With only an hour (or less!) for lunch, how do you resist the siren call of the cheeseburger? It may seem like a hassle, but brown bagging your lunch is still the cheapest and healthiest option for fueling your workday. This doesn't mean returning to the ho-hum peanut butter and jelly of your youth. Follow these tips for a more exciting lunchbox.
1. Try an all-in-one creation
The latest rage in lunch assembly may inspire you. Reminiscent of stratified sand art, the salad in a jar puts the dressing at the bottom and the lettuce on top to stave off sogginess. Leaving chunks of chicken or tofu to soak at the bottom adds a tasty marinated element. But the uses of the jar don't end with salad. Plop some cornbread mix on top of a jar of chili and bake for a convenient, rib-sticking meal.
2. Stock the office fridge
Saving time and money on lunch at work can be as simple as keeping the materials for several lunches on hand in the kitchen. If you're content with the same salami sandwich a few days in a row, just keep bread, mustard and cold cuts in your workplace fridge and assemble as needed.
3. Eat well on the go
If you don't have the convenience of a workplace kitchen, you have plenty of options for lunches that will last on the go and don't need reheating. Keep food fresh with an insulated lunch bag or enjoy piping hot soup from a Thermos wherever you are. Healthy quinoa, lentil, whole-wheat pasta, or bean salads packed with your favorite seasonal veggies don't require a microwave or a fridge.
4. Let the veggies lead
It's cheaper and easier to make a big pot of one thing and eat it all week, but by Wednesday your taste buds may feel cheated. The Internet is full of creative sandwich and salad ideas, and you can also draw inspiration from your local farmer's market. Shop seasonal: Around late fall and early winter squash, chicories and brassicas are in season, so spice up your dishes with kale, cauliflower, butternut squash, and swedes, which all lend themselves well to warm comfort food like curries and chilies.
5. Love your leftovers
Leftovers are a natural lunch choice. You slaved over a hot stove for that dinner—don't let it go to waste! Dinner may double as lunch as is, but something like meatloaf or roast chicken can become a meatloaf or chicken salad sandwich, and even a small amount of a main course could make a filling addition to a packed salad.
6. Snack smart
When snacking urges hit, make sure there's something between you and the vending machine. Fruits and vegetables make a filling snack when paired with nuts, cheeses, yogurt or peanut butter. Try late fall produce like apples and cheddar, grapes and cottage cheese, or pears and walnuts to last through the day the healthy way.
7. Give in to ready meals
Sometimes it's too much to ask that you have something healthy, seasonal and delicious jarred or bundled up for lunch, but turning to frozen dinners doesn't have to mean forsaking your health. There are a lot of low-sodium, low-fat, natural and organic options, especially now that the whole-grain fanatics at Kashi have come out with a line of frozen entrees.
