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3 Super Healthy Lunches You Can Make at Work

3 Super Healthy Lunches You Can Make at Work
Carly Jacobs
This post is sponsored by Praise Zero

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re you one of those people who is constantly forgetting to eat? No? Yeah, me neither. I really like eating. I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m a food lover, I’m an eating lover. When it comes to food, I eat pretty much eat anything even though I’m a very health conscious eater. I try my hardest to take my lunch with me to my office but sometimes if I have an early meeting and I’m running late, I just don’t have time to delicately slice a cucumber and make sure that I’ve packed my favourite dressing and fork.

Years ago when I worked a full time desk job, I prided myself on my ability to make a beautiful emergency lunch at work with only ingredients that I bought from the IGA across the road. I kept a sharp knife in my desk drawer and I’d assemble my wrap, sandwich or salad right before I was about to eat it. It was heaps fresher than making it the night before, I didn’t waste valuable minutes in the morning when I was running late and I had a table full of people to chat to as I sliced up my tomato and cucumber. It may be a bit Captain Obvious but sometimes we all need to be reminded that home packed lunches are really just a bunch of groceries which means that we can pack a bag of stuff to take to work and use it to make a gourmet lunch. Here are 3 super healthy lunches you can make at work… and as always under 300 calories each.

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Ham Salad Wrap 

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What to Pack 

A packet of sandwich wraps (use 1 wrap) – I buy gluten free ones but you can use mountain bread.

100 grams of ham – you can buy single packs of these to make it even easier

A bag of spinach

1 whole tomato

1 whole cucumber

A packet of low fat feta cheese (use about 1/6 of a block)

Praise Zero French with Roasted Garlic dressing

Total calories – 283

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Then you can simply assemble your wrap at work. The good thing about ham salad wraps is that they’ll last you a few days. Pop any leftovers into plastic containers or zip lock bags.

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Salmon and Egg Salad 

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What to pack 

1 small tin of salmon in spring water

A punnet of cherry tomatos

A bunch of shallots

2 hard boiled eggs

1 spanish onion

Praise Zero Balsalmic & Herbs dressing

Calories 296

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Pop your bag of food in the fridge and then chuck it in a bowl at lunch time

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Brown Rice Salad 

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What to pack

Heatable 1/2 cup of brown rice – you can buy these ready to heat at the supermarket

1 small tin of corn

1 small tin of chickpeas

1 bunch of shallots

1 green capsicum

Bunch of basil

Praise Zero Italian with Roasted Capsicum dressing

Calories – 306

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This is one of my favourite combos if I’m having a busy week. I’ll buy 3 or 4 tins of everything and just store it in my office so I always have something easy and healthy to throw together for lunch so I don’t have to resort to spending $15 on a crap salad that’s made of mostly limp lettuce.

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You may remember a few weeks ago I posted 3 Quick and Simple 300 Calorie Salad Recipes for Praise Zero salad dressings and we’ve teamed up again this week to bring you a few more healthy lunch ideas (these lunches are around 300 calories each) and to remind you about the SUPER awesome giveaway we’re running.

If your’e interested in winning a $500 voucher to a restaurant of your choice here’s how you can do it…

  1. Take a picture of your salad
  2. Instragram or Facebook the picture with the hashtag #zerosalad
  3. Tag me @smaggle on the post (so I can see you’ve done it!)

Who’s in? Let’s get on this Salad Faces!

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So tell me… what’s for lunch in your world today? Packed from home salad? Leftovers? Dirty street pie?

 

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If you want more lunch ideas and general advice on how to win at life make sure you follow Smaggle on Facebook, Twitter, Bloglovin, Instagram and if you’re really a keen bean you can sign up to the Smaggle weekly newsletter.

This post was co-ordinated by The Remarkables Group 

19 Comments

  1. Tahlia Meredith 9 years ago

    I’m really into this idea! I used to do it at my old work, where there was a Coles down the road and a big empty fridge. These days I buy lunch way more than I should, so I definitely need to get back on the ‘bring groceries, build salad at lunch’ band wagon. I wonder if anyone will notice when I take their lunch out of the fridge to make room for my own…

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 9 years ago

      Actually that’s one of the down falls of this plan is taking up too much room in the shared fridge! I often forget that this is even an option and when this popped up in my feed (most of my posts are scheduled so even I get surprised!) I was all inspired on my way into the office and bought all the stuff for the salmon salad. So excited!

  2. Kelly NH 9 years ago

    My fave lately has been to nuke a potato or sweet potato (can do this at work or at home) chuck a bit of Danish fetta or just plain grated cheese on it, then I buy a bag of fresh coleslaw veg (not the premade salad) and a tin of flavoured tuna. I have a bottle of balsamic & one of olive oil I keep at at work for my lunches. Yummo & easy peasy.
    Many times Ive bought a raw potato into work to prepare later as the kids have pretty much gone through the kitchen like a plague of locusts.

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 9 years ago

      I have a friend who ‘steams’ brocolli in her work microwave and chucks a tin of tuna on it. Such a great idea! I’ve got a huge craving for a baked potato now…

  3. I love the look of that salmon and egg salad. So going to make that for lunch! I bought a couple of those Praise Zero salad dressings on the weekend (they were on special at Woolies). They are fantastic!
    What’s my go-to lunch to eat at work? Well, we obviously have great minds and think alike, cos I’m featuring it on my blog tomorrow (cue cliffhanger music)… x

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 9 years ago

      Oh my god that IS a cliffhanger… I won’t even be able to sleep tonight! 🙂

  4. Nadine 9 years ago

    Babe, those are spring onions, not shallots. Shallots look more like mini brown onions. Or is this an Aussie-dialect peculiarity?

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 9 years ago

      I think it’s an Aussie thing, they’re definitely shallots… we also called them spring onions though. We can the mini brown onions green onions. 🙂

  5. Rachel Ann 9 years ago

    Love this. I pack lunch for myself pretty much every workday. Why should I pay for an expensive panini I’m not going to finish if I have leftovers at home? Today is butternut squash soup, salad, and a bagel.

    If I’m in a rush in the morning and can’t seem to find anything to bring for lunch I stick two eggs in a container and make scrambled eggs in the microwave at work. Microwave eggs are admittedly not the best in the world, but it works in a pinch.

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 9 years ago

      Totally and I always feel like I get a raw deal when I buy my lunch – it’s too small or it’s not fresh. I’m very rarely impressed. The scrambled eggs on the go is a great idea!

  6. raquelxmossl 9 years ago

    I’ve been known to do this on days when I’ve forgotten my lunch. I usually toss a bottle of dressing in my bag on the way out the door, and maybe a hard-boiled egg if I have some left. Then I grab some rotisserie chicken at the supermarket, some salad greens, and a few other bits and pieces.

    Except sometimes I really, really, really want a pad thai from the place across the road, and my virtue goes out the window.

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 9 years ago

      That’s the bad thing about having an awesome lunch place so close to where you work! I’m lucky – my office is right near an IGA and that’s it. But it’s pretty expensive so I usually go to the woolies on the way instead.

  7. Bec 9 years ago

    I consider myself somewhat of an office lunch expert (you should check out my deconstructed rice paper roll salad!) and I am very impressed by these. I can’t believe I never considered the instant rice.
    Side note: I’m also a champion at the office breakfast, I’ve made better poached eggs in the microwave here than on any stove top.

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 9 years ago

      Poached eggs in the microwave??? Tell me your secrets Office Food Wizard.

      • Bec 9 years ago

        They are actually amazing. Crack in egg into a tea cup, pierce the yolk with the tip of a sharp knife (but not so much so that it spills out everywhere), loosely cover the tea cup with glad wrap and microwave on medium for about 40 seconds. Check on the egg and microwave for a further 10-15 seconds if you still see clear bits of egg. Obviously it depends on the microwave though.

  8. Oh, I’d forgotten about dirty street pie! Good times, good times!

  9. Bec 9 years ago

    I am the queen of running down to coles, getting spinach, cherry tomatoes, avocado, cucumber, goats cheese and some pesto (I keep a jar in the work fridge) and a really quick arrange. People with Oporto and KFC are so jealous and say ‘o0o0o miss fancy gourmet’ and I say NO ITS SO EASY!

  10. Erika 9 years ago

    oh gawd. Lunch is the heel ends of a loaf of grainy bread and a tub of beetroot-yoghurt dip. Could be worse!

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