Hellobee Boards

I bring a lot of sandwiches. A lot.

My boss buys the Aimee's brand of frozen meals but I think they're kind of pricey?

I always do dinner leftovers.

My hot lunches are a leftover meat (grilled chicken) and a steamed or roasted veggie, and sometimes brown rice on the side.

I make a big batch of grilled/roasted veggies and eat that all week. I usually eat leftovers or a wrap/sandwich. I also do canned soup, but you could make a big batch of homemade and freeze in individual portions?

Tuna melts are easy to do at work if you have a toaster oven.

Do you like quinoa? I make this recipe often with different veggie combinations (sometimes with chicken or light Italian turkey sausage). It's easy to make in bulk so you can eat it throughout the week: http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/quinoa-with-peppers-and-beans/904f6944-c75a-4d28-b4a5-08998324db75

You might also try pasta with kale sautéed with garlic, onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms. My lunches were usually pretty boring - I typically brought it whatever was leftover from the night before

I used to make a lot of this (and variations of it). I would proportion for the week in Tupperware and put it in the freezer. It would thaw by lunchtime, and then I could just microwave for a minute or two.

http://www.hellobee.com/2014/02/26/quick-and-easy-pasta-and-veggies/

I love soups/chowders for lunch with a salad.

I do a LOT of salads, but super filling/hearty ones. I like to make quinoa or pasta salads, and have them over a big bed of spinach or kale or some other “meaty” green that will fill you up more than lettuce will. The spinach helps offset the carbs too because you don’t need to eat as much pasta salad to be full; but it’s nice to have some pasta sometimes. I also add a half breast of grilled chicken (or other meat or avocado or egg) on top for the protein.

My favorites are:

Chicken salad (with grapes and walnuts)

Tuna salad

Greek (pasta or quinoa with feta, greek olives, red onion, cucumber, grilled chicken, etc.)

Southwestern (with black beans, roasted corn, avocado, cilantro, peppers, grilled chicken, etc.)

Caesar (similar to Greek but with Caesar dressing)

The other bonus of combining your “pasta salad” over greens is you don’t need to add any additional dressing to the greens, just toss everything together and it’s flavorful enough, so you save some calories there.

Warm ideas: make a big pan of something like enchiladas or lasagna or burritos and then freeze it in smaller portions and reheat.

Amy's bean, rice, and cheese burritos are sold in 10 packs at Costco for not very much - its a lot cheaper than the Amy's meals. You can keep them in the work freezer and nuke them.

You can also have warm meatloaf sandwiches, which are really filling. For instance, you can make a turkey meatloaf on the weekend, slice it up, and bring it in with a loaf of bread. You can heat up a slice of meatloaf and slap it between 2 slices of toasted bread and maybe some cheese for a hearty meal. Or you can keep a bag of frozen meatballs, cheese, and a jar of sauce at work with some french rolls and make yourself a meatball sub! I'd probably keep some carrot sticks or fruit at the office too.