I make Veggie Chili for a whole week at a time.

4 cloves garlic, chopped (I love garlic, you could reduce)
1 medium onion, chopped
cooking spray
2 cans chopped tomatoes, undrained
2 cans of beans (whatever you like)
1 or 2 cans of fat free beef broth
cumin
chili powder
green pepper hot sauce

I saute the garlic and onion in a stock pot sprayed with cooking spray till translucent. I add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 1/2 and hour or so. Better the next day and so on. It is 1 or 2 points per cup depending on your specific ingredients.

I also make a big pan of roasted veggies to divide up for lunches.

20 oz. raw russet potatoes, cut in to quarters, skins on
6 oz. baby carrots
1 onion, cut into wegdes
head of broccoli
asparagus, cut into one inch chunks
1 T Olive Oil

Put all veggies in a bowl and toss with olive oil and whatever seasonings you like (I use fresh minced garlic, basil, cajun seasoning, seasoning salt....) Bake on a flat or low sided baking sheet (one layer of vegetables or they won't roast correctly) at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, flip veggies over and roast another 20 minutes or so. Excellant...try with whatever veggies you like!

the best - and super filling!!

McDonald's chicken ceasar salad (the new shaker ones) ask for vingarette dressing (it's like Italian) - this is soooo big.. lots of chicken. 3 points, including the dressing! )
I have no fear of McDonald's now!

My fav lunch is a low fat Greek Salad over hot brown rice. Is low fat and very filling, not sure of the points though.

Mind if I jump in?

I pack a sandwich 2 slices lc bread, 6 slices hillshire farms deli meat, ff mirclewhip, mustard, onion, green pepper, tomato, hot peppers! Kinda like a subway sandwich. Also 1 oz WOW chips and raw carrots and celery.

Also a diet A&W for that sweet craving.

Canned fruit is great, (pears, peaches, pineapple, fruit cocktail) but make sure you get it in pear juice or its own juices, not syrup, because syrup can pack in the calories.

This isn't a lunch idea but it is a GREAT snack idea... and doesn't everyone like taking snacks on their lunch?!

I just went grocery shopping and discovered Hunt's Juicy Gels (the no suger added kind, not the regular kind). The come in packages with 4-99 gram cups and are yummy, juicy jello cups. I bought strawberry and orange. They are made with splenda and get this!...THEY HAVE NO FAT AND ONLY 5 CALORIES PER CUP!!!! In other words, you can eat the WHOLE PACKAGE and it would be ONLY 20 calories! I mean, if you were a little then you could eat the whole package... I'm not saying that's what I did... just that you could... er... if you wanted!

Just thought the world should know!
Sara

I like the new Starkist Tuna Lunch Kits.
They come with one of the no-drain 3 oz packages of tuna (no carbs, 20 grams of protein), low-fat
mayo, relish (I don't like relish in my tuna, so I toss that), 6 crackers, and a mint (don't like peppermint either, and almost all my students do, so we have a drawing in class for who gets my mint everyday... it inspires hard work during summer school for some reason!). Its a total of 210 calories.
Sometimes, I also have a Quaker Oats cereal bar (130 calories, 26 carbs... but only 15 grams of sugar carb... the rest of it is fiber) or a Nature Valley Fruit and Nut trailmix (140 calories, 26 carbs).
I've looked at some other "quickie" things, because I'm getting kind of sick of cereal bars and granola... The apple sauce dippers from Kraft have 110 calories, the breadstick or crackers with cheese are 130 calories. The Chex Cereal Mix is 130 calories too, for that huge pouch of dried fruit, nuts and cereal.

I also like low-fat (or part skim) ricotta cheese, berries, and splenda... 1/4 cup of cheese is about 40 calories, 1 cup of berries is about 40 also, splenda is nothing.

I love salad too... but that is hard for me to take to work, because I can't really prepare it in advance the way I can the above stuff or I forget the dish at school or I forget the dressing or I forget to put it in the fridge...

I started out my work stash with running to walmart and buying one of the plastic totes with the snap top lid that fits under my desk.
In it i keep a staple of snack and lunch items.
Heres what i keep:
Campbells soup at hand (creamy chicken is only 170 calories for the entire cup they are microwavable and ready in a couple of mintues One container is VERY FILLING!!!!)

A box of crackers (usually ritz or somehting like that)

A box of Triskets

Several Cans of tuna

the mini bags of popcorn

Jar of reduced fat Peanut Butter

a bag of pita pockets

A bag of rice cakes

a plate, fork, knife, spoon and bowl

We have a fridge available to us so i keep:
A small container of FF mayo
a package of lunch meat
a bag of baby carrots up celery and a tomato


I Restock at the beginning of each week, if i need to.
I have found that there are many mornings i will get up and not want to make a lunch to take to work and try to tell my self i will come home and fix something really fast. Instead i would give in and say yes ill go to lunch with someone.

I constantly have something available for lunch and it also cures my little problem of fixing a lunch and it not sounding good to eat at lunch time.


The smaller things are great for just making a quick snack or making up for a missed breakfast...

Since i have done this i have found that I am alot less likely to run and grab something from a fast food place or "skip" lunch and over eat at dinner time.

Hello!!! I was just lurking and did I find a gold mine of lunch ideas. Thanks a lot.

I like toasted pumpernickel bread (1 pt each) with FF cheese slice (1 Pt) & sliced tomatoe/lettuce - with "Cup of Soup" (1 Pt)
Good 4 Pt lunch.

Also bring supper leftovers, tuna sandwiches & usually go to Wendy's once a week.