Grownup Lunchbox Ideas

[here757]

Hold up!! Wait ! We gotta grow up?
Seriously left overs. I really like the Oscar Mayer cracked pepper turkey lunch meat.

 

[MomToOne]

I'm boring - I usually just have cheese and crackers (love the individual Ritz packs!) or yogurt and nuts. Throw in a Diet Soda (yes, bad for you but I allow myself one a day!) and some fruit or veggies and I'm set. If I'm out of those items, it's usually a PB&J sandwich!

 

[here757]

I had a lunch buddy. Sometimes we made egg salad. Two hard boiled eggs. Other one brought bread. Then few mayo and mustard from cafe. Worked great til we egg saladed out lol

 

[Miss Whimsy]

I second everyone who said soup--I love winter because it's soup weather! And it's so easy to make and tastes even better each day. I tend to get really bored of green leafy salads (and I can't eat the greens fast enough before they go bad) so summer tends to be pasta or bean salads. I'll occasionally bring leftovers or have a week where I do sandwiches, but those are my basics. (And I have to like PLAN for sandwich week or I end up wasting food, which is very frustrating.)

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

So one of DH and my favorite meals for lunch or dinner is of my own creation. I love tuna, but hate mayo so I "invented" a guacamole tuna salad instead. It's really yummy, filling and very healthy. I like to eat it with waffle pretzels but DH likes it with tortilla chips or even taco shells. This recipe makes 2-4 servings, depending on how hungry you are.

Mix together:

2 avocados, mashed
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp lime juice
1 tbsp green chili, finely diced (we use serrano)
1 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1 medium tomato, seeded and diced
2 cans tuna, drained

I also love banana with peanut butter. I am addicted to the Peter Pan Simply Ground!

 

[elphaba91]

My mum and I have been really good lately about making lunches - neither of us have bought lunch in weeks! Our go to lunches are:
- Fruit salad with watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, banana, grapes and blueberries with a low fat & low sugar vanilla yoghurt.
- Wraps (either wholemeal or spinach) with mayonnaise, avocado, lettuce, cucumber, mango, Swiss cheese and chicken or ham.
- Salad with lettuce, cucumber, avocado, mango, feta and leftover meat from dinner (it's summer here so we've been eating a lot of barbecued meat and salad and will make lunch while making dinner).

On weekends I'll often make a smoothie. I haven't tried transporting it to work and leaving it in the fridge for a few hours. We have the $15 Kmart version of a NutriBullet and I'm sorely tempted to just go et one for work!

 

[LovesTimone]

I'm beginning to think we are related!! Everything here sounds AMAZING! plus I need to take your idea of stashing some drinks in my office. I have a huge office so no excuses not to.

Thanks so much, glad to be part of your family.

We had a drink and snack machine that everyone used constantly and it was costly. Around a 1.25 to 2.00 for a drink and 1.00 to 2.00 for snacks, so you figure that can add up quick. Then adding going out to eat each day honestly it would be between 8 to 15 dollars to eat lunch. So I saved about 65 to 75 dollars a week doing lunch this way. I looked at it as more Disney dollars for my family.

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

Thanks so much, glad to be part of your family.

We had a drink and snack machine that everyone used constantly and it was costly. Around a 1.25 to 2.00 for a drink and 1.00 to 2.00 for snacks, so you figure that can add up quick. Then adding going out to eat each day honestly it would be between 8 to 15 dollars to eat lunch. So I saved about 65 to 75 dollars a week doing lunch this way. I looked at it as more Disney dollars for my family.

Same here out snack and drink machines are sooo over priced and I just can't afford money or time wise to go out every day to eat. Today I get good I got a sandwhich with avocado some laughing cow cheese and crackers. Yummy

 

[rnorwo1]

i don't have anything to add that hasn't already been suggested (I, too, bring leftovers, salads, etc), but I wanted to add that on those days that there is nothing in the house to bring or I didn't prepare ahead of time and the morning is too chaotic, I've found healthier and cheaper options than the drive thru. I only work part time, but those 15-20 hours are spread among three different jobs. Near one clinic, there is a grocery store where I will run to and grab a frozen dinner (not exactly healthy despite its name, but usually about $2); there is a Greek Restaurant near another office that will make a Jr. Chicken salad for about $5, instead of the $10 for the normal sized; and there's a Whole Foods market near the third place, and their deli area has things like a roasted leg quarter or chicken breast that is less than $3. I always have a refillable water bottle with me, so I never buy a drink, and I don't have to have a balanced meal at every meal.

I may do this about once a month, or even less, but I just wanted to say that if you think outside of the drive-thru/restaurant- box, you can find things that aren't so fattening and are reasonably priced. I was actually planning on doing this this morning, but I went back into the house and spent 30 seconds making a peanut butter sandwich and grabbed an apple to throw in my purse. Very far from my ideal lunch, but I felt good about saving even $5 (because I would have been near the Greek restaurant today, lol)!

 

[MUFFYCAT]

I have always brought my own lunch. The last few years( yes, same thing everyday- boring but it works)
4 slices of turkey breast
snack bag size of mushrooms
snack bag size of spinach
yogurt
Nabisco 100 calorie cookies

 

[Sagginit]

I feel like this is a hard one because it depends on your work setup and your personal dietary needs/ tastes. I don't have a microwave at work so I invested in a Thermos. I fill it with homemade soups, chili (this weeks rotation), and even casserole type dishes (rice, veggies, chicken and some sort of seasoning). I buy baby carrots, celery, apples, and bananas. I like salads too buy my issue is time, sometimes I don't have time to prep all the stuff needed, thus why I like fruits & veggies that don't need much work. When I have time pasta salad with a side of mozzarella and salami is great. Sandwiches can be much easier, so sometimes in summer I add those in when soup goes out. I sometimes do hard boiled eggs and egg salad. I also stock up on yogurt and granola for breakfast. I just got two bins for on top of my fridge that hold grab & go foods like little bags of chips, popcorn, protein bars, trail mixes, snack cakes, and oatmeal. If you like peanut butter a jar in your desk goes a long way (with crackers, carrots, or even a spoonful to make oatmeal more filling). I do try to keep lots of little tupper ware containers on hand as those baggies can add up and not sustainable. I used to do frozen dinners at my last job that had a microwave.

I second pinterest, even if you look at kids lunchboxes there is a lot of good ideas. I was raised on good old american food, my lunch boxes were turkey sandwiches and pb&j so I have a high tolerance for boring food everyday. I have a coworker who brings in pb&j, gold fish, and carrot sticks. It makes me laugh because the two of us have probably been eating some of the same lunch foods for the last 25 years or more. I constantly take down recipes for salads and sandwiches and keep making the same things as it really comes down to time. I would rather put my time into dinner than prepping the next days lunch.

 

[pocomom]

My workplace has a zero waste rule. So no baggies here.
I have a planetbox http://www.planetbox.com/
There are cheaper versions out there, but I like having little bits of different things rather than one big sandwich .
I also use a thermos for chili, soups, stews. Whenever I cook I make extra and freeze a bunch in little containers so it is easy to pick out something quick and different.

 

[Jake&IzzyLand]

I agree with having your own supplies kept at work. If you have one diet coke a day, then a 12 pack would last over 2 weeks at significant savings.

In our shared fridge, this is the norm. I have never known for anyone's things to be stolen.

 

[pocomom]

Oh I also forgot 2 favorites. I throw a potato and sweet potato in the oven when cooking something else just about every week- takes care of two lunches. I'll do a stuffed baked potato (broccoli and cheese, chili, salsa anything i have on hand) and sweet potatoes I'll eat just plain. Also I like making one big basic salad at the beginning of the week and then take a little and throw different stuff in it to mix it up. Saves a lot of prep time.

 

[DnA2010]

Lately I've been take the ingredients to make a wrap for lunch- so chicken/turkey, some cheese and veggies (keep a bottle of ranch at work) I find that if I make them the night before they are a bit soggy by the time lunch comes around.
Sundays I pre-portion containers of veggies and cottage cheese, and then grab some fruit