You either love it or you hate it. I mean no one feels indifferent about a sprinkling of blue cheese on their salad, amiright? I personally think blue cheese is miz and I adore packing my lunch. Whether you loathe it or love it, there’s no doubt that packing your own lunch is good for your wallet and even better for your health. You’re in control of exactly how much added sugar, salt, and fat it has, and you don’t have to wonder what kind of funky chemical additives and preservatives are keeping your Subway salad “fresh.” I don’t like to have to wonder what’s in my food. No thank yewww! I wrote a post a while back called Life Lessons: On Packing a Lunch where I chatted your ear off about how to pack a balanced lunch, complete with recipes and sides. Make sure to check out that post for more detailed info on how to pack a balanced lunch nutritionally speaking. Now if you know me at all, you know that me and my totally rad bright blue Trader Joe’s lunchbox are best pals. Since school is starting back up for all the kiddos, I thought this would be the perfect time to share some lunchspiration with you all. 
Packing lunches isn’t just for the tots! But telling you that you should pack a healthy lunch is one thing and showing you what to pack is another. I personally like to utilize leftover mixed dishes as the main part of my lunch since I’m not really into sandwiches. If you have leftovers in the fridge, it will always be easy to pack a healthy lunch. I promise. Fail to prepare and prepare to fail, my fabulous friends! Taking one day over the weekend to cook a couple dishes, chop veggies, cook grains, hard-boil eggs, make a batch of muffins, etc. will save you TONS of time in getting meals together during the busy week. Now let’s chat lunchbox essentials. First, you need a lunchbox. Mine is from TJ’s but you can really get one wherever, like Target or Old Navy. Pick a sassy cute one, please. Next, you need Tupperware. I freaking love Tupperware. Like bring on the Tupperware parties puh-leeease. I use predominantly glass Tupperware. Why, you ask? Because I really don’t like microwaving and dishwashing plastic since the heat causes chemicals to leach into your food. Ick. I love using these round Pyrex ones from Target or Amazon. The bigger square ones are perfect for big batches of leftovers to keep in the fridge. Plastic containers are ok for food that will stay cold and won’t need to be heated, like nuts, muffins, sliced fruit, veggies, etc. Make sure to get some smaller Tupperware too for items like the ones I just listed so you don’t waste plastic baggies every day. We’re trying to go green, here. 
Next up is a thermos. I used this thermos pretty much every day last year when I was a nutrition coach at OSU’s student wellness center. SO worth the money. I would heat up my leftovers (soup, chili, stir fry, etc.) in a bowl in the morning until they were super hot, dump it in the thermos, screw on the lid super tight, and enjoy a hot meal sans the microwave four hours later. How fab is that?! It looks like it’s for kids but it’s really the perfect size. I’m also a huge fan of this beverage thermos. I use it for coffee and tea mostly, but I’ve even used it to keep smoothies cold in the past. It never leaks and it’s totally awesome. 
Now that you’re rocking your groovy lunchbox, glass Tupperware, and thermos, you’re ready to be a lunch-packing superstaaaaaaa! Without further adieu, here are five tasty ideas to get you started on the path toward delish and nutrish lunches. 1. Super Easy Mexican Crockpot Casserole + carrots + muffin Throw everything in the crockpot and call it a day! Pack a fourth of the recipe in your lunchbox along with 15 baby carrots and a zucchini banana muffin (or healthy, low-sugar muffin of choice). Bonus–if you pack it in your thermos, it’ll already be warm at lunchtime! 
2. Beet, Green Bean & Canelini Salad with Dijon Dressing + apple + hard-boiled egg This salad is awesome for lunches because the flavors just get better over time. Pack a fourth to a third of the recipe along with a sliced apple sprinkled with cinnamon and a hard-boiled egg. If you’re not feeling the egg, try 15 almonds. 
3. Avocado Bean Burger + peppers with hummus + no-bake bites Make a batch of these delish burgers over the weekend to have for lunches throughout the week. Put some baby spinach in the bottom of a Tupperware and place the burger on top—they’re pretty good cold! Then package up 1/4 cup of hummus, a sliced bell pepper, and a two Mexican hot chocolate bites. 
4. Hearty Lentil, Kale and Potato Soup + pear + pistachios This is one of my favorite lunches because this soups gets even better over time. Heat up a bowl of the soup until it’s screaming hot before putting it in your thermos. Then pack a pear (or fruit of choice) and 1/4 cup pistachios (or nut of choice). 
5. Avocado Chickpea Egg Salad lettuce wraps + grapes + muffin Place a fourth to a third of the egg salad recipe in romaine lettuce leaves. You could also just eat the egg salad by itself if you’d like. Then pack a cup of grapes and a blueberry hemp muffin (or healthy, low-sugar muffin of choice). 
Tell me tell me—what’re some of your lunchbox faves? ]]>
Five Healthy Lunchbox Ideas
August 22, 2014
I totally love all of these lunch ideas. One of my long-standing lunch staples has been some sort of quinoa veggie mixture. I love it because I can throw a bunch of things into the pot to just cook with the quinoa and call it a day and then I can easily get like four lunches out of it. I’ve been making variations of this idea for several weeks now and I can’t get over it. Some examples of mixtures I’ve made recently…
Curried quinoa – quinoa, curry powder, cumin, cinnamon, garlic powder, onion powder, ginger, shredded carrots, spinach, cauliflower. And throw some slivered almonds on top after cooking just for good measure.
Mexican-spiced quinoa – quinoa, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder, cilantro, zucchini, cauliflower.
Italian-ish quinoa – quinoa, sautéed onion and garlic, Italian herb blend, balsamic vinegar, spinach, zucchini.
Salsa-fied quinoa – quinoa, your fave basic salsa, corn, sautéed onions and garlic, green peppers, roasted sweet potato cubes.
I could go on and on forever… 🙂
I don’t know if I would rather have the lunchbox or you packing my lunch everyday more. How about both?! Not that I need either since I work 10 steps from my kitchen but I am greedy and would like both.
It feels like foreverrrr since I last packed a lunch but starting a new job in September I’ll have to again. You might just get me on board of the salad train with that bean concotion. Beets, though… not so much.
I wish my trusty thermos hadn’t stopped working properly after a few months. Plus I totally need a cute lunchbox, like, now.
Your thermos stopped working?? Oh the horror! You must get a new one.
I need a cucumber holder…right about now. I used to like the glass tupperware but it got annoying to repack during the work week so I’ve switched to 5 plastic ones….but they are big and someone at work asked if why it was so big.
I like big (tupperware) and I cannot lie.
Wait I forgot how much you love my cuke containers!!!
Salads have been my “go to” lately, because they’re easy, healthy, and perfect for when it is 98 degrees + 90% humidity in Houston…HAHA! Well nothing is really perfect in those temperatures, but you know what I mean…#soulsistas
I need to be better about packing salads, at least lettuce ones. I think it has something to do with my laziness regarding packing dressing in a separate container…I’m ridic.
I love that all of these include a little treat 🙂 I usually pack a salad then a sweet potato with nut butter and a hard boiled egg for a snack later on 🙂
Oh I’m all about the treats. I look SO forward to lunch!! Your lunch sounds fab!
Ooh those avocado bean burgers sound AH-MAZING!!!!
My go to these days have been bars – sweet or savory – portable bars have been the easiest!!!
Savory bars?! I’m intrigued!!
I wish I could show my mom that phrase about “keep it sassy and cute please.” She just bought me a lunch box for my job… it’s so ugly. I told her so. She got it at Dicks and it looks like it’s meant for camping. She bought it because it was big enough to fit my salads in… which was very sweet of her but also I don’t really need a huge lunchbox because it’ll take approx. 5 minutes to drive to my job and then I can put it in the fridge.
That was an unintended long story. I guess I needed to get that off my chest.
I gotta try that avocado chickpea salad!
Hahahaha OMG…nothing worse than a fugly lunch box! Loved that story and love your mom.
I’m a big fan of “love salads” for lunch – throwing one of every veggie and protein I have in my fridge into a big ol’ happy salad!
Otherwise, I always eat leftovers cold. I rarely heat anything up for lunch haha!
That sounds fab! I really need to be better about lunching on salads, that’s fo shooo.
Leftovers for lunch in Pyrex glass bowls is my go to as well. Usually my entree is a combo of protein, veggies, carbs and I’ll add carrots and hummus or a trail mix. Dark chocolate afternoon pick me up also usually makes it way into the mix!
Sounds so balanced! I love the hummus addition, obviously. Dark chocolate is a MUST!
I love packing my lunch. I am always excited to eat what I prepared myself 5 hours ago! I like to pack big salads with crackers or 4-5 different little things to give me some variety. Your ideas are much appreciated!
For sure! Big salads alllll the way. Glad you like the ideas!
I hoard Pyrex! These are perfect lunch ideas for the office. 🙂
Pyrex hoarders unite!!
after years of using plastic Tupperwares I switched over to glass ones and i really like it.,except that they are heavy!!! I love packing me lunch so obviously this is a super helpful post.
Yayyyyy!!! Good for you for making the switch 😉
I did leftovers and salads a lot when I was working and packing a lunch everyday. Now I just have to pack Meghan’s lunch–which I actually despise doing. I don’t know why, it’s just an extra chore I never feel like doing. But of course I do because there ain’t no way she’s going to eat the school lunches. Ick.
I feel like I won’t like packing my kid’s lunches. But I bet you pack the best lunches EVER!! You should totally do a post on that.
Honestly, I hate packing lunch, but I do it everyday because it’s healthier; plus, it’s cheaper. I typically will pack leftovers that I’ve made over the weekend or do sandwiches or salads.
Good for you, girlfriend! Honestly, there are plenty of days when I don’t want to do it either 🙂