I eat a can of sardines packed in olive oil.
Anything but a sandwich, if can swing it. I just find sandwiches to be low on my preference spectrum.
I make a salad pretty much every day.
On the weekends (or every other weekend) I used to make big batch of burritos and then throw them in the freezer.
Just throw them in the microwave at work for a couple of minutes and you’re good to go.
When I get to work, I make it a point of NOT putting my burrito in the fridge (heh, that sounded dirty) to give it time to thaw, making warm up time a little faster. (Bonus points for no cold centers when you do it this way.)
If you’re trying to cut calories, sandwich wraps with flat bread is an easy way to shave a hundred calories off your meal.
I usually have left overs. Anything I can pop in the microwave easily. Or a salad.
3 or 4 days a week, I buy those pre-made salads from the grocery store.
In the summer, I eat salads, mostly.
Sometimes just some Greek yogurt with frozen cherries mixed in. Or fresh fruit. If I"m still hungry, I’ll have a granola bar, or some crackers with peanut butter.
In the winter, soups, chili, stews. I make them over the weekend in my crock pot then freeze in individual servings.
Spaghetti in a plastic container.
Rice, chicken breast, and carrots in a plastic container.
I have a zillion tupperwares so am always ready for my various dishes–usually cooked greens w/fish or chicken that I’ve cooked over the weekend. Sometimes I prepare a salad instead, but still keep the protein. Separately, I make little zip-loc packs of crackers, nuts, cheese and/or dark chocolate for snacks during the day.
Simple, and the options are endless. Basically what my wife will do is take the previous night’s leftovers, (if any), and pack it for me in Tupperware. The last few days I’ve had cabbage rolls, pork cutlets, and quiche. If there are no leftovers, and apart from sandwiches, she’ll make onigiri or musubi with various fillings or toppings such as tuna, mentaiko, pickled vegetables, basically whatever we have on hand. That and some fruit is easy to prepare and filling.
For snacks, I have a separate Tupperware filled with mixed nuts, dried fruit and m&ms. I also keep some snack pack-sized yoghurt in the fridge and mix in some granola or other grains to tide me over.
I’m far from town and work from home so I miss out on the fast food goodies, lunches are slow food from my kitchen. I prefer cold food in hot weather, and right now I’m on this salad kick – Romaine hearts, apple, grapes, celery, walnuts and leftover chicken, sprinkled with homemade sweet and sour salad dressing:
2 tbsp brown sugar (or white), 1/3 c rice wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar), 1/2 tsp sesame oil, salt and pepper, sometimes a splash of soy sauce instead of salt. You can adjust it to your taste. I double the recipe and store it in a small glass bottle (had worcestershire sauce in it). Shake well.
I love that stuff, also use it on Romaine hearts, sliced fresh strawberries, grapes, apple, walnuts and Feta cheese.
I’m so dang healthy I can barely stand myself.
I like to bake potato, onion, bell pepper and sausage, then save in containers for lunch.
Leftovers, salad or sometimes I buy from the cafe. Sandwiches maybe once a fortnight.
Tacos. In fact, gonna go get some now!
I make most of my lunches for the week on Sunday.
It does take some prep for cooking but I enjoy it and it has become ‘that thing I do’ on Sundays. If you think you’re one of those ‘I couldn’t eat the same thing twice in as many days’ types, it probably wont work for you.
Typical are brats, either grilled over charcoal or simmered with onion and sauerkraut.
Grilled zucchini is also there about 80% of the time.
Cut into planks and season as you prefer.
I like S&P, oregano, sesame oil, maybe some garlic and/or onion powder.
This week, though, I made some gyros-style turkey burgers.
1 pkg ground turkey from Aldi - 19.2oz
2 tsp cumin
3 cloves fine minced garlic
2 tsp salt
generous black pepper
Make patties and baste with lemon and olive oil.
I also eat half an avocado most weekdays.
In my desk drawer are some non-perishables like canned green beans, canned ham and some lower-carb foil packets of Trader Joe’s Indian cuisine. These fill out those days I run out or just want something different.
Any thing you might eat at breakfast or supper can be eaten as lunch.
Greek yogurt with lots of chopped walnuts - use apple slices to scoop it up.
Hummus with baby carrots and a few pita chips.
Deviled eggs.
You. Monster.
Now THAT is all I will think about.
Now I have to make egg salad tomorrow. (I don’t have the patience for deviled eggs.) I should’ve put deviled eggs with the chicken fried steak/tom kha gai. (In the thread about foods you crave.)
I WILL HAVE ALL THE EGGS!
If I’m dieting, I might just do the lunchmeat and cheese and leave out the bread from my usual sandwich. Or I’ll use a mini bagel in place of bread, that’ll change it up. Or I might substitute cream cheese for the mayo, but I too eat a lot of sandwiches for lunch. I will have a french bread pizza from lean cuisine now and again, but salads are for mostly dinner.
I eat a lot more leftovers in the winter.
I love leftovers. Whenever I’m making dinner, part of my thinking involves making enough so I can have two lunches worth leftover.