Need help coming up with unprocessed meals

[Anonymous]

Especially lunches I can take to work. I've been trying to eat unprocessed foods as much as possible, although I do eat whole wheat bread. The problem is that it's so labor intensive to prepare meals this way. I'm looking for some ideas for things that are quick to put together to make for lunches.

[Anonymous]

You need to batch cook on the weekends so you can throw a bunch of stuff in a bowl in the mornings.

Big batches of:

Grilled chicken
Lean beef
Black beans
Chick peas
Roasted vegetables
Brown rice
Quinoa
Grilled onions
Baked sweet potatoes

Then mix and match with a different dressing that day. One day you have black beans and brown rice and throw in some avocado and salsa. Next day you have chicken quinoa and roasted vegetables with a vinaigrette. Then you have beef, rice and grilled onions. You can freeze some of that stuff too, in small portions, so you can just defrost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to batch cook on the weekends so you can throw a bunch of stuff in a bowl in the mornings.

Big batches of:

Grilled chicken
Lean beef
Black beans
Chick peas
Roasted vegetables
Brown rice
Quinoa
Grilled onions
Baked sweet potatoes

Then mix and match with a different dressing that day. One day you have black beans and brown rice and throw in some avocado and salsa. Next day you have chicken quinoa and roasted vegetables with a vinaigrette. Then you have beef, rice and grilled onions. You can freeze some of that stuff too, in small portions, so you can just defrost.

This is an excellent suggestion. I'll just add that oven is your friend when it comes to easy cooking. Look for sheet pan recipes. Total prep time is probably max 15 mins which already includes putting the food away in lunch boxes. With the oven all you need to do is time it and wait.

[Anonymous]

Great advice above - I bring a salad/grain bowl for lunch every day (I do carb cycling so a couple days a week I leave out the grains).

My arsenal is:
-grilled chicken
-turkey meatballs (I buy these frozen)
-Trader Joe's cruciferous crunch as a base. It's kale, broccoli, brussels sprouts and cabbage. I love it because it doesn't wilt like lettuce /spinach and it tastes great.
-Seeds of change brown rice and quinoa packets (you just microwave for 90 seconds and you're done!)
-plantain chips for crunch
-nuts (almonds, chopped cashews)
-roasted veg (I batch roast various veggies for the week - broccoli, bell peppers, onions, broccolini, haricots vert all hold up well. Just season with salt, pepper and EVOO and pop in the oven)
-hard boiled eggs for extra protein (I buy the pre-cooked ones)
-Garlic Expressions vinaigrette is excellent
-I also like the Brianna's blush vinaigrette

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great advice above - I bring a salad/grain bowl for lunch every day (I do carb cycling so a couple days a week I leave out the grains).

My arsenal is:
-grilled chicken
-turkey meatballs (I buy these frozen)
-Trader Joe's cruciferous crunch as a base. It's kale, broccoli, brussels sprouts and cabbage. I love it because it doesn't wilt like lettuce /spinach and it tastes great.
-Seeds of change brown rice and quinoa packets (you just microwave for 90 seconds and you're done!)
-plantain chips for crunch
-nuts (almonds, chopped cashews)
-roasted veg (I batch roast various veggies for the week - broccoli, bell peppers, onions, broccolini, haricots vert all hold up well. Just season with salt, pepper and EVOO and pop in the oven)
-hard boiled eggs for extra protein (I buy the pre-cooked ones)
-Garlic Expressions vinaigrette is excellent
-I also like the Brianna's blush vinaigrette

Thanks for the dressing suggestions too! That's key. Any others?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great advice above - I bring a salad/grain bowl for lunch every day (I do carb cycling so a couple days a week I leave out the grains).

My arsenal is:
-grilled chicken
-turkey meatballs (I buy these frozen)
-Trader Joe's cruciferous crunch as a base. It's kale, broccoli, brussels sprouts and cabbage. I love it because it doesn't wilt like lettuce /spinach and it tastes great.
-Seeds of change brown rice and quinoa packets (you just microwave for 90 seconds and you're done!)
-plantain chips for crunch
-nuts (almonds, chopped cashews)
-roasted veg (I batch roast various veggies for the week - broccoli, bell peppers, onions, broccolini, haricots vert all hold up well. Just season with salt, pepper and EVOO and pop in the oven)
-hard boiled eggs for extra protein (I buy the pre-cooked ones)
-Garlic Expressions vinaigrette is excellent
-I also like the Brianna's blush vinaigrette

Thanks for the dressing suggestions too! That's key. Any others?

You're welcome! Do you have access to a Trader Joe's? They are HUGE for me in terms of find relatively clean options that are quick and mostly pre-prepared. All of the dressings in their refrigerated section are great (the green goddess, the spicy peanut) - just always make sure you are measuring things out. You don't need more than 1 - 2 tablespoons of dressing to make a salad or grain bowl taste great. I buy a lot of their pre-cooked meat options (sliced gyro, grilled chicken, roasted chicken, pre-cooked bacon) to make things easy. Their veggie options are also prepped and affordable - I buy the bag of pre-washed broccoli, and the tray of pre-sliced and seasoned brussels sprouts, etc. Anything that means I can just throw it on a sheet pan and put it in the oven at 425 for 20 minutes or so. I usually roast my veggies as soon as I get home from the grocery store as I'm putting everything away. I aim to have the bulk of my bowl be veggies and protein, and the quinoa/rice and crunchy bits are just nice extras.

[Anonymous]

I also like to roast a big pan of veggies and keep them in the fridge. Then I add them to quinoa or some other grain, usually with a dollop of goat cheese. When the weather is good, I do green & yellow squash and eggplant on the grill. Also mushrooms. MMMM.

[Anonymous]

Pack mason jar salads on the weekend to grab and go. I keep olive oil and red wine vinegar at my office and use that for dressing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pack mason jar salads on the weekend to grab and go. I keep olive oil and red wine vinegar at my office and use that for dressing.

Do Mason Jars keep them fresh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pack mason jar salads on the weekend to grab and go. I keep olive oil and red wine vinegar at my office and use that for dressing.

What is the advantage of using Mason jars instead of other containers?

[Anonymous]

I realized that I was expecting too much of lunch. My aim now is to pack some food that will keep me from being hungry and is good for me, but it no longer looks like a meal. Today it is an apple, an orange, a peeled carrot, a hunk of cheese, and nuts (I keep the containers of nuts at work so I don't even have to pack them). Every day is now a refrigerator grab like that - two pieces of fruit, a vegetable, and cheese or hummus. Pickles, crackers, and cured meats work well, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pack mason jar salads on the weekend to grab and go. I keep olive oil and red wine vinegar at my office and use that for dressing.

What is the advantage of using Mason jars instead of other containers?

Not OP, but it's a cheap glass container that is easily secured to not leak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pack mason jar salads on the weekend to grab and go. I keep olive oil and red wine vinegar at my office and use that for dressing.

What is the advantage of using Mason jars instead of other containers?

Not OP, but it's a cheap glass container that is easily secured to not leak.

I like them for layering... putting dressing on bottom of the glass and then layer veggies up from there. You can just shake it all together when its time to eat.....

[Anonymous]

I use sardines a lot as a protein in my salad. They are packed in oil, so I don’t need a lot of other dressing, they are precooked, and they come in individual serving packages. I make a big salad for dinner every night and put the leftovers in a Tupperware container. Then I throw that in my bag with a pack of sardines.

[Anonymous]

What do you cook for dinner, cook more and take in leftovers. I do a mix of that and cooking up a big pot of beans over the weekend (mix it up, sometimes cuban, sometimes refried, etc) and also pre make chicken that can go with it. That and a piece of fruit is lunch.