Clean Eating Lunch Ideas
These Clean Eating lunch ideas are for people like me. I eat lunch alone and I'm lazy and it has to be easy. Hello! I have a huge problem. It's finding different things I can eat for lunch.
I am home alone for lunch every day except on the weekends. I eat clean which means I can't eat out a lot because there just aren't restaurants that are totally Clean. Besides, I don't have the time to go out to eat or the funds.
My mother and my sister have the same problem. My mother works from home all day so she is home alone for lunch. She hates to cook and doesn't like to spend hardly any time cooking because it takes away from her working or playing time.
My sister has 2 pre-schoolers at home. She doesn't really like to eat what they do and has the same dilemma as my mother and I do. To add to the problem my mother, sister and I have to eat gluten-free and/or dairy-free AND/or sugar-free. It depends on which one of us you are talking about. We always try to eat clean. That doesn't leave a lot to eat, so you see what our problem is.
To say the least, we find that we eat the SAME THING (seriously) EVERY SINGLE DAY. We're tired of it and we want options. We thought that some of you might have the same problem. So I went on the hunt for things we could eat for lunch. I thought that I could share what I found with hopes that I can help some of you and myself and my mom and sister at the same time.
The other important stipulation is that these Lunch Ideas and/or recipes have to be easy. Don't forget they have to all be clean too. Easy and clean don't always mix together very well. That's another reason it's so hard.
I want to share some of the Lunch Ideas my Mom and sister eat for lunch. Even though we are tired of them you probably aren't and might like to try some of them.
What my Mom, sister and I eat for lunch:
Hummus with baby carrots and/or gluten-free corn crackers and an apple on the side.
Frozen salmon patties from Costco. Mom fries the salmon patties in coconut oil. When the patty is half cooked, she turns it over and adds cooked brown rice and it gets fried up in the coconut oil. She eats fruit on the side and sometimes sunflower seeds for the vitamin B6.
A handful of spinach with a can of tuna or canned chicken or a salmon patty on top with avocado instead of dressing. You can have dressing if you want.
Quesadillas made with my Easy 4-Ingredient Spelt Tortillascooked in a quesadilla maker. Put cheese inside or anything else you desire. Fruit on the side. The quesadilla maker cooks both sides at once so it's quick to cook. She cuts in up with a pizza cutter.
My mom makes what she calls burger bowls. She cooks a little ground beef in the microwave, adds is to cooked brown rice, adds green peas cooked in the microwave and puts my Chimichurri Sauce on top.
My Mom buys a can of salmon from Costco, mixes it with an egg, some salt and pepper. You can add other spices or things you want like onions or peppers. Then she fries it in some coconut oil and eats it with cooked brown rice. Half a can of salmon is enough for one patty. This works well with tuna also.
My mom likes to cook brown rice in her Instant Pot. She cooks 2 cups of rice at a time which makes about 4 cups of cooked rice. She adds 3 cups of water and cooks it on manual for 25 minutes. It can sit after it's done cooking for up to half an hour without hurting it.
She keeps it in the refrigerator and gets what she needs each day for lunch. It will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for about 10 days. You can also cook jasmine or basmati rice in the Instant Pot. Specific directions are in the cookbook that comes with the Instant Pot.
My sister buys a can of chicken from Costco and mixes it with greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise. She eats it with clean tortilla chips, grapes or some other fruit on the side. Sometimes she'll have a little more greek yogurt on the side if she is still hungry. I used to eat that all the time but instead of greek yogurt, I mixed it with my homemade mayo recipe instead of greek yogurt.
I eat my Clean Eating spelt tortillas made with either spelt or einkorn flour. I eat it with uncured ham, cheese and my mayo mixed together. I eat it with spinach and clean tortilla chips and clean salsa on the side. You can buy an uncured ham at Costco, Target or Good Earth. Look for it in health food stores. It's getting fairly common now. I buy my clean salsa at Good Earth.
I used to eat a BLT for lunch every day. Technically that's a sandwich but I wanted to mention it because it might be a sandwich some people might not think about. I love bacon, so that's where that came from.
A couple of these recipes, like soup or chili, I suggest making it one day and then eating it leftover for a couple of days after that or freezing them in portion-size containers and warming them up in the microwave.
Clean Eating Lunch Box Ideas
It's time to start thinking about what to do about school lunches. I have a lot of suggestions for Clean lunch ideas and recipes. I tried to include ideas that are not too messy for kids to eat and can be eaten quickly. Also included are recipes that don't need to be refrigerated plus are Clean Eating that kids can take to school.
I have a bunch of ideas for food that doesn't take much preparation, like fruits, vegetables and nuts. The idea is to make your own Lunchables specific to the likes and dislikes of your own child and to fit your budget. The combinations are endless. Basically, all you do is take some good healthy Clean Eating snacks and put them together in a lunch box, for a great healthy meal. I think your kids will love the idea.
I also have links to some lunch box supplies at the bottom of the post that has been helpful to me.
If you do find that you need something to keep the lunch box ingredients cool, the freezer pack is great. Have fun this year sending your kids to school with a great lunch box meal that will help them stay healthy clean eaters.
Lunchable Ideas
Cheese Cubes - Strawberries - Hard Boiled Eggs - Pepper Slices - Apple Slices - Lunch Meat - Trail Mix - Cucumber Slices - Pre-cooked Bacon - Carrot Sticks - Mango - Honeydew - Applesauce - Jerky - Pineapple - Cantalope - Cherry Tomatoes - Tortilla Chips - Grapes - Half a Banana - Orange Slices - Plums - Peaches - Kiwi - Watermelon - Cherries - Dried Seaweed - Cooked Snow Peas - Frozen Peas (no need to cook) - Raw Cauliflower - Raw Broccoli - Crackers - Raisins - Olives - Peanuts - Cashews - Almonds - Pecans - Walnuts - Toasted Pine Nuts - Pistachios - Sesame Seeds - Pumpkins Seeds
