One of the most popular requests we receive on our WhatsApp status is for more lunch ideas. We get it- day in, day out, making lunch is a challenge. Whether the lunch is for your significant other, child, or even yourself, options may seem limited! Having a post dedicated to lunch ideas seemed like a great idea. So here we go! This post will help you plan your lunches better, by giving you the building blocks you need to brainstorm, and the ideas on how to prep in advance, too. We even included links to some containers we use and enjoy below. Note: Please excuse the beautiful quality of the images in this post, in that they are not beautiful at all.
Building a beautiful lunch:
So, what does it take to pack a delicious, visually appealing, room temperature lunch? For the purposes of this article, we’re focusing on adult lunches. (We love Weelicious for kiddie lunch ideas.)
Let’s start with the basics. Every lunch needs to have the following: a protein, some veggies, and a carb, then perhaps something sweet as a bonus.
We’ve compiled a list of building block ideas for each category, and also included it as a free downloadable and printable list so you can save and refer back to it as needed. A good idea is to also sit down with those you will be preparing lunch for, if it isn’t you, and go through these lists with them. Cross off the foods they don’t like and star the ones they love. That way, you can refer back to it when you feel yourself running low on ideas… and patience!
Proteins:
- Tuna Salad
- Grilled Tuna
- Avocado
- Guacamole
- Cottage Cheese
- Canned Salmon
- Baked Salmon
- Falafel balls
- Chickpeas
- Hummus
- Sliced Eggs
- Omelette
- Egg Salad
- Turbot
- Tilapia
- Flounder
- Edamame
- Turkey
- Pastrami
- Grilled Chicken
- Feta Cheese
- Kani
- Mozarella Cheese
- String Cheese
- Lentils
- Greek Yogurt
- Peanut Butter
- Herring
- Sardines
Dressings/Dips:
- Mr. Dipz Caesar
- Mr. Dipz Light Caesar
- Mr. Dipz Horseradish
- Mr. Dipz California
- Mr. Dipz French
- Mr. Dipz Spinach
- Mr. Dipz Golden Italian
- Nish Nosh
- Pesto Mayo
- Pesto Vinaigrette
- Balsamic
- Honey Mustard
- Olive oil/Lemon
- Mayonnaise
- Spicy Mayo
- Sweet Sauce
- Hot Sauce
- Teriyaki Sauce
- Tahini
Carbs:
- Melba Toast
- Wrap
- Baguette
- Bread
- Pita
- Tam Tams
- Flatbread
- Quinoa
- Sweet Potato
- Potato
- Nish-nosh crackers
- Tuscanini parchment crackers
- Brown Rice
- White Rice
- Sushi Rice
- Pasta
- Noodles
- Croutons
- Pretzel Sticks
- Farro
- Rice Cakes
- Corn Cakes
- Granola
- Oatmeal
Fruits:
- Grapefruit
- Orange
- Grapes
- Apple
- Mango
- Blueberries
- Strawberries
- Pomegranate
- Plum
- Apricot
- Cantaloupe
- Honeydew
- Watermelon
- Freeze dried fruit
- Dried Fruit
- Smoothie
Veggies
- Green Beans
- Mushrooms
- Roasted Broccoli
- Roasted Zucchini
- Roasted Peppers
- Fresh Veggie Salad
- Caesar Salad
- Nish-nosh salad
- Greek Salad
- Kani Salad
- Israeli Salad
- Broccoli Kugel
- Butternut Squash
- Cauliflower Kugel
- Cauliflower rice
- Sliced Veggies
- Veggie Sticks
- Avocado-Hearts of Palm Salad
- Lettuce (what type?)
- Coleslaw
- Broccoli Craisin Salad
- Radishes
- Corn
- Zoodles
- Olives
- Beets
Extras:
- Almonds
- Almond Butter
- Crunchy Onions
- Sunflower Seeds
- Watermelon Seeds
- Everything Bagel Spice
- Lime Wedges
- Lemon Wedges
- Silan
- Pickles
- Pickled Onion
- Shredded Coconut
- Chia seeds
- Flaxseeds
DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE LIST HERE!
Where and How Do I Start?
Good question! Ideally, you start by figuring out what you will be making for the week on Sunday. Now, we know many will say that they have no idea what they will be in the mood of on Sunday for the week. But you will surprise yourself! Many times, you know what you are in the mood of, and having the food ready in the fridge to grab and prep in 5 minutes or less each morning is such a pleasure, you’ll find yourself WANTING the food you made.
Once you have a basic plan, and the fridge is stocked, you can start! Make a list of what can be made ahead of time. For example, if you take a look at the picture above, these were made in advance one week: Roasted broccoli, roasted sweet potato, roasted peppers, quinoa, hardboiled eggs, pasta, and coleslaw. Once the ingredients were laid out, it didn’t take more than 20 minutes of active prep time! The rest of the time was spent on actual baking or cooking times. In the image below you can see the very satisfying result! This will make the week’s lunch prep go so much easier.
When it comes to dips/dressings, you can definitely use some time on Sunday to prep some dressings to use for the week. Personally, we use store bought dressings such as Mr. Dipz. They’re new, and we were intrigued by the interesting options they offered. (Plus, that ad was so nostalgic and cute we couldn’t help ourselves.) Did you see them in your store yet? They come in seven flavors, see the picture below for the full offering. If you do want to save even more time, you can pre-portion the dressings into the dressing containers on Sunday, so they’re ready to grab and go in the fridge.
Somehow, this makes life easier and literally takes 30 seconds. Having the dressings ready to grab in the morning… You can do this with peanut butter, chummus, etc.. and just grab some pretzels for a quick snack!
Contain It!
Age old debate- disposable containers or re-usable? Without getting into global warming and the state of our beautiful planet, let’s discuss the pros and cons.
We like disposable. The idea of bringing a smelly container home is just not appealing to us, and washing it out just makes us feel suboptimal. By using disposables, we do feel more like we got a takeout lunch, at a fraction of the cost. In addition, dressing containers– only disposable!
However, we do hear the argument for reusable. It’s definitely a more economical option, if they don’t get lost (or misplaced until it’s so moldy you throw them out). Our happy compromise is to try and bring the disposable container home, and- GASP- wash it out and reuse it once or twice. Win win!
Here are some of our fave disposable containers, as well as some cool reusable options!
Disposable, 3 compartment
Slightly different layout 3 compartment
Disposable dressing containers
Reusable 3 compartment option
We LOVE the Pyrex for storage of our meal prep items
These are a great option for storing meal prep items, too.
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Sample Lunch Ideas
Ok, so now that we’ve covered it all, we’ll show you some of our lunches… in our style of NON professional photos, taken in a rush every morning ALL FOR YOU GUYS YOU’RE MOST WELCOME.
Dad’s Cheese Mix (recipe below) with hearts of palm avocado salad 
Guacamole, grapefruit, and greek salad 
Tuna, israeli salad, and olives 
Sliced eggs, fresh veggie salad, hummus wrap 
Greek yogurt with mixed fruit and granola 
Breaded Turbot fish + greek salad 
Mix of Egg and Hummus wraps. (the square wrap, sliced into 4) 
Salmon teriyaki, fresh fruits, power punch salad 
Sliced eggs, radishes, fresh veggie salad
This post is brought to you by Mr. Dipz.
