5 Tips for Packing Your Lunch
I’ve been trying to pack my lunch a little more often, partly to save a few bucks and partly because I think I eat healthier when I plan it out in advance. To be totally honest, where I work, lunch is not that expensive. So it’s not a huge money pit, but I know for a lot of people it can really start to add up. I also tend to forget that not everyone even has a cafeteria where they work! So these tips could work for you folks as well. Ready? Here are 5 tips to make packing your lunch a little easier.
1. Plan it out. Obviously, packing leftovers from the night before is an easy one, but this also requires you to think ahead when you’re at the grocery store. You might need to buy a little extra of what you were planning for dinner, so that you really do end up with leftovers. When you’re thinking of serving sizes for dinner, you might have to double it.
2. Portion it out. If you struggle with portion control, make sure you dish out your lunch leftovers as you’re serving your dinner. This will prevent the oops-I-ate-the-entire-pizza situation. As soon as you’re dishing up dinner, go ahead and dish up lunch as well. Stocking up on glass storage dishes in all shapes and sizes makes this easy.
3. Only pack foods you like. If you pack a frozen meal that you don’t really enjoy or leftovers from a dinner that wasn’t very good, you’re not going to be excited to eat them the next day. That means that you’ll be much more tempted by a lunch invitation since you didn’t really want to eat what you packed. You’ll have to be honest with yourself about what you’ll really eat for lunch. Otherwise, it’ll be impossible to stick with it.
4. Don’t go “too” healthy. Yep, it’s a new year, and everyone is trying to pack their lunch in an effort to be healthy. The problem is that at 7:00am when you’re packing you’re lunch, that boring salad with grilled chicken and no dressing doesn’t sound terrible. And then when lunchtime rolls around, you’re swinging by the cafeteria for a buffalo chicken salad to replace the boring one you packed. This goes back to #3. Don’t pack something you don’t like. Make small steps to start swapping in healthier options. That way you’ll actually eat what you packed.
5. Keep “extra” items on hand. Maybe you didn’t have as much leftover pasta as you thought you were going to have, or maybe that frozen pizza looked a little larger in the box than it did on the plate. Keep a few things like fruit, veggies and hummus, apple sauce, granola bars, or other things you can add to your lunchbox to round out skimpy leftovers.
Hopefully these little tips will get you packing! It’s an easy way to save a little money, and eat a little healthier!
I tend to eat what I call “weird” foods for lunch during work weeks – a can of tuna (yet, straight from the can), sweet potatoe, or random leftovers and a small collection of other snacks/fillers.
Hahaha I’m all about “weird” foods 😉
love #3, #4. I try to pack lunch everyday before going to bed so that I dont use ” I didnt have time” next morning.
I’m learning to pack for Tim’s lunches and boy is it hard. You don’t realize how much food you actually need until you are doing it.
Excellent councils! In my university dining room almost there are no healthy options of dinners – therefore I always take a dinner with myself. One more council that I would like to add – ALWAYS check tightness of containers. Once I found sauce in the bag, and it was vile.
Oh NO! I can imagine a leaky container could be quite a problem! I had a soda can explode in my purse once. Not fun!
Great tips! Most days, I can head back to my apartment for lunch, so I’m usually eating leftovers from dinner. Love the tip about actually packing tasty and appealing food! I think most people get into a habit of repeating the same meal over and over again, while some variation could lead to a much more exciting meal!
Great tips for lunchtime – I usually pack breakfast too since I’m a piggie and I get in super early, I snack a lot which I’m not sure if that’s good or bad (probably the latter). I try to snack on a banana and almonds, maybe yogurt sometimes if I’m in that wave. Have a great one Liz! -Iva
Those are great tips. I always portion out my dinners after I make them. They go in containers to cool for lunches or quick dinners through out the week. But the tip about only bringing what you like sounds obvious, but is a good one. I can’t tell you how many times my husband has brought leftovers to work only to come back home with them (or forget them in the fridge.)
I’ve been guilty of purposefully “forgetting” about my leftovers, just because I didn’t really want them 😉
I used to struggle with knowing what I would be in the mood for come lunch time. For a while I would pack different salads loaded with roasted vegetables that I would prepare at the beginning of the week and then portion out each day. I love my roasted veggies so it was always a pleasing meal but plenty of times I would pick at my lunch supply in the fridge and then be left with nothing left for lunch lol. Yogurt parfaits packed well too and I always kept extra snacks with me, including a jar of peanut butter and apples because that ALWAYS worked in a pinch.
I pack my lunch at least four times a week. Quinoa has become my best friend!
xo,
Tiffany
shoeschampagne.blogspot.com
I pack my boyfriends lunch every morning. People tell me I’m so sweet but a lot of the reason I do it is so that he doesn’t spend money on food! haha. I completely agree with all of these ESP the don’t go too healthy! I used to do this and would always end up running to the snack machine. Bad news bears.