It’s 11:30 am, and your stomach starts to grumble. Do you: A) drive down the street for your favorite drive-thru combo meal? B) ignore your grumbling stomach and keep working through lunch? C) take a much needed break to eat the healthy lunch that you brought from home? If you answered C, then give yourself a pat on the back! But how exactly do you prepare easy healthy lunches for work? Read on for tips for packing a healthy lunch!

Benefits of Healthy Lunches

Whether you work from home or commute to the office, lunch is an important part of the day. It often provides a midday break where you can rest your mind, catch up with friends, and get a much needed energy boost. Choosing to make and bring a healthy lunch to work can ensure productivity, efficiency, and energy – all important attributes of an effective boss, co-worker, employee, or business partner! 

Think you’re too busy for lunch? Think again! A healthy homemade lunch can actually save you lots of time throughout the week; no more waiting in drive-thru lanes, restaurant lines, or grocery store checkout lanes. Plus, a pre-made lunch will also save you energy, stress, and money – all big wins in our book!

What makes up a healthy lunch?

Consuming a variety of nutrient-rich foods at lunch can prevent that almost inevitable mid-afternoon energy crash. There are two methods that can help you build a healthy lunch: the “Key 3” method or the Whole Life Plate™ method. 

The “Key 3” Method

There are 3 key nutrients we want to include in a balanced lunch (and all meals really!) for optimal energy levels and nutrient density: fiber, protein, and healthy fats.

Fiber

Fiber keeps you full, maintains steady blood sugar levels (and therefore prevents an energy crash), and provides other long-term benefits such as cancer prevention, decreased heart disease risk, and improved bowel function. Whole grains, beans/legumes, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds are all fiber-rich foods.

Protein

Protein provides satiety and helps you feel full. Nutritious protein options for lunch include beans/legumes, tofu, tempeh, nuts, seeds, eggs, fish, low-fat dairy (but full fat cheese, please!), chicken, and turkey.

Healthy Fats

Healthy fats are calorie-dense, meaning that they provide lots of energy per volume. Fats help keep you full for hours until your next meal. Examples of healthy fats include extra virgin olive oil, nuts/nut butters, seeds, avocados, coconut, and fatty fish.

The Whole Life Plate^™ Method

If you are a visual person, this is a great method for planning simple, healthy lunches. The Whole Life Plate™ emphasizes making half of your plate fruits and veggies, one quarter whole grains or starchy vegetables, and one quarter protein foods. Dairy is included with protein foods, and healthy fats and oils should be added.

There are lots of great meals that have all of the Whole Life Plate™ components that aren’t divided into quadrants, but are instead mixed, mashed, folded, wrapped, blended, or cooked together. Think soups, casseroles, sandwiches, wraps, salads, bowls, stir-frys, and even smoothies!

Learn more about this meal planning method in our Whole Life Plate™ article, or learn how to meal plan by purchasing our Whole Life Meal Plan! We start with a plan for you to follow, but then teach you how to fish, if you will 🙂

How to Pack a Healthy Lunch

Now that you know the components of a healthy lunch, it’s time to pack one up! We’ve got lots of healthy packed lunch ideas for work, plus some tips and strategies that make this packing process easier!

Meal Prep for Success

Doing some lunch meal prep for the week is a good place to start. Check out our meal planning for beginners article, or if you’re interested in more plant-forward or vegetarian lunch ideas, check out our plant-based meal prep article. Once you know the basics of meal prepping, you’ll be prepared to throw together fast and healthy lunches no problem! Need help with meal plans? Don’t forget about our Whole Life Meal Plan!

Healthy Meal Prep Ideas for Lunch:

• Whole grains: quinoa, brown rice, farro, millet, whole wheat pasta
• Beans: drained & rinsed, non-refried, hummus, or cooked
• Lean proteins: shredded, roasted, or grilled chicken, hard boiled eggs, baked tofu
• Homemade vinaigrette
• Chopped veggies -– raw or roasted
• Trail mix
• Energy bites
• Granola
• Dark Chocolate Covered Dried Fruit

Cook Once, Eat Twice (or Thrice!)

Another of our favorite lunch-packing tips is utilizing the “cook once, eat twice” method. When making dinner, increase the yield or set aside some leftovers for lunch the next day. This works well for recipes that have flavors that develop overnight such as soups, curries, and sauces.

Pack Lunch the Night Before

On the subject of preparing meals the evening before, get in the habit of packing your lunch at night. This will save you time in the morning and prevent you from skipping lunch or going out for fast food. 

Set Yourself Up for Success

You’ll probably be a lot more motivated to make healthy lunches if you have the right dishware, utensils, and accessories to make it convenient and accessible. Start by purchasing an insulated lunchbox. Choose one with a fun or fashionable design to inspire you to pack your lunch more often! Alternatively, use a reusable shopping bag. Don’t forget the icepack! Try to avoid using plastic bags or paper sacks, as these create unnecessary waste.

We recommend purchasing a variety of microwave-safe storage containers that will allow you to transfer, store, and heat your food safely. We also like these Bentgo box containers because they divide the container into several portions. This is a great reminder to include a variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in each meal! 

A Note on Food Safety

When packing foods that need to stay cold, don’t forget an ice pack! This is especially important if you won’t have access to a refrigerator. Bacteria grows quickly above 41ºF and especially above 70ºF, so it’s important to keep your food below this temperature. Never leave perishable foods in a hot car!

If you’ll be reheating your lunch in the microwave, make sure to heat it to an internal temperature of 165ºF. You probably won’t have a food thermometer in your lunchbox (or maybe you will!), so just be sure that you heat your dish thoroughly and stir it at least once during heating to ensure even heat distribution.

Stay Stocked Up

Keep a few healthy snacks at your desk or in the office fridge so that if you forget your lunch, you aren’t hungry enough for a full meal, or you don’t have time to take a break, you can eat a nourishing snack that will keep you focused and energized. Pack small snacks in reusable containers for convenient portion control and easy portability.

Shelf-Stable Snacks for your Work Desk

• Trail Mix
• Dried Fruit
• Energy Bars
• Apples, Oranges, and Bananas
• Nut Butter
• Whole Grain Crackers
• Granola

Simple Snacks for the Office Fridge

• Hummus
• Baby Carrots, Sugar Snap Peas, Cherry Tomatoes
• Plain Greek Yogurt (keep honey at your desk if you want some sweetness)
• Grapes & Berries
• Energy Bites
• Cheese

Easy Healthy Lunch Recipes

Now for the part you’ve probably been waiting for: easy, healthy office lunches! There are nearly endless options, but here are some of our favorite homemade lunch ideas:

• Wraps & Sandwiches
• Salads & Grain Bowls
• Soups
• Leftovers
• Grownup Lunchables/Snack Plates

Wrap & Sandwich Ideas

There’s a world of sandwiches beyond your basic ham & cheese and PB&J! Think outside the bun and build an upgraded sandwich with a variety of whole grains, lean proteins, veggies, and healthy spreads. To build a healthy and tasty sandwich or wrap, check out our base recipes! Our base recipes are more like formulas than recipes, and guide you on how to build your own sandwich or wrap to YOUR taste with what you have on hand!

Grain Bowl & Salad Lunch Ideas

Say goodbye to boring ranch-drenched iceberg lettuce salads and say hello to hearty grain salads, flavorful green salads, versatile bean-based salads! When building a nourishing and satisfying salad, keep the Whole Life Plate™ and the “Key 3” in mind and work to include fiber, protein, and healthy fats.

Mix together your favorite grains, beans/legumes, veggies, and a healthy dressing for a filling and nourishing salad or bowl. If bringing a green salad, keep the dressing separate until you’re ready to eat; this prevents the greens from getting soggy.

Need some lunch recipe inspiration?

Here are some of our favorite salad and dressing recipes:

Soups

What’s better than a cozy, filling bowl of soup? Try out some of our favorite soup and stew recipes, and feel free to add your favorite garnishes.

Leftovers for Lunch

Check out some of our favorite dinner recipes! Either cook extras in the evening or set aside a few servings for lunch the following day.

Make a Grownup Lunchable!

When you’re not in the mood for any of the above options, a grownup lunchable, aka a snack plate, can be a perfect solution. Create a satisfying lunch by including foods from each Whole Life Plate™ category: fruits, vegetables, protein/dairy, grains, and healthy fats. We’ve listed some examples below:

• Fruits: apple slices, grapes, strawberries, clementines, berries, dried fruit, avocado
• Vegetables: baby carrots, cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas, mini bell peppers, celery sticks
• Protein/Dairy: hummus, nuts, nut butter, hard-boiled eggs, Greek yogurt, cheese 
• Grains: cold pasta, whole grain chips or crackers, energy bites, granola clusters, pita bread
• Healthy Fats: nuts, nut butter, avocado

Of course these lists aren’t exhaustive; use your creativity to find other warm or cold lunch ideas for work that will hit the spot for you!

We hope that this article has opened your eyes to the endless opportunities for easy healthy lunches for work, as well as some strategies for making a nutritious lunch in a crunch! If you want some easy lunch ideas for kids, check out both our vegetarian lunch ideas for kids and healthy lunch ideas for kids articles!

Making your own lunch at home saves you time, money, and health. What’s ONE thing that you can do this week to make a healthier lunch? Leave a comment below!

To YOUR Taste!

Lexi and V