Think Beyond Sandwiches for Lunch

Posted June 29, 2008 at 03:00 PM by Martinique Haller

Section: Her Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Recipes, Weight Control

I hate packing a lunch to take to work in the morning. I loathe the smell of tuna fish at seven am competing with my oatmeal.  But I do it--most days out of the week. I watch my money, and eating out is expensive but eating out multiple days in a row just doesn’t feel very good, and it’s at odds with my goal of keeping in great shape.

I need to eat well to give my body the fuel I need to get my workouts in, to ride my bike to work, to stay up late enough to finish a paper for grad school, and to still have the energy for friends and my wife when all is said and done.  The food I get by eating out just won’t cut it. I do love the occasional meal at a restaurant, but I wouldn’t want to make it a regular thing at lunch. Sure, there are great sandwiches at all the chains near the university where I work, even salads. But I combed their nutrition websites when I was doing Weight Watchers and I could rarely get anything for less than ten points (when twenty points were my daily total). So when necessity demands it (like when we haven’t gotten to the store) or when I allow myself the luxury of not packing my lunch once in awhile, I make a smart decision and eat out, and enjoy it.  But most of the time I pack a lunch, and because I work five days out of the week (like most of us) boredom is a big issue. These are “main course” lunch options, but snacks are important so I make sure to round out my day with a granola bar and yogurt and apple or orange or banana.

Here are some of my favorite lunch ideas:

A twice-baked potato I’ll usually have celery and hummus or carrots and black bean dip with it. Sometimes it’s hard to think outside of the sandwich box when you’re trolling for lunch ideas, and I just stumbled across this great recipe on Vegetarian Times.

Vegetable Pita This is pretty close to sandwich, but maybe the pita bread will be enough of a variant to keep you interested. I take a pita and fill it with as many vegetables that will fit; sprouts, lettuce, peppers, and cucumbers. I like to add hummus and cheese, too and have been known to throw in some mustard-marinated tofu mmmm… The pita, because it’s mostly vegetables might not be as filling as some other lunches so I round it out with pudding for dessert, or fig newtons on the side, or even some baked cheetos if I’m loosening up my standards that week.

Mini burrito-wraps A microwave is the only appliance we have at work to use, and it does the trick for this one. I take taco-sized flour tortillas and spread refried beans or refried black beans inside and sprinkle them with cheese. Then I pack a baggie with some lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, olives and anything else that sounds good. I microwave the tortillas and then top them with all the veggies. It’s a refreshing, healthy lunch and sometimes you just want something warm.

Egg Salad You forget about egg salad, but it’s so good! Even though it’s a sandwich, it’s a little different from the ordinary turkey sandwich. And if you’re absolutely sick on sandwiches you could use those delicious tricuits that come in different flavors and dip them in the egg salad in stead. I make mine and put it in mini-tupperware so that it doesn’t make the bread soggy. Here is the recipe I use. Although I’ve really been wanting to try this one from the Incredible Edible Egg.

Packing my lunch has one of my success tools, both in keeping off the weight I lost at Weight Watchers, and keeping my budget in check. It takes some time, but it can be worth it. Some tricks that help me are making it at night, making a few lunches on Sunday, or freezing something – the potato recipe above is a great option for freezing!