[charleston424]

Hey everyone..my weight loss journey is going super slowwww (only 20lbs in 6 months) and I'm ready for some new healthy ideas for lunch!

Breakfast is usually pretty easy-anything from apple slices or bananas with either oatmeal or sprouted wheat bread with almond butter and sugar free preserves. I drink coffee with Fat Free vanilla creamer and try to keep breakfast under 300 calories total.

Dinners are a mix of Hungry Girl (or Hungry Boy as my boyfriend calls it) recipes or other various recipes that I've found online or in cookbooks. The boy is open to anything I've made and of course has lost weight during my process. I like large dinners, I'm Italian so I guess it's just how I've always done it. I try to keep my dinners around 600 calories.

I snack when I get home from work. Dinners are usually eaten late since my boyfriend is active duty military and also is in school. Generally snacks can be Trader Joe's Pita Puffs, or today it was Reduced Fat Wheat Thins and hummus. Snacks throughout the day are usually around 200-300 calories inclusive.

Here comes the troubling part-I'm an Account Executive who travels 90% of my workday visiting big box National Retailers. Some days I go into my office in the morning and some days I do not at all and just conduct store visits. There are 24 locations I visit and they are all within a 2-hour drive from home. I'm sick of Subway sandwiches! Other than Subway, I do the salad bar at a local grocery store a LOT and use the pre-packaged fat free/reduced fat salad dressings. Since I'm always in the car, and live in the Southeastern US, I find it near impossible to "bring my lunch to work" and not have to rely on trying to find something within my calorie range for lunch.

I don't have access to a refrigerator or a microwave. I could try to use a cooler but it's been in the high 90s and I can't even keep water from turning HOT throughout the day. Does anyone have any suggestions or find themselves in a similar situation? I'd ideally like to keep it around 300ish calories. Thanks!!

[astrophe]

I'd look at better insulated stuff like Mr or Ms Bento? Keeps hot for 7 hrs, cold for 5 hrs.

http://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-Bent.../dp/B000246GSE

A.

[charleston424]

thanks for the link! I'll definitely check those out..now what to put in them..hmm..haha!

[MaddiesMom]

I keep my lunch cold in an insulated cooler with that "blue ice" packs that go in the freezer. It gets pretty hot here in the summer, but my lunch always stays cold. that way you can pack your own snacks. And...if you have a long day, pack a regular cooler with blue ice or ice from your freezer to keep cold.

[fcmonroe]

I second the blue ice pack suggestion.

[gardenerjoy]

Or, you can make your own ice packs by freezing water in double ziploc bags. My sister-in-law does this and I'm not planning to replace my blue ice packs when they die. When blue ice packs die, they leak blue goo which kind of grosses me out! But, they live a very long time, so it's a good place to start.

With an ice pack, you can pack anything but frozen food. Does Hungry Girl have some good sandwich filling recipes? Or how about a big salad in a plastic container?

[dorothy52]

I work in a warehouse with no refrigerator. I am on the HMR program and love the convenience. They require no refrigeration and they travel well. I sent a bunch to my daughter who works in a New York Chocolate store. She needed help not eating lunch at work if you get my point. These work well for me because I am a poor planner. Good luck.

[astrophe]

I found the lunch sets I got ages ago...

http://www.foodstoragemall.com/Lunch-Box.html

There's also a combo with thermos out now.

http://www.citizenpip.com/

A.

[nelie]

If you are going to be sticking your lunch in your car, you might want to look for a small, hard sided ice chest and use that in combination with ice packs. I don't use a refrigerator at work although there is one available, I just use an ice pack with an insulated lunch bag.