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With school starting up again in a few days, here are some packed lunch ideas for school or the office [or just out doing errands and such all day. The ideas posted in the next few responses are from iVillage. 10 Great Lunches for Work or School by Fran Clinton Looking for ways to fight the school-lunch blahs? Here are 10 menus that kids and grown-ups will love. Date-Nut Bread with Cream Cheese Celery Sticks Whole Apple Yogurt-Covered Raisins Milk Pasta with Pesto Sauce Cherry Tomatoes Fresh Pear Milk Whole-Wheat Bread with Peanut Butter and Apple Butter Banana Chips Vanilla Yogurt Fresh Orange Milk Baked Chicken Pieces Baked Tortilla Chips Red Pepper Strips Fresh Seedless Grapes Milk Bagel with Cream Cheese and Tomato Baby Carrots Fresh Strawberries Milk Whole-Wheat Ham Sandwich with Mustard and Lettuce Pretzels Melon Cubes Milk Tomato & Mozzarella on a Hard Roll Whole-Wheat Crackers Nectarine Milk Turkey Breast, Sprouts and Honey Mustard on a Sub Roll Baked Potato Chips Banana Milk Hummus Pita Chips Assorted Fresh Veggies (Celery Sticks, Pepper Strips, Carrot Sticks) Peach Milk Tabbouleh with Tomatoes and Diced Chicken Pita Bread Yogurt Dried Pineapple Slices and Apricots Milk
34 responses total.
Five Ways to Make Lunch Time Fun Again by Lynn Grieger, RD, CDE Tired of the same old lunches? Here are some fresh, yet easy-to-make lunch ideas that will make you look forward to noontime again. Kids will like them too! Yogurt, fruit and granola or whole grain crackers. You can mix everything together in one bowl for the easiest clean-up or design an elegant platter with a low-fat yogurt dip as the centerpiece and a variety of fresh fruit and crackers around the sides. Take advantage of the current trend in wraps. One of my favorite delis serves a delicious combination of veggie burgers, tons of fresh vegetables, roasted peppers, garlic and cheese. Add a flavored olive oil or balsamic vinegar for a splash of taste. You can make wraps yourself at home or buy them on the run. A large bowl of pre-mixed salad greens (Mesclun is good), tossed with a dressing made of extra virgin olive oil, minced fresh garlic, balsamic vinegar and reduced fat feta cheese. Add fresh whole grain bread -- perhaps rye or oat bran -- and a piece of fresh fruit and lunch is served! Make a big pot of your favorite homemade soup and freeze in microwaveable containers. While the soup reheats, pull out some whole grain crackers and fresh fruit salad. Lunch is ready in minutes. If you don't have time to make your own soup, try one of the heart-healthy canned varieties that go easy on fat and sodium yet are very flavorful. Keep lunch simple with hummus, fresh veggies, baked pita or bagel chips and your favorite homemade cookie. Life is too short to avoid sweets forever!
Bag-Lunch Ideas by Sue Gilbert, Ask the Nutritionist (see more from this expert) Hi Sue: Your lunchbox ideas are great, and I was wondering if you could give me some ideas on bag lunches that do not need to be refrigerated. I can't seem to move beyond PB&J with an apple and some carrots. Any suggestions? Thanks. Lisa Dear Lisa: One of the many wonderful things about kids is that they love the same foods over and over. For most of them, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches fall into that category. I certainly wouldn't worry that you have gotten stuck in a rut. Most likely the kids don't mind. Nonetheless, it is always good to try and expand the variety of foods they eat. To get them to enjoy many different types of foods makes cooking more fun and their diets more nutritious. I have some nutritious alternatives to peanut butter and jelly, and you can choose from among them based on your time. Some suggestions require spending time the night before baking quick breads or muffins -- or perhaps you have a store that sells wholesome baked goods. Bag-lunch ideas that require no refrigeration: Mozzarella string-cheese sticks Orange wedges Whole-wheat carrot muffins Bagel spread with cream cheese (you may want to try minibagels for small children) Sugar snap peas Box of raisins Tortilla rolled up with a slice of mild cheese Fresh green beans Small tangerines (Clementines are so easy to peel that the kids can do it themselves) Banana bread spread with peanut butter and a little honey Cucumber coins Melon cubes Cream cheese and apple butter on whole-grain bread Veggie mix (baby carrots, snap peas) Dried apricots Half of a pita stuffed with shredded carrot and mild cheese (or peanut butter) Individual cup of applesauce How about using the following chart to mix and match from? Select one from each group. Bread: Pita (either small individual size or half of a regular-size) Muffin Quick bread (banana, pumpkin, apple, etc.) Whole-wheat bun Bagel Tortilla Raisin bread Fillings: Peanut butter, plain or with (pick one) honey, banana, jelly, shredded carrot, raisin Cream cheese, plain or with (pick one) jelly, apple butter, shredded veggies Mild cheese Hummus Veggies: Baby carrots or carrot sticks Fresh green beans Sugar snap peas Cucumber coins Crisp, tender broccoli florets sprinkled with non-salt seasoning Zucchini sticks Fruits: Half a banana Small apple Orange wedge Raisins or other dried fruits Drained pineapple chunks (or fresh) Individual applesauce container Melon cubes
I am seriously going to have to get my act together and brown bag it. I think it would be best if I could bring both breakfast and lunch with me too. So thanks for the suggestions. All of those lunches sound yummy
For picnics we have been taking bread, olive oil, and an assortment of tomatoes (cherry of two colors, roma, large red) and today also watermelon. These don't need refrigerating (until you cut the melon). Add nuts for more calories.
Sounds good, Sindi. I love tomatoes! I bet cheese and the bread would be good, too [do you and Jim do dairy products?]. Lynne, I think there were a few more articles about brown-bagging. I'll go check out the link when I go check my mail at my yahoo account.
We eat cheese but nobody has given us any recently. Nor does it grow in the garden. Hard boiled eggs would probably keep pretty well for a picnic without refrigeration and go well with tomatoes.
I love cheese and do buy it often enough, especially when its on sale. I think perhaps I'm deficiant on calcium or something, as I've been craving dairy products quite a bit lately. Hence, drinking more milk, cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt and such more than usual. [Which still doesn't amount to a whole lot--usually no more than a couple servings a day. Then I go for stretches where I may go a week or more without any at all.] Speaking of which, I'm very much in the mood for one of the ice cream bars I brought on sale at the grocery store today. However, I just finished eating dinner a short time ago--a healthy one at that, and will wait awhile. I need to let this stuff settle for awhile and then decide if I'm still hungry.
Jim binges on ice cream once in a while when he saves up enough empty bottles and cans. He even picks up the flat ones and tapes their bar codes onto others that will make it through the machines. 12 cans/bottles buys one ice milk at Kroger. He can finish 1/2 gal in less than 1/2 day. This gives him an incentive to clean up the paths and roadsides. He also picks up water bottles and other nonrefundable trash. I suggested putting the next 20 bottles towards 8 oz of cheese - no fun.
It's cool finding ways to reduce the cost of food-like with deposit money from bottles and cans, using coupons, etc. But even with these discounts and sales, you wouldn't spend money on food you'd want once in awhile??
We spend lots of money on bulk grains and beans and other staples. Junk food gets bought by cleaning up the trails and roadside. It limits the amount of junk food, and accomplishes something useful.
Cheese is considered junk food? Not in my book [yeah, I know it has some fat in it, which is why I don't eat it every day]; to me, its a necessity to have available on a fairly regular basis. And I don't mind having to pay for it. Of course, getting it on sale is even nicer.
Cheese isn't a junk food; it is an animal product, which would normally be a no-no if you were a vegan.
Cheese is a highly processed food, and it also consumes a lot more resources
than to grow the same amount of calories in the form of the corn and soybeans
which are fed to the cows. It is also high in fat, cholesterol, and salt,
which is typical of a junk food.
We biked to the lake again today and got quite a lot more cans along the
roadside that were not there on Wednesday. And found two new good tasting
apple trees dropping apples, one into a muddy ditch, and one on a soft patch
of grass. I picked up a large bag full. We will process the ones with bad
spots (dry them, maybe in the solar oven someone lent us when Jim fixed their
very expensive heat exchanger three times) and Jim needs to figure out why
the two spare refrigerators run at 25 degrees on the warmest setting (in the
winter, anyway, when the house is 40 or so).
Friday we helped clean out the apartment that was trashed in the house
next door. I filled six enormous bags with abandoned clothing, not counting
outerwear, and one with bedding, we found a home for some of the furniture
and someone is coming for clothing. They also left behind an awful lot of
canned soup and macaroni and cheese mixes. Jim made one tonight (two macaroni
packets, one cheese packet) to use as a topping on brown rice, along with
eggplant and red pepper from the market. Dilutes the salt, hydrogenated
cottonseed oil, and several shades of artificial yellow. I gave the neighbor
the 1100 mg sodium per serving canned spaghetti and meatballs with pull-off
lid. We have about 16 more packages of the macaroni, which is our junk food
for the rest of the year. And five cartons of tomato soup, etc.
Jim also found two packages of chocolate cake mix which require adding an egg
and some milk, We bought eggs on the bike ride back from someone with a big
garden and Jim got Similac from the trashed apartment which he thinks he can
add instead of milk.
By eating this junk instead of letting it be dumped, we are not wasting
any resources. We would be if we bought it. We would also be quite a bit
larger if we ate this stuff regularly.
Bon Appetit!
The boxed tomato soup is not bad as a sauce on top of rice and vegetables, a small amount only since it is so salty. We had a few boxes of it already and got rather creative. Water, tomato paste, corn syrup and salt. THe chocolate cake mix is sugar, white flour, red yellow and blue food coloring, and not much else. Hydrogenated oil of some sort. $2/lb? The frosting part of it uses differently numbered food colorings. We have fun reading labels.
*laugh* Only Sindi could claim cheese is a junk food with a straight face. Cheese isn't junk food. One serving (3 oz) provides 44% of your daily protein requirement, 61% of your calcium, 17% of your selenium, 44% of your phosphorus, 18% of your zinc, 17% of your Vitamin A, 12% of your Vitamin B12, and 19% of your riboflavin for the day. Junk food is defined as food that has no nutritional value. Food that provides calories with out providing needed protein, vitamins, and minerals. Cheese is not junk food.
Do you consider 'vitamin water' to be junk food? It consists of water, sweetener, and vitamins. Apples provide very little protein - are they junk food?
Apples provide many other things though. But I think you know what she's saying. My packed lunch today consists of homemade Asian mushroom soup (vegan friendly), some baked zuchini and tomatoes, a pink lady apple and a Hansen's Diet grapfruit soda.
Apples provide fiber. Cheese does not. It is not good for you eaten in large quantities. Apples are.
But a small amount of cheese will sustain me for longer. Ok, sad to say that the Asian Mushroom soup does not really hold up for reheating. It's almost like I'd have to leave it semi raw to reheat.
A small amount of liquid oil will sustain you for at least as long as cheese, which is very high in fat and has no fiber.
But who wants to do that? Unless you mean good olive oil with bread to dip it in...
The usual definition of junk food includes high in fat and calories. Small amounts of junk food are fine combined with other things. I would not eat straight cheese any more than straight oil. It goes well with apples.
That suggestion is to consume something that is 100% fat with no fiber and no other nutritional value instead of something that is 74% fat, 25% protein, and contains substantial contributions to your daily nutritional needs for calcium, selenium, phosphorus, zinc, Vitamin A, Vitamin B12, and riboflavin.
Most of the menus on the lunch list, and a lot of Sindi's menus are no good for me. I have to watch my carb intake, being limited to 160-200 grams a day. It is amazing how many foods thought/known to be good for you are loaded with carbs. My nutritionist has put me on 50-60% of my calories from carbs, 30% from fat and the remaining 10-20% from protein. Thus I get to choose between that apple, a cup of rice or grain, a cup of milk or yogurt, or a peanut butter sandwich. All have similar amounts of carbs. The only thing that I don't have to worry about is the amount of non-carb heavy vegetables. Good thing that I really like green peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc.
If y'all want to continue discussing what defines junk food, can you start another item? I'd like to continue to use this one for brown-bagging it. Thanks.
Yeah, Caesar salads are a god-send for carb-limited diets. I also make inside-out cheeseburgers for totable lunches. Cut 2-3 inch long rectangles of 1/2 x 1/2 inch cheese sticks. Mix an egg into a pound of hamburger. Form the hamburger around the cheese, sealing tightly to avoid leaks. Bake or broil the fingers. Voila, a finger-food hamburger. My kids liked it when I put a big skewer of some sort into the cheese so they had lollipop cheeseburgers.
Inspired by this item, we brought $15 worth of found cans and bottles to Kroger and bought 8 oz of sharp cheddar on sale and two packages of frozen corn tortillas which Jim is going to toast and eat with cherry tomatoes and grated cheese. That would work for a bag lunch some place that has a microwave oven, I think. We even came back with $10.68 change to spend at farmer's market on red peppers and eggplants, which need more sun that we have in the back yard. We have a lot of dried field corn that we should be soaking with lye, which nixtamalizes them (adds B vitamins) and helps remove the skins, soaking in many waters and rubbing off the skins, putting through a grinder, and then forming into tortillas and cooking on a griddle. The fresh ones are much sweeter than the frozen ones or anything made from masa harina.
Good for you, Sindi [and Jim, too]; I hope you enjoy the cheese! And I think something was mentioned about having cheese alone... I usually prefer cheese with something but occasionally have it by itself.
Life without cheese? Nah. ;-)
DITTO!
Amen!!
Cheese is Life!
And life can be cheesey, too. :-)
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