Ok...so i'm trying to get some ideas for lunch. If i have a sandwhich one more day, i swear i'm going to vomit. I use to love sandwhiches, but now i'm soooo sick of them. I was looking for some low cal ideas of what others do for lunch. I don't like frozen package food...but other than that, i like all sorts of things. Any suggestions?

If you have a fridge at work... I occassionally like tuna and a few melba toast crackers for lunch. Serving of tuna, 5 crackers. Eat as desired. I usually round it out with some celery & carrot sticks. And a piece of fruit like a peach or an apple.

Something that I love having for lunch is a serving of whole wheat crackers, fat free cheese of some sort, fruit and yogurt. Occasionally I will add some lunch meat to it too and kind of mix and match with the fruit and crackers. It's simple and easy to put together in little baggies.

My standard lunch is fruit, yogurt or SF pudding, large salad with salmon (Chicken of The Sea has a great 3 oz foil pkg. for $.88 at Walmart) or deli chicken or boiled egg with lowfat dressing. Sometimes I take a can of ready to eat soup to heat up in the microwave.

When I prepare items that I know will freeze well I make extra and make into single serving containers and freeze. It is like having my own box meals but wayyy better. I even found some containers that have the separations in them in which i will load my meat, starch, and veggie. Also to mention those containers help great with portion control.

For me to answer you I need to know if you like to cook, and if you have a microwave or fridge at work. I always plan ahead for my lunches.

I almost always make extra at dinner the night before - extra veg or rice or pasta and the meat or the sauces. . Something that will carry over to the next day...ie. extra chicken...throw together some prewashed salad, etc add the chicken. Beef or pork finely sliced can be quickly rolled into a pita or wrap with some veggies.

I am not a real "leafy" salad person, but I make lots of salads with beans, or quinoa or rice etc. Easy to throw some of that in a container. I have those baby carrot sticks, I cut up celeray immediately when I get it, and keep in water in the fridge in a container. Sometimes I cut up peppers, red onion, zucchini, broccoli and keep them all in containers in the fridge so it is easy to grab them and put something together quickly. I almost always have hardboiled eggs on hand, a bag of baby spinach and cans of tuna.

Having a freezer is great cause I make my own soups and stews and spaghetti sauces etc. I freeze them in serving size containers. Then I can grab some fruit, maybe a cheese stick, a yogurt etc. to round out the meal.

I keep a little stash of stuff at work..apples, oranges, salad dressings, ryvita or melbas, and a couple of yogurts and cheese sticks in the fridge..I bring these in on Monday. I then always have something I can eat if I happen to forget my lunch or didn't have time.

Thanks for the suggestions to all BUT EZ...no gator. LOL. Keep them coming. So far i like most of the suggestions...quick and easy which is what i need at work.

Molly to answer your question...most of the time we keep leftovers for dinner the next night...but sometimes i'll bring them to work. I do have a microwave and fridge at work. No toaster over or oven however.

When I worked out of the home I usually would do something like rice (brown is best of course, but for a while there I had a Japanese roommate so we never touched the brown stuff. ) veggies and chicken. Pour a little teriyaki sauce or soy sauce over it and you have a meal in a bowl. You have to watch your teriyaki sauces because they can be high in calories, but using chicken breasts and veggies in it means you don't need too much because they add flavour too. You can make a teriyaki sauce using soy sauce (low sodium is great), something like pineapple juice, some spices and other stuff. Heck, I haven't tried it but to make it nice and anti-oxidant rich use pomegranet or acai juice instead of pineapple.

Another thing I used to do all the time (especially while I was pregnant because I craved it like mad) is curry. Again...another rice dish.

Oh, and you can do some fun stuff with rice noodles too. I'm detecting a rice trend in stuff I like!

There is something we make with the rice noodles. It essentially just has hamburger or ground turkey or whatever kind of meat you like for that matter. You cook it with some veggies...carrots, onions, mushrooms, whatever you like. Add some fish sauce, soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, and lime juice. Mmmmm...tasty. You don't have to add much of the chili garlic sauce, but if you like a kick, add loads. For those who don't do much Asian cooking, fish sauce sounds nasty. It smells disgusting but can add some fantastic flavour to stuff. It is high in sodium though...so be careful about that.

I love having big salads for lunch -- I start with the spinach or baby romain base and then add in avocado, feta or romano cheese, walnuts, tomato and then oil and vinegar. It's usually SO filling and satisfying that I dont need a roll with it, but it's great with a multi-grain roll too.

I like to make extra chicken breast and salmon. I think they are both very good the next day. I usually don't use bread/buns when I eat hamburger and such not because of my plan just because I don't like it that way. With both I have with wild rice. You can throw in some veggies like peas and carrots whatever floats your boat.

Always, always leftovers from dinner. I cook everything in double portions...2 for dinner, 2 for lunch. Then Sarah and I both eat the dinner, and take the other for lunch the next day. It balances our calories throughout the day and means lunches are a no-brainer unless we go out the night before.

My latest shiftworker recipe:

3 cups brown or wild rice
6 cups low sodium chick broth
Spices
2-6 oz cans chick breast
15 oz can black beans
1 head of broccoli

rice, broth and spices in rice cooker. In a colander rinse beans, crumble and rinse chicken then cut up and rinse broccoli. When rice is ready mix everything in a large bowl and tightly cover for 30 min. Portion out into 8-12 reusable containers(1 cup).

You cqn eat it cold or warm. Just mix it, nuke for 30 sec, mix, nuke another 30 sec and there you go.

First time I made it without the broth or brocolli and it came to about 160 cals/1 cup serving. I'll have to recalculate for the changes.

Thanks for the suggetions guys. I took up a few when shopping today. Its amazing how sometimes you get in rutt and forget what else is out there (:

I like either turkey chili or taco seasoned ground turkey over mixed veggies. Kroger sells those frozen veggies - italian blend, mexican blend, california blend for about 99 cents a bag. I keep a couple in the freezer at work so all I have to remember to bring is whatever I'm pouring on top of them.