Back in 2016, I wrote a post about Back to School lunches that focused on how to feed your children a paleo diet. Even though we homeschool, we pack lunches for many other occasions than just school, so I have lots of experience in this area! If you’re struggling with what to feed your paleo littles, check out that post.

Even though that article focused more on children, those lunch ideas would certainly be acceptable for adults as well. After all, we’re all people! Just some are bigger and some are smaller. 🙂

But this post is focusing more on adult-friendly meals, some that can be prepared ahead and packed for taking on the road, whether that means eating in your car or at a desk, and others are geared toward a quick lunch at home. These are all just general ideas which you can use as a springboard to invent hundreds of meal ideas that will keep you humming along in your day and help keep your health in check!

Take-along lunches:

Hard-boiled eggs – go ahead and peel them at home for less mess. If you’re feeling fancy, make egg salad.

Beef jerky or meat sticks (my favorite: Chomps original beef)

Almond butter packets (my favorite: Justin’s Classic)

Celery, carrots, jicama, other crisp veggies you love (these are great with the almond butter and can go unrefrigerated for a few hours without problem)

Apples, bananas, berries (any fruit in it’s own package or already washed and cut up for easy transport)

Green leaves (any green you like, but spinach is my favorite because it’s so mild and hearty enough to travel well) – add lunch meat to make quick roll-ups – put the leaves inside the meat for a sort of reverse roll-up

Small containers of dip, guacamole, or dressing – you can buy individual cups of mashed avocado at many grocery stores, including Costco and they’re perfect for travel.

Perhaps the most obvious lunch of all is leftovers. I usually plan dinner to make five servings (for my family of four) so there is one lunch left for my husband the next day. Other times, I double a recipe and portion it out into many servings and stick those in the freezer. Casseroles and soups and stews typically freeze really well.

Regarding those leftover soups and stews: Pour boiling water into a thermos and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. Heat soup on stove or microwave, pour hot water out of thermos, pour in hot soup. This method should keep your soup hot until lunch time. This works for leftover casseroles as well.

Smoothies – any shape or form you like

 

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Quick lunches you can make at home:

Egg scramble – this can include leftover meats and vegetables with a couple fresh eggs cracked into the skillet once everything else is hot or start fresh with your favorite sausage and chopped veggies. To keep things fast, just chop everything pretty small so it cooks quickly.

Salad: I’m not sure why, but most people think of salad as a quick and easy meal, but it can take time to chop all those veggies and prepare your protein. Not to mention making a homemade dressing. To make this go more quickly through the week, make your dressing and chop your veggies over the weekend then just assemble when it’s time. If you’re taking salad to work, layer in your container like this: dressing on the bottom, then protein, veggies, greens and any crispy/crunch toppings on top.

Hamburger (or turkey burger or chicken burger – you get the idea) with vegetables. Either have leftover vegetables or choose quick cooking ones like mushrooms, squash and greens. Place the burger patty in your skillet, sear on one side, flip over then scoot to the side and add the veggies to the skillet. In less than 10 minutes, you have lunch. (I’ll be doing this on Facebook live soon!) Make this faster by pre-chopping your vegetables and making a bunch of burger patties and stashing them in the freezer. If defrosted, they will cook in under 10 minutes. From frozen, allow 15 minutes.

Do the same as above, but use a fish filet instead of a burger. Fish will cook in 6-8 minutes depending on the thickness of the filet so add the veggies in at the beginning.

If you eat some grains, such as rice, cook extra over the weekend and have that ready to heat up quickly to go along with your protein and vegetables.

Prepare a charcuterie platter for one: some deli meats, raw veggies, nuts, fruits, olives, etc. Whatever you like! You can, of course, take this sort of lunch to work as well, but it requires a fancy divided container or lots of little baggies, so I think this one works best at home.

The real secret here – well, I guess it’s not a secret anymore – is that these meals are perfect anytime of day, not just lunch. Think of all those nights when you’re too tired or stressed to cook or simply don’t feel like it. These quick meal ideas are perfect for those times. Healthy fats and protein with some fruits and/or veggies makes a perfect meal. Dinner doesn’t have to be cooked fresh nightly and look like a roast chicken and baked sweet potato! Nourishment is nourishment. My kids actually love it when we have a cold dinner like a charcuterie platter. There’s something fun about finger food and getting a little bit of lots of things.

I guess the bottom line here is to think outside the box. Lunch doesn’t have to look like a sandwich and a bag of chips.

What’s your favorite lunch? Either on the go or at home. Let us know because we all need more ideas!