soup-Cookbook-Leslie-Kaul/dp/B00008RWCF/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204064228&sr=8-1)

Honestly, what you bring in your pack sounds like a good "main" lunch to me!

[Anna Low]

I usually bring a Lean Cusine - some are admittedly high in sodium, but the LC's seem to be better than most of the rest. Or, I will bring a salad with shredded cheese, tuna or turkey and some low fat dressing. Also yogurt and some fruit. Once in a while, I make a sandwich (turkey, pb&j, nutella&banana) or bring some soup. If I have enough water and fruit (a piece in the mid-morning and in the mid-afternoon), I do ok.

[am_81]

I used to rotate my lunches through -- Lean Cuisines/Lean Pockets (although there were only 2 or 3 I could actually stomach), soups, leftovers from dinner (I was living by myself at the time and I always made enough for 4 servings) and salads. If I had been a little more ambitious, I wouldve done as ignutzz suggested and did all my cooking on the weekend. My dinners tended to be on the healthy side, but I only cooked once a week, two at the most, which only provided me with one or two lunches.

Now that I only have to pack a lunch one day a week, its the same damn thing every Thursday -- turkey sandwich on whole wheat, pretzels and a granola bar. Blah.

If you have a crockpot, I would definitely look into homemade soups and chili. You could also marinate/grill up a bunch of chicken breasts over the weekend and use it through out the week for sandwiches, quesadilla filling, wraps, toppings for salads, etc. Or if you dont want to have to cook at all, do the same thing with a rotisseri (sp?) chicken.

[diam124]

Thanks for the great ideas! We do have a toaster at work and I don't know why it never occurred to me to heat up a sandwich in it (I hate cold sandwiches). I try to bring leftovers when I can, but I usually only make 2 servings and a lot of things I make (fish, etc.) don't re-heat well.

I also really like the idea to grill chicken to use in wraps and salads. Once chicken is cooked, how long does it stay good?

[am_81]

I actually dont know how long cooked chicken will stay good in the fridge. Honestly, I'm not terribly picky about leftovers and will eat anything up to a week old, but that would definitely freak DH out. Sometimes the chicken can get a bit dry, but I normally supplement my wraps with a little goat cheese and/or a drizzle of vinagrette and I cant tell the difference.

[diam124]

I've been taking turkey sandwiches and heating them up in the toaster and it works great! They fill me up and I'm not all bloated at the end of the day!

[ManteoChik]

When I worked where I took my lunch, I usually took a LC or a WW frozen meal. I really like the WW frozen pizza's.

Now I'm close enough that I go home for lunch. But, on the days I sub at school and take my lunch its usually a ham sandwich on wheat bread (I'm pretty plain so I don't put anything on it...lol) with some pretzels or FF Pringles. I also include some Jello and maybe a FunSize Snickers to give me a little "sweet". I also pack a bottle of water and a diet dr pepper. I find that if I make an effort to drink my drink while eating (instead of sipping here and there) it helps to fill me up.

[ManteoChik]

ETA: I think making your own crocpot soups are a great idea, especially if you have a microwave at work.

When I was a kid I used to LOVE to take chicken noodle soup to school. My mom used to heat up water in the microwave REALLY hot (in a measuring cup) and then pour it into my thermos. That way the thermos was getting hot while my soup was cooking. Then, she's poor out the water and pour in the soup. It always stayed much warmer that way.

[ignutzz]

For us, cooked chicken (usually in some sort of sauce, or as a breaded cutlet) lasts a full 7 days.

The chicken is cooked through, left to cool to room temp and then put in sealed containers in the fridge. I think I have Tiki Masala today. :)

[Ohana]

I usually bring leftovers from the previous night's dinners, but if you have time to cook on the weekend, you can make a batch of something you like and freeze it in individual serving size containers. I used to do this with chilis and curries quite a bit. I would imagine stir frys and casseroles could also be made and frozen individually as well.