I'm looking for some suggestions for quick low calorie lunches that I can take to work with me. Emphasis on QUICK. I make lunch every morning, (sometimes the night before) and I make 2 meals: 1 for me, 1 for my BF. His work outside all day requires high calorie meals, mine of sitting in an office requires very low calories. I am not opposed to making and freezing meals to grab and go (have done that with soup in the past), but I'm getting a little sick of salad 5 days/week, sometimes 2x/day. Suggestions?? Recipes?? THANKS!
What do you eat for dinner? Could you bring a smaller portion of that for lunch?
That is what I do.
Another thing I do is make grain/bean salads. You can serve them on a bed of lettuce and they are really good and filling. You could also have a side of chopped veggies (like carrots, celery, cucumbers, etc) to boost your veggie count.
I think Michelina Harony frozen dinners are great for when you want an indulgent creamy pasta for only 250 cals *blush* I'll bring a container of frozen veggies, peas or summat, on the size as "filler". While I'm embarrassed about the resorting to frozen meals, it does help fend off the binging and control portions.
I make potato salads, mixing lettuce, cold boiled potaoes with a puree of cottage cheese, parmesan or romano, and garlic. Very filling and approx 210 calories.
I've been experimenting with different satisfying toppings, including canned fish and ff miracle whip, soft tofu with ff mw, mock crab and some seasoning.
I also often have nuked omellettes made with eggs and eggwhites, with cheese and mushrooms, or asparagus, or ham... I eat oatmeal at all times of the day.
I make veggi soups in huge vats, then freeze in individual portions (I love zip lock containers!). I also make sandwiches with low cal bread or wraps or, if the filling is high cal, I wrap it in a lettuce leaf. I love the versatilty of tuna, it can be made old school tuna sandwich style with mayo, or I just mix it with salsa and thats good too.
And then, there is always lean cuisine. Those little boxes of sunshine in a microwave have saved my day many times.
I have just starting taking lunch to work to be able to make healthier choices. I always have some sort of protein, like tuna or chicken salad with crackers or a hard boiled egg or some turkey and cheese with one slice of bread. I always make sure I have at least one piece of fresh fruit and a veggie of some kind, like carrots sticks, celery sticks, broccoli or a large dill pickle. I drink water at lunch and the occasional diet soda. I make my lunch the night before so I can just grab it in the morning and go.
I take a half a sandwich and a piece of fruit every day.Along with 1 container of yogurt for a snack.....every...day....sounds boring but really has helped me with portion control.And I change up the sandwich fillings frequently.Currently I am doing sbd so no bread.but will reintroduce ww bread in a week or so.
What do you eat for dinner? Could you bring a smaller portion of that for lunch?
That is what I do.
Another thing I do is make grain/bean salads. You can serve them on a bed of lettuce and they are really good and filling. You could also have a side of chopped veggies (like carrots, celery, cucumbers, etc) to boost your veggie count.
Those are two of my favorite ways to do lunch - dinner leftovers, and grain/bean salads. I add lots of veggies to the salad - cooked or raw.
I guess I'm lucky in that we have a kitchen at my office.
I keep frozen meals, soups, lunch meats, reduced fat cheese, yogurt, sugar free pudding, salad mix etc etc here. I make oatmeal or eggbeaters in the morning for breakfast. Sometimes I make big crockpots full of turkey chili and bring a container to work and leave some at home for the gang. Lately I've been microwaving a sweet potato and spraying I can't believe it's not butter on it to give it a little "butter" flavor and some cinnamon. I had that for lunch yesterday. Or I roll up some turkey lunch meat with low fat cheese.
I eat 2 sometimes 3 of my meals at work, so I keep a LOT more things at my office than at home. Sad, isn't it?
I'm so motivated by everyone's tickers! I want to be able to do this!
Today I did well, I have 2 slices of reduced carb bread and some ham and mustard for a total of 160 cals (the slice of cheese I was contemplating adding was like another 150 - no thanks). I have an apple, a banana, carrots and a hard boiled egg. That sounds ok right??
I just found an article on food network for 50 different soups. I think I will take a closer look at that at some point to freeze and bring with me. The bonus was a lot of them have the same base, so make 1 big pot of the base and then separate it and add different things so I can have different soups and not get sick of 1 kind...currently a little tired of curried pumpkin soup because that's the last one I made and the BF doesn't like thick soups (from new england and doesn't like clam chowder - somethings wrong with him lol).
Thanks everyone for the tips! I'm going to have to stick it out and make everything ahead of time, and maybe leave the BF to fend for himself...
I'm responsible for the Hubby's lunches and my own. He gets sandwiches and puddings and whatnot.
For myself, I have 2 or 3 lunches that I usually do. It's easy because I don't have to figure out the calories every time. I make my lunches in batches so I usually only assemble them twice a week. I eat breakfast at work, so I usually pack my breakfast and lunch together.
My staple breakfast/lunch combos are as follows: (600-650 calories total for breakfast and lunch)
#1:
Breakfast:
200 calorie bagel
70 calories of light cream cheese (not non fat, just low fat)
Lunch:
lots of lettuce
180 calories of lean deli meat of some sort (6 oz)
70 calories of salad dressing (this is about 1.5 servings on my usual dressings)
various "non counted" veggies such as onions or cucumbers
100 calories of something like shredded cheese or raisins -- something with a little interest
40 calories for half an apple, sometimes chopped up and added to salad, sometimes eaten separately
#2:
Breakfast:
100 calorie yogurt
140-160 calorie fiber one bar or instant oatmeal
Lunch:
200 calories of high fiber pasta (Fiber Gourmet, ordered online) 3 oz dry -- a BIG serving
80 calories of pasta sauce (1/2 cup)
usually some cooked "non counted" veggies in there like broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, or squash
40 calories for a half an apple
side salad
35 calories for a single serving of dressing
I save time by chopping and cooking everything only twice a week. I cook my pasta by weighing out my portions dry then cooking the pasta portions separately. All of this stuff keeps. Even the lettuce (which I cut) won't go brown in a few days if you use a plastic lettuce knife! (They say you're not supposed to cut lettuce because the metal in the knife will make it go brown, I think...)
Taking lunch to work...
