Despite the ever-growing hype around healthy living and eating, it can still be a struggle finding light, nutritious meals in your lunch break. Many of us fall into the trap of the uninspiring meal deal sandwich. Not only do they fail to get our taste buds excited, they can be deceptively high in fat and salt, too.
Snacking has also become a permanent addition to many people’s working day, and sometimes, we don’t even realise we’re doing it. Our simplest solution to this requires filling up at lunchtime, but the right way, with interesting and tasty food to stop you reaching for the biscuits before and afterwards.
Homemade, healthy packed lunches don’t have to take hours of effort as we’ve been led to believe, with many recipes creating mouth-watering dishes suitable for Tupperware boxes in just 10 minutes.
At Northern Bootcamp, we’re reluctant to calorie count excessively, instead considering the nutritional value as a whole. So, instead of limiting ourselves to a pile of green leaves and minimal calories, we’re focusing on protein and flavour.
These are our weight loss boot camp top 3 simple but interesting work-friendly lunches, which are an ideal place to start if you’re fed up of the after-lunch, sluggish feeling at work.
Green Club Sandwich
Healthy doesn’t have to mean no bread and as a lunchtime favourite, the green club sandwich shows us how it’s done.
With only 6 ingredients – 3 slices of wholegrain bread, houmous, grilled chicken breast, an avocado, a handful of salad leaves and 8-12 cherry tomatoes – this sandwich offers an easy alternative.
Spread houmous onto each slice of toasted bread before layering half the chicken, avocado, leaves and tomato on one slice before covering with another. Repeat and cover with the third slice and you’re ready to go.
Spicy Chicken and Avocado Wraps
Avocado and chicken make another appearance in this meal, only this time we bring along some spice.
Taking only 10 minutes in a frying pan with lime juice, chilli powder and chopped garlic, you can avoid buying store-cooked packaged chicken breasts and cook your own meaning better value for money.
Keeping an eye on the chicken, warm the wraps and squash half an avocado on each and adding sliced red peppers. When you’re sure the chicken is cooked, allow to cool, then add to the wraps and roll!
Tuna and Chickpea Salad
Fish is also a tasty source of protein, high in Omega 3. Any fish could be used in this recipe depending on what you prefer making this a good go-to when wanting to mix up your menu.
This salad can be prepared the night before too, if you find you have more time there than first thing in the morning, simply add the dressing just before serving to keep the leaves crisp.
To serve 4, combine the following:
- 225g tinned tuna (drained)
- 410g chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
- 1 small red onion (finely sliced)
- 20g capers (optional)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 bag salad leaves
- Salt
- Pepper
For vegetarian alternatives, simply follow the same methods adding mixed beans, chickpeas and lentils to keep the protein levels high.
If you have any suggestions for healthy lunches, we’d love to hear them! Drop us a line on our Facebook page or Twitter feed – links at the top of the page.
