Bag Lunch

Bag Lunch

Healthy Weight Loss and the Brown Bag Lunch

Eating out for lunch everyday can get expensive. Not only is it taxing on your wallet, but it's also not very diet-friendly.  If you're finding that you spend lots of money on lunch each week and want a better way to control your caloric intake, why not consider brown bagging it.

If you're not a fan of the standard sandwich and side dish lunch, you've definitely got options. I hit upon the idea of utilizing the company fridge to store my lunch fixings. Fruit, a week's worth of lean meat and low-fat cheese and gourmet mustard can be packed in a small brown bag and stored in the refrigerator at work.

Shop your local Costco, Wal-Mart or wherever the bargains are in your town and purchase some thinly sliced Baby Swiss and Jarlesberg light cheese, as well as thin deli-sliced turkey and chicken – enough for two weeks. My bread choice was Orowheat Light whole wheat bread, which tastes good and is smaller than a normal piece of bread.  Two slices has the same amount of fat, calories and protein as one slice of regular whole wheat bread. When I got home I froze half of my food, and the other half went with me to work.

Some people may need more variety than I require, so you can vary your lunch using different meats and cheeses, adding lettuce, cucumbers or sprouts, and trying different varieties of mustards. Add some carrots or celery sticks with a delicious white bean dip that you can easily make yourself. Finish up with a piece of fruit for dessert. You will soon find that your wallet is getting fatter while your waist is getting slimmer.

Creamy White Bean Dip

Bon Appétit – July 2003

Yield: Makes about 1 ¼ cups

1 15-oz. can cannellini (white kidney beans), drained

1 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 ½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 large clove garlic, peeled

¾ teaspoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Puree first five ingredients in processor until almost smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer dip to small bowl. (Can be prepared one day ahead; cover and refrigerate.) Mix mint, dill, and lemon peel in a small dish; sprinkle over dip.

Per tablespoon: Calories 23; Total fat 1 gram; Saturated fat 0 grams; Cholesterol 0 grams

About the Author

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What are some creative, healthy, and tasty bag lunch ideas for when school begins again?

I am trying to eat well for my next semester in college. My body feels better and my mind learns better when I'm not so sluggish from processed foods. I'm trying to eat organic and whole foods, but it can be very limited when trying to pack a lunch from home. Last semester, I ate mostly protein bars, granola, salad, and fruit, and drank coconut waters. This is good sometimes, but gets old very fast. What are some other tasty, easy, natural lunches I can pack up and take to eat between classes?

You know you have be careful even with granola bars and "protein" bars if you're trying to eat healthy. A lot of those things are loaded with so much sugar and carbs, it becomes nothing more than a cookie with little or no nutrients despite the labels (deceiving too..a little cookie bar does not qualify as "2 or 3 servings!). Good for you though for wanting to eat healthy.

What you can do is do your food prep on the weekends or briefly during the week and use tupperware containers and ziplock bags ready to go when you're out the door and don't have time to prepare meals.

Chopped up carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers or any other veggie of your choice can be cleaned & cut in about 10-15 min to last you all week. Cereal bowls sealed lids along with small liquid tupperware thingies for your milk and a plastic spoon and waalaa..cold cereal (add flax seeds, raisins, bananas, strawberries, rasberries, blueberries, [prepared beforehand] to make a healthier meal on the go), you can blend up your favorite fruits up and save it in a pitcher then in the mornings you add ice to a blender with the fruit mixes and you got a healthy smoothie to go (add protein too if you'd like), a simple salad with green leaf lettuce, almonds, (tomatoes in a ziplock bag), onion, bellpepper (simple quick stuff) and a small squeezie bottle for your olive oil & balsimic vinegar dressing (add chicken if you'd like. For chicken just throw some rinshed off peices in the oven covered or uncovered in the oven for one hour at 325 degrees (add garlic salt & pepper if you'd like) and you got chicken to for the whole week or to add to your salad.

A food processor could help you make some pretty healthy juicies as well. A crockpot will do you lots of good too. You can throw anything you want pretty much inside, take off for 6-8 hours and dinner or lunch is ready when you get back and it does not burn or do anything terrible to your food. You have so much to learn about food my young friend!

How To Make Creative and Delicious Bag Lunches