Looking for ideas to pack for lunch...or more accurately, making a shopping list, lol.

I did well this week with turkey ham on light wheat bread, or cottage cheese with pineapple.

Nothing currently in my fridge or cupboard. Lots of stuff I should not be eating though!

How many calories do you allow for lunch?

I try and have about 300-400 calories at lunch time. My fave at the moment is a frittata. In cake pan i throw in 4 eggs, 120 grams of reduced fat cheese (sorry not sure what that is in ounces) and any vegetables i have in the crisper. I mix it up and bake it and divide it in to 4 slices. Then i also make a barley salad to go with it...boil barley and add a lil bit of virgin olive oil, 100 grams of bulgarian feta cheese and then some semi dried tomatos and mix it all up. So yummi and all so filling...and all good whole foods

I make a big tossed salad for lunch pretty much every day. I have chicken, and add hard boiled egg and/or avocado. I also have some sort of grain in the salad, or I'll have some whole wheat pita along with it - for me, that makes the difference on whether or not I get hungry too quickly afterwards.

I have my biggest meal of the day at lunch though, and a smaller dinner. But the good thing about salads is you can make them as big or as small as you want, add then add however much protein and grain as fits into your plan and how many calories you want to have a lunch.

For my shopping list, I pick among my main staples:
Nuts
Eggs
Fat free milk
Cottage cheese
Light string cheese
Yogurt
Fresh fruit (oranges, clementines, apples, pears, bananas mostly)
Veggies (frozen and canned are easiest for me since they don't spoil, but sometimes I'll buy some fresh broccoli to steam as a side or some cabbage as a munchy snack)
Beans (Pinto beans, kidney beans, white beans, etc)
Whole grain bread
Skinless chicken breasts
Salmon

i usually take a yogurt, jello, or something to that low calorie effect.
then i make an egg salad or get some turkey and put it on arnolds select sandwich thins if you have never tried these they are a must!! it replaces your bread and they are 100 calories per sandwich
i take left over green beans corn mashpotatos or something low calorie from the night before (green beans my fav) in a little bowl buy you some tiny glad bowls from walmart or your local store
and i usually finish it off with a mini perpermint patty (50 cal)
thats a great luch for usually around 300-400 calories
hope this helps
in my egg salad i use light mayo (can't tell the difference)

My newest favorite is a yogurt parfait with berries, yogurt, granola and nuts (if I need more calories). Just nuts and yogurt is really good too.

I bring my lunches every day in a little plastic container. I don't have a microwave where I work so they are things that taste good cold. I always try to put in some color and bulk by making it 2/3 raw veggies and fruit; I like snow peas, carrots, cucumber chunks, grapes. I tried raw broccoli (a bento idea) but it doesn't agree with me! So if I bring it it's cooked. "Main dishes" I have used lately:

- mini-bagel or half a bagel with low-fat cream cheese and smoked salmon
- tuna salads (there is a great thread about tuna in the food section right now) with Ryvita or wheat bread
- white bean salad with cut up tomatoes/salsa, cilantro, vinegar dressing
- black bean, corn and tomato salad
- fat free canned refried black beans with salsa in a low-fat tortilla
- Greek white bean dip ("faba dip" -- kinda like hummus but lower oil)
- home-made potstickers (pork in a noodle wrapper)
- cold buckwheat noodle salad with leftover chicken or salmon; sesame/soy dressing
- roast vegetables (eggplant, zucchini, tomato, onion, whatever is in the fridge) in a pita
- "cheese platter" with thin slices of low-fat or strong-flavored cheeses and Ryvita, apple or pear, carefully restricted portion of nuts.

Google "Bento" or "Lunch in a box" and you will find some great ideas and appealing pictures. The standard bento has a pretty substantial simple carb portion (rice or bread) which I minimize or eliminate.