Who has Time to Pack Healthy Lunches Anyway??

I am such a girl of convenience! Before getting healthy, I was the queen of fast food, take out, and processed frozen and boxed foods. Anything that made life easier! Even now I love finding the easiest, quickest way to get the job done. While I no longer eat fast food, and I loathe processed foods like, mac-n-cheese, chicken patties, fish sticks, frozen diet meals, and so on, I love finding short cuts, to eating clean! I do still eat some processed foods like breads pastas, yogurts, and cereals, but I rely on ingredient labels to tell me what is healthy and what is not.


Like most, I'm a very busy girl! I have a full time day job, a part time night job that requires a lot of time and planning off the clock , a family, house, laundry, yard work, friends, bills, and.... well you get the point. In this day and age, I am no busier than anyone else reading this blog. Like most of you, I would not be successful in my clean eating habits if I had to chop vegies and make a fresh salad, or wrap every morning before work. Back in the day (when I was trying to lose weight) I relied on Lean Cuisines for a quick lunch. While is was calorie controlled, it certainly didn't fuel me with the nutrients I needed to get through my day! Not to mention, I was always hungry an hour later! So how did I do it?

Prep!! Prep!! Prep!!

I'm still a girl of convenience! Every weekend I decide on one (yes one) lunch for the week. I don't mind having the same thing each day for 1 week if it means quick, easy, and healthy! Some of the lunches I choose from each week include:

~ Wheat Pasta w/ sauce and a chicken Caesar

~ Santa Fe Quinoa salad (aka Clean Eating's "The Loaded Bowl")

~ The Chicken Salad, Salad

~ Salmon Salad

~Turkey and vegie Wrap

~ Tuna and vegie on Rye

~ soft taco on wheat

~ Santa Fe Chicken salad

~ Spinach and shrimp salad

~Spinach, salmon, and fruit salad

Once I pick my lunch, I shop for the week. Sunday night I prep all of my ingredients. Because I know a mixed salad or pasta with sauce won't hold all week long, I keep it all separate. For example, If I'm having wheat pasta w/ sauce and a chicken Caesar, Sunday night I will prep it all separate to take take to work. It looks like this:

• 1 Jar of pasta sauce
• 1 gladware full of cooked wheat pasta (add a little olive oil for no stick)
  
• 1 gladware w/ cooked, chopped chicken breast (or canned chicken breast if crunched for time)
• 1 zip lock bag of mixed chopped vegies (broccoli, red peppers, purple onions, cherry tomatoes, ex.)
• 1 ziplock bag full of mixed baby greens or romaine
• 1 bottle Newman's Own light Caesar

Monday morning I bring it all to work and put it in my work fridge ( you can put it together in a lunchbox each AM if you don't have access to a fridge). Each day at lunch, I have an easy lunch to put together in just 3 minutes!

I'm fueled, satisfied, and never feel left out when others go for a fast food run!
Stay tuned for more lunch ideas! I'll blog my "Lunch of the Week" each week for great lunchbox ideas for your work week, to keep you on track and less temped to eat on fly!