Does anyone have any suggestions for bringing your own healthy lunch to work?

My roommate takes a simple recipe from Cooking Light or a similar magazine or online recipe place, shops for it and makes her lunch for the week all in one big go when she makes her dinner on Saturday or Sunday. Then she partitions her meals into storage containers and is good to go for the week.

This doesn’t preclude the occasional lunch out, or she gets bored. But I’ve only seen her do that on average of one time per month.

I’m at home for the time being, so I don’t need to do this.

a banana is always good, Not much but maybe as a side to whatever dish you’ll be taking (:

I usually try to take fresh items that are filling, like oranges, green/red peppers (cut up into strips), apples and low fat peanut butter (the protein helps as a filler), grapes (the water content in these makes them filling), fig bars, and other fruits and veggies when in season (i.e. strawberries, cherries, tomatoes, celery, etc.)

I also try to make bigger dinners when I do cook during the week, and then save the leftovers for lunch at school/work. Good items to save for lunch are chicken breast and steak (which can be eaten as is or cut up and put in a tortilla wrap with cheese and veggies – or steak can be cut into strips for a steak sandwich) & rice dishes.

I also occasionally take Lean Cuisine panini or flatbread sandwiches if I don’t have time to make something before hand. They have preservatives since they are microwaveable, but they taste fresh, have low calories/fat, and have a lot of different varieties.

One sandwich I’ve been into lately is hummus on a whole wheat pita. I bring tomato, lettuce and cucumber separately and put them on the pita at lunchtime so the tomato doesn’t get the pita soggy. Very good and very healthy.

Spring rolls- immitation crab, slice advocado, matchsticked cucumbers and carrot, one boiled shrimp, rolled in a lettuce leaf then rolled in tapicoa paper.

I use Best Life wraps and make sandwiches. One of my current favs is turkey, lettuce, tomato and bacon.

I also make small containers of leftovers. Most places have microwaves. Casseroles are good for this. Pasta dishes.

instant oatmeal :)
add your own freshfruits.

HMR meals for dieters can actually be eaten by anyone. Meals are flash sealed and don’t need refrigeration, and they have a very long shelf life—years, in fact. They microwave in one minute. I often combine one with leftovers. In a pinch you can eat them cold; they’re fully cooked.

@Jeruba ; I lost 80 lbs on the HMR diet and have kept it off for 3 years. Still eating the shakes and entrees!

You can also just go for the standard simple sandwich (example, sliced turkey, lettuce, tomato, mustard on rye) plus a piece of fruit and water, iced tea or milk. That gives you carbs, protein, fiber and, depending on the drink choice or whether you add a slice of part-skim mozzarella, calcium and vitamin D.