Ideas for packed adult lunch? (me!)

[Chris in VA]

I'm driving from house to house now, working as a dog walker. Not the most glamorous job, but it's ok for now.

 

I need to eat, and I'm burning some calories, so I get pretty hungry. Don't want to stop for fast food.

 

Ideas of what I can pack? Salads sound unappealing, but a really great one would be, well, great! I don't want sandwiches, as I think lunch meat is gross (but deli meat is ok--we just don't buy the sliced at the counter kind b/c it's too expensive). No tuna. No yogurt (b/c it bugs my lactose intolerance--cheese is ok if not too often). :D

No baby carrots and an apple type ideas.

 

Make it fun.

Make it adult.

 

Pretty please?

[Cera]

It is not even remotely adult but I love peanut butter on ritz crackers when I have to take lunch somewhere.

[gingersmom]

I recently purchased a large tupperware container to pack my salad in when I am traveling.

 

I love getting creative with my salad. You can add whatever you are in the mood for.

 

My current favorite add ins are chickpeas, veggie cheese, diced chicken, hard boiled egg.

 

Veggie burger on a bun with a side of edamame

 

Mac & cheese

 

Soup in a thermos

[MelanieM]

Sushi, veggies and dip, fruit salad, trail mix, good bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping, hard boiled eggs, cheese, roasted meats, sliced tomato with olive oil and basil, crackers with hummus... I love grazing on foods so this is one of my favourite ways to eat. :D

[BikeBookBread]

I'm really into hummus with veggies and pita chips right now. Filling and healthy!

 

RyeKrisp crackers with good ham and cheese. Mmmmm.... (I like thin black forest ham and smoked gouda.)

 

Tuna salad in a tupperware with crackers on the side.

[SonshineLearner]

I like the prepacked salads. Kinda like the Whole Foods ones. Sugared Pecans with cranberries, etc... I also like... the Romaine Lettuce hearts, about half of one, in a lettuce wrap with vinegarette salad dressing (strawberry:)) and then eggs inside or on the side for protein. I'm trying to get back to the whole salad thing, without "poor choices" throughout the day. If I would dog walk, PERFECT! ;) I needed to lose about 20 and have about 10 to go... but probably won't lose the rest, unless I start to... ugh... exercise ;)

[Chris in VA]

I really love hot lunches, but I don't feel right using my clients' microwaves...LOL Maybe I should ask.

I am getting a tiny cooler just for me, for the car. I feel secretly special. :D

[Rosie_0801]

Salads last a bit longer if you put some paper towel in the container to soak up moisture.

 

Ha. What you need is food art. I still can't get that image someone posted of a woman with an avocado mask and her hair in a towel out of my brain. That was made of cheese, ham, avocado and cucumber, I think.

 

:)

Rosie

[serendipitous journey]

I love a whole wheat croissant, some protein to eat with it (tiny canned sardines; smoked turkey; cheese -- you might tolerate goat cheeses well, goat cheddar can be nice and goat gouda is divine but pricier; or eggs), baby tomatoes & a piece of fruit. Feels adult to me.

 

Esp. in a tiffin: rice ( could be sushi style, with a bit of rice vinegar, salt & sugar; you can use brown or black "forbidden" rice for more nutrition); julienned veggies and/or meats with some pickled ginger, a dab of wasabi and an umeboshi plum if you like them; maybe broth or hard-boiled eggs or edamame. Add a package of toasted seaweed snack if you like.

 

My go-to is prepped veggies (peeled raw baby broccoli; baby tomatoes; sticks of jicama & red pepper; baby carrots) with goat cheddar and/or avocado and/or boiled eggs. That's a bit like the carrots/apple thing you were avoiding, though.

 

Add part of a good dark chocolate bar, and for me a bottle of my favorite green tea, and it's a happy little lunch.

 

good luck -- and great thread! I hope the ideas keep coming.

[Chris in VA]

Oooo--now this is kinda what I was looking for, at least part of what I wanted!

 

Adding something "exotic," like goat cheese (ok, not exotic, but y'know...) makes it feel special to me.

 

Hmmm.

 

Some really great ideas, ladies. I appreciate it!

 

As an aside, I told my boss the first week that I was looking forward to losing some weight "naturally," by walking so much. She laughingly told me she gained 40 pounds by doing this job, because she's in the car so much and eats fast food! Hoo boy, I'm so not going there!!! That's the last thing I need.

[BlessedMom]

Pasta salad with pepper jack cheese and maybe some hard salami is yummy.

or

Thin slices of light salami with fat free cream cheese and a few drops of Tabasco then folded in 1/2 like a tiny taco.

or

Celery filled with peanut butter.

[cjzimmer1]

I like cold fried rice. Brown rice, some meat and veggies, scramble in an egg. Add soy sauce and ginger. Yummy and healthy.

[Deb in NZ]

Ds#2 is in highschool now & I've returned to teaching (just subbing ;) ), so now I've gone from dh making his lunch & the rest of us having home-cooked lunch to having to pack 4 lunches daily.

 

Dh still makes his own lunch as he just wants sandwiches, 2 pieces fruit, & a piece of cake. I bake banana bread (or similar) in mini loaves & they fit in his lunch box perfectly.

 

Ds#1 has a microwave available in the lunch room at polytech, so he usually takes left-overs (pasta, curry & rice, fried rice, meatloaf & mashed potato, etc.) or he grabs a frozen meat pie from the freezer to heat up at lunch. He also packs 2 pieces of fruit, a yogurt, & a treat (mini-loaf, cookies, museli bar, etc.)

 

Ds#2 doesn't like sandwiches & has no access to a microwave, so I've had to get creative. I pack him a main (calzone, mini bagels & chicken burger, a wrap, kababs, meatballs in a pita, mini can of tuna / chicken / salmon with mini rice crackers, etc.), a piece of fresh fruit, some veggie sticks, a dairy (yogurt or UHT milkshake-frozen in the warm weather), & a treat. On wednesdays he leaves home at 0630 & doesn't get home until 2030, so he takes a packed breakfast, lunch, & dinner as he has practices for all 3 hockey teams as well as school :ohmy: When the weather turns cooler I plan to try out the wide mouth thermos I bought him & send meals similar to what ds#1 takes.

 

I like to take a lunch with a selection of finger foods. I like to looks of the Bento boxes, but use what I have on hand. For some reason having a nice selection of bits of food appeals to me. I have liked hard-boiled eggs, a handful of mixed nuts (cashews, peanuts, almonds), red & green seedless grapes, strawberries, a few nice crackers, thin slices of salami & cheese, BLT wraps, calzones, red & yellow capsicum (bell pepper) sticks, carrots sticks & a bit of ranch dip, mini bagels & cream cheese, meatballs & sweet chili sauce, etc. As the weather cools down I can see me taking left-overs to heat up in the microwave in the teacher room.

 

Blessings,

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

Dh likes hard boiled eggs in his lunch.

 

I like making a wrap sandwich with veggies and hummus.

 

I also like making a cold salad out of cous cous or quinoa and stuffing it in a red or yellow pepper. Yum!

[Mrs Mungo]

Have you checked out the vegan lunch box blog? It's great for gleaning *ideas* even if you are not a vegan. You can make a non-vegan version of the same thing with a lot of the recipes. Looking at bento box websites might also be a good idea.

[AndyJoy]

My favorite "adult" sandwich that even my husband loves is:

 

pitabread (torn in half but used flat, not opened to a pocket)

hummus

ham (but you could use another meat or just use veggies)

alfalfa sprouts

cucumber slices

olives

feta

[happypamama]

Spanakopitta or quiche?

 

Salads, but not the typical lettuce variety (though I like adding hard-boiled egg slices, beets, seasoned salt, and chickpeas to mine; or Greek salad) -- black bean and corn salads, curried chicken salad.

 

Deviled eggs.

 

Greek salad fixins work well on hoagie rolls too -- olives, cucumber, tomato slices, red onion, feta cheese, vinaigrette.

 

Anything to dip in bleu cheese dip.

[Chris in VA]

Thanks so much!

Today I bought some hummus and pita chips, and will pack that tomorrow, with some water and a soda, and probably an apple.

 

It's a start...LOL

 

Thursday dh goes shopping, so I'll include some new items on the list. :001_smile:

[LauraGB]

Is cold fried chicken (or deli chicken) and potato salad totally wrong here?

 

I'm a cold pizza and salad kind of gal, but if I were to need to make cold lunches beyond hot soups in a thermos, crackers/bread and cheese with crudités, I'd be packing cold chicken and potato salad.

 

Also, I love the taco salad (with cream cheese and sour cream with the taco seasoning whipped as the base) with chips, served with a fresh veggie and fresh fruit.

 

Or how aobut a pasta salad: cooked rotini or fuslili, cucumber, green/red pepper, red onion, chopped tomato, maybe some chickpeas, tossed with a great Italian or Greek dressing, and either lots of crumbled feta or chunked Asiago. Serve with some chunks of bread or pita and fruit.

[Giraffe]

Hummus on pita (chips or regular)

Tabouleh/Tabouli (don't know how to spell it)

Baba Gahnoush

Chicken Salad sandwich (I'm craving this right now)

Egg Salad sandwich

Kisir (spicy bulgur salad - peppery and tomatoey with cucumbers and green onions)

[i.love.lucy]

I'm avoid carbs, so my list is a little different:

 

Chicken salad with chopped almonds and a few grapes or diced apple and hard boiled egg. I also make tuna salad once a week too. I make this the night before and pack it in tupperware and then transfer to my wide-mouth thermos that I have had sitting on the counter for the morning with ice water in it. Keeps it all nice and cold.

 

You could do pasta salad with a protein like diced chicken, salami, or shrimp this way too.

 

I also like hearty soups like sausage/kale/bean soup, packed in the thermos. Or taco soup. Something with a lot of protein.

 

I usually always have slices of peppers or celery with spicy cream cheese.

 

Apples and peanut butter and crackers. One of my family's favorite things is apples sliced in rounds, with sharp cheddar and peanut butter. :drool:

 

What about a smoothie? If you have a large enough thermos? One of my meals, usually breakfast, is a green smoothie made with yogurt, spinach, coconut oil, frozen berries and protein powder. Lasts me easily until lunch, or if I had it for lunch I could make it until a later snack like the previously mentioned apples/cheddar/pb.