Lunch Date
I have Quaker high fiber oatmeal and a yogurt every weekday morning for breakfast. I’m fine with this routine. Rich and I have started eating at home more lately and I’m also fine with this. But lunch during the week has become my Waterloo.
Since I’m nursing Ian at lunch every weekday, I’m going across the street to the day care for that hour. Because of his feeding schedule, I generally leave from 12:30 to 1:30. Rich and the others go out to lunch from 12-1. So even if Rich got me something while he was out, it would be very cold by 1:30 when I could eat it. That and I would starve by then.
I’ve been trying a variety of frozen meals from Healthy Choice and Lean Cuisine. One day I had nothing but edamame and crackers for lunch. I’m feeling uninspired by all of it.
So this is where I turn to you all. What do you eat for lunch? Do you pack something each morning? Do you have a cafeteria in your office? Do you go out for burgers etc? I have read horror stories of vending machine meals that make me cringe. I don’t want that. I just want something tasty and easy and healthy.
Help!
Soup and fruit with maybe cheese. Pacific Foods soups are my favorite.. they have protein and taste. packing is easy in the morning, one can, one fruit and some cheese. Plus I usually have the drawer of replacement soups if I do not like the one I brought that day.
I have been through many different lunch rigamaroles. I have done the conscientious lunch packing with frozen meals and vegetables, or home made sandwiches or something approaching a bento box.
I have eaten out at a sit down restaurant every day – wow.
I have eaten “mid-fast” food every day. I work in downtown SS – it is very easy and there are so many options.
I think that while the lunch packing seemed “boring” at the time, it was a really good idea. I might be able to drum up that old LJ post where the hive mind told me all their lunch ideas, many of which were amazingly tasty and good.
It seems like you can have 2 out of three: tasty and healthy, but not easy. Tasty and easy, but not healthy. Easy and healthy, but not tasty.
Man, now I’m depressed.
Here it is! 96 comments, wow.
I faithfully pack my lunch every day, and have for years, so I beg to differ that you can only have two out of three. The Weight Watchers frozen meals are quite good, actually, though I only buy them on sale and take one maybe once every two weeks. I pack mine the night before, sometimes using leftovers. Salads are also very good, if you get lean meat and 2% cheese for it, plus a hard-boiled egg, you have a full meal with lots of protein and little carbs-I like the Light sesame & Balsamic vinegar dressing, or a raspberry viniagrette. Morning snack is low-carb yogurt with some kind of fruit, currently frozen blueberries, or cottage cheese and pineapple. Afternoon snack is string cheese and carrots/celery, or today I had reduced fat wheat thins and a 1– calorie package of hummus. I do better with more protein than carbs, so I personally end up packing a lot of the lean meat and cheese, or a small baggie of nuts, too. I love to pack my lucnh, actually, and get slightly annoyed when someone invites me to go to lunch.
Kim Reply:
February 18th, 2010 at 6:05 pm
Yes! Exactly that kind of thing is what I did for 6 months when I was on WW and it worked great, but it’s not as tasty as Qdoba or pizza, I’m sorry to say. So while I did think it was tasty for a while then, I know I had to work to get myself to where that felt true for me. I would like to get there again.
Oh, but one thing that I find tasty, easy and healthy?
SUSHI!
More often than not, I brown bag lunch. Normally it’s low carb bread with some Kraft Free “Salad Dressing” and turkey followed up with a light Yoplait yogurt. That’s usually enough to get me through the day (but then again, I’m not nursing, so I’m not sure if that would meet your requirements). I also tend to gravitate towards melon fruits for breakfast. I hate eating the same thing day in and day out; so I will occasionally bring a Lean Cuisine this or that; but for the most part frozen food is barely food. It’s just not that tasty but it will keep that orange Hungry Monster away until dinner.
I began a year of eating healthy January 1, 2010. I have lost 15lbs to date.
In order to do this though I had to prepare my snacks ahead of time. I usually eat Oats in the morning, then a Kashi bar and apple mid-morning. Then lunch is usually a sandwich with some low calorie chips. Mid-afternoon snack is pretzels and animal crackers OR Laughing Cow cheese (triangle) with some wheat crackers. Dinner during the week is always a Healthy Choice or Lean Cuisine. Both are very delicious. Eventually I hope to move away from the frozen stuff and cook for myself, but these will do in a pinch.
I am not a proponent of skipping any meals, so I think it’s important for you to find something healthy to eat for lunch. Try the Kashi bars. They are full of fiber and protein. Maybe an apple with it?
Good luck! I know you will do great.
Cindy
I pack a ton of fruit. Most days I actually pack more food than I expect to eat because I have a deep seated fear of being hungry. Generally, I pick 2 or 3 fruits and 1 or 2 vegetables for the week and prep them all Sunday night. So then each night I put portions of each put one in gladware. Add nuts, string cheese, boiled egg or other meat product, sometimes a chip like substance (pirate’s booty or something from that line of makers) and something small to serve as a dessert bit and away I go. I keep a small number of Amy’s frozen burritos at work and a couple of meal bars (purefruit or kashi) that I actually like in my desk drawer for those Mondays when I just didn’t make it to the grocery store on Sunday.
It seems like a lot of work but it gets easy quick. I find I do better when I decide what fruit/vegetable combo I want before I go to the store. Mainly, think about those things you really like but don’t get very often because they go bad to quick or may be out of season. Remember they may seem expensive when you are in the grocery store but are they expensive compared to the cost of going out?
Anyways, good luck!
We will make a huge meal on Sunday–something like lasagna or paella–and then eat the leftovers for lunch during the week. By the time you get bored with it, you’re on to a new meal the next week. Works fairly well!
Ahhh, the nursing diet!
Not sure how replicable this is in Tidwater — three days a week (when i’m in the office) and I haven’t planned ahead, I go to the cafe next door and get a tuna avocado w/ brown rice sushi roll, and then hit the open veggie bar and get some broccoli, and roasted brussel sprouts (yes, I love them). Sometimes a luna bar for dessert.
Or I hit the salad bar and have a MASSIVE green salad w/ fish or chicken and lots of veggies (mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, peas, tomatoes, you name it)
When I want to save money, I bring a brown bag lunch: smart balance natural peanut butter w/ fruit spread on ezekiel bread + an apple or pear or orange for a super-filling and nutritious lunch. Oh, and milk. Love the skim milk, probably have 24 oz a day.
However, when I was in the fray of nursing two babies Ian’s age around the clock — lunch became an entirely different ordeal. You have no time, but also pretty significant caloric needs, at the same time. lunch often consisted of smoked gouda, whole wheat crackers, and sliced apples or grapes (my husband would even pre-slice the cheese and fruit for me the night before). And lots of water. And lots of skim milk (I love that stuff, drink it like wine.) Then for my 2nd lunch (literally 90 min later), I’d have a toasted whole wheat everything bagel with store-bought tuna salad (particularly love the Whole Foods version w/ fuji apples, cranberries, and other goodies. Love that stuff). Oh, and I’d have nuts and raisins, or yogurt, for dessert. Ahhh, the caloric freedom I had back then. ‘-)
Love this question for some reason. Call me a foodie. At the end of the day, planning makes it all work, but when I don’t plan ahead, I really love the sushi.