What Can You Eat for Lunch on Paleo? Easy Paleo Lunch Ideas and Recipes

I know those of you on the Paleo diet are often looking for good Paleo lunch ideas so I compiled this list of favorites from my readers, along with an index of the Paleo lunches I have on my blog so far.

I love getting real-life experience answers from real people to problems we all have in common!

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• Eat a Balanced Meal
• Variety
• What can you eat for lunch on Paleo?
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Eat a Balanced Meal

One thing I like to keep in mind while planning my meals is to have a balanced ratio of carbs, protein and vegetables. This is great for overall nutrition and to make sure each meal is balanced and healthy with a more complete variety of vitamins, minerals and other nutrition your body needs.

Eating balanced meals will also make it easier to stick with the diet and is much better for your entire body in the long-term. Remember that Paleo is not necessarily a low-carb diet and is not a meat-only diet. Eating that way will definitely lead to problems long-term.

Carbs = Fruit, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, plantains, winter squash, Paleo-friendly flours such as cassava flour *, coconut flour * or Paleo flour blends.

I'm not going to list all the meats and vegetables because you probably already know those. Just don't forget to eat your carbs and veggies!

Variety

Eating a variety of foods is also really important for overall nutrition and gut health. Try to eat 30-40 plant-based ingredients every week.

If this sounds hard to you, remember that spices count, and don't try to add in a ton of new things all at once. Try adding one new item every week.

Some ways I find make it easier to get in more plant-based ingredients are with meal-prepped individual freezer meals. I can do things like buy a bunch of vegetables and chop them all up in a huge batch of soup before they go bad. Then I freeze the soup in a bunch of 8-ounce freezer containers * and grab one whenever I need a quick, healthy meal.

What can you eat for lunch on Paleo?

• Chicken salad with homemade mayo and lots of veggies. This is easy to pack for an on-the-go option. Sometimes I eat it plain or sometimes I eat it with Simple Mills Almond Flour crackers *.
• Salad - easy to vary the ingredients/protein.
• Leftovers from supper
• Roast beef from the deli (I use Food Lion's brand, not "processed" with all kinds of additives, not chopped and pressed!!)
• Smoked turkey (not chopped and pressed, no additives)
• Smoked ham, lean (check the ingredients for additives)
• Salad with tuna or chopped ham on top
• Homemade broccoli salad with crumbled BACON on top
• Soup or stew with meat and veggies of your choice. Add spices that you love so it is full of flavor.
• Make tortillas to have around and use as "bread"
• Cashew butter and banana rolled in one
• Tuna salad or chicken salad rolled in a tortilla or lettuce leaves
• Taco meat with homemade taco seasoning
• AIP flatbread with leftovers on it or spread with lots of guacamole
• Meal prep one of your favorite Paleo meals and eat it for lunch several days that week
• Cilantro vinaigrette makes everything, even boring lettuce, taste good...
• I always freeze leftovers and use them for lunches...gives me variety so I don't get sick of eating the same old salad.
• If you weren’t on Paleo and went to a restaurant, what would you order? Think about that and then create a paleo-friendly version.
• Shrimp sautéed in garlic butter with the fat from a can of coconut milk * added at the end and stirred until hot. Bake a spaghetti squash, and you have a delicious meal. Oh, my! It's fabulous!
• A big fat salad with turkey, bacon, tomato & avocado with green goddess dressing
• Turkey burgers with cheese or cheeseburgers. with roasted broccoli, Brussel sprouts, a small salad, etc.
• Curries and cauliflower rice.
• A hard-boiled egg, fruits, veggies, nuts, pickles, homemade muffins and buns
• Tuna, egg, or chicken salad and then a side green salad with dressing, a piece of fruit or cut-up veggies, and nuts.
• Ham and banana pepper slices between cucumber slices. Serve with baby carrots dunked in ranch dressing *, apples with almond butter, and/or olives.
• Leftover beef roast in the Crock-Pot/instant pot *
• Spinach salad with boiled egg, avocado, and usually walnuts or almond slices - with homemade balsamic or a lemon vinegarette
• Spring mix salad with leftover meat, and diced-up veggies, topped with habanera ranch dressing...
• Avocado chicken salad. (Basically a hybrid guacamole/chicken salad) and make up some paleo naan to have it on or wrap it in romaine leaves.
• Saute broccoli, onion, mushroom, and shrimp
• Make soups and freeze them in freezer bags. Just grab and go.
• Lettuce roll-up sandwiches.
• Salad buddha bowls
• Meal-prep frozen lasagna - zucchini rounds laid side by side as the layers, then homemade cashew cheese for ricotta and a nice meat sauce. Can be easily cut into single portions and it makes a lot, so you would have plenty for weeks depending on how many days in a row you decide to eat it.
• Baked avocados with tuna and homemade mayo on top.
• A simple spaghetti sauce over zoodles * or spaghetti squash

After reading through this list I hope you can see it is easy to make lunch without dairy or grains. I hope this gives you lots of ideas.

Please comment below with your favorite Paleo lunch recipes and if I like them, I will add them to the list.

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