Easy nutritious lunches that will leave you feeling incredible!
I’m going to start this post with a trigger warning for anyone in recovery from eating disorders or just trying to break away from diet culture. There will be absolutely no discussion of calories or intentional weight loss but I will be discussing the nutritional breakdown of my recipes from a balanced diet perspective. As well as being So. Damned. Good they also come packed with a lot of the vitamins your body needs each day. It’s win/win! I do sometimes follow them up with a cheeky blondie. It’s not included in easy nutritious lunches normally but fruit in them so good nutrition right 😉
Sound good?
Ok now we’ve covered that today I’m going to share with you three of my favourite meals which I prep on Sunday ready for the work week. I do find this key in making sure I have easy nutritious lunches ready to roll. I’m often tired after work each day so if I haven’t prepped in advance then I’m likely to just think “oh I’ll just buy something at work tomorrow!” I won’t go so far as to say it’s impossible to pick up a healthy choice when out and about but it is more difficult. The bigger retailers pay lip service to offering healthy options but most of them are fairly deficient in terms of nutrition. Subway salads are a decent option but not as good as you can make yourself and about 3 times as expensive!
Chicken and Egg Salad
Ingredients
Leaves – I use a mix of 20g of spinach and 15g of Babyleaf salad but feel free to use what you like
8-10 piccolo cherry tomatoes halved
90g cucumber – I chop into strips but feel free to freestyle 🙂
50g red/yellow pepper chopped into cubes
10g seed mix. I use one with hemp, sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Great healthy,fats and a nice crunch
1 large hard boiled egg
50g of hummus. I like Moroccan but use what works for you.
180g chicken breast. You can either cook this yourself and play around with flavours or for ultimate ease buy the pre cooked stuff and just toss in. Do check the salt content though!
Method
It’s ok, I haven’t lost my mind! I know there’s no real method to making a salad! Personally I add the ingredients in the order I’ve listed them above. Start with a good bed of leaves followed by the salad staples, tomato and cucumber, before moving on to the crunch with peppers and seeds. I then just cut the egg into wedges, dollop on the hummus and sprinkle over the chicken. I tend to make 3 at a time as a salad doesn’t really keep well any longer than 3 days.
Once I’ve cooked the chicken it takes me literally 20 minutes on a Sunday afternoon to put this together and know I have a lunch that is nutritious and will keep me full for the first 3 days of the week. Some Sundays I have leftover chicken from lunch and it’s even easier. It provides lots of nutritients too. If you make each portion in the same quantities and with the same ingredients I do then you’ll get the following:
32.5g of carbs
48.3g of protein
18.6g of fat
8.4g of your 30g daily target of fibre
129% of your daily vitamin C
16.4g of calcium
Packs quite a punch right?
Chicken, Kale and Bean soup
One of the nicest things on a cold winter’s day is to hang out in the kitchen whipping up a batch of filling, warming soup! If you’re anything like me it’s feels so soothing and comforting 🙂 If you’re not that’s ok too, you can just feel productive.
Ingredients
600g of chicken cubed. I use breast but you can use thighs if you like or a mix of the two!
400g tin of beans. I like a three bean mix of kidney, cannellini and haricot but it’s your choice.
2 handfuls of chopped kale, the tough stalks removed
2 handfuls of spinach.
175g of onion
200g chopped carrots (I’m lazy and use frozen!)
100g frozen petit pois
100g frozen sweetcorn.
2-3l stock depending on the size of your pot. I have literally never made my own stock but if you do then go for it! I use 2 chicken stock pots by knorr to make up mine. Stock pots have a lower salt content than stock cubes but be aware it is still high.
A little olive oil
Method
- Add the olive oil and over a low heat sweat the onions until they’re soft. Tip. A pinch of salt can help stop them catching.
- Add the chicken and mix through. Continue to cook on a low heat for another 5 minutes.
- Wash the kale and spinach in a colander and add it to the pan. Cook stirring occasionally til the spinach and kale reduce down a little.
- Rinse the beans, use the same colander as the spinach to save washing up!
- Add them to the pan and stir them in thoroughly.
- Add enough hot stock to come around 2/3 of the way up the pan and turn the pan up to medium.
- Once the soup has come to a boil add the peas and sweetcorn.
- Bring the pan back to the boil and then reduce to a simmer.
- I like to leave the pan cooking on a low heat for at least an hour to give the flavours time to meld together. If you’re short of time you can do it less but I’d say no less than 30 minutes.
- When you feel the soup is ready add salt and pepper to taste. Remember it’s easier to add extra than take it out so if in doubt add gradually! Also if you’re using stock cubes or pots these are already high in salt so taste first to make sure it’s needed.
This makes 5 portions comfortably for me. If you don’t feel like eating the same soup 4 or 5 days in a row it does freeze well too. Now let’s take a look at the nutrition…
Carbohydrates 22.1g
Protein 35.2g
Fat 2.5g
Fibre 8.5g
190% of your daily vitamin A
14% of your daily vitamin C
15% of your daily calcium
550mg potassium (men need 3400 per day and women 2800)
That’s a lot of good stuff isn’t it? Plus the high protein content will keep you full longer.
Buddha Bowls
Buddha bowls have been all over Pinterest for a while now and there are literally hundreds of recipes out there. If you search for easy, nutritious lunches there they are front and centre. For this post all I’m going to do is give you the rundown on how a bowl is put together before giving you my current favourite mix. Ok? Let’s go!
Buddha bowls have a lot of different components that come together to make one glorious whole! They can easily be made vegetarian, vegan, gluten free or any dietary need or preference you might have. You can stick to a theme with your ingredients – make it Mexican or Oriental – or you can go nuts and throw in whatever makes you most excited to eat it. So the parts of a Buddha bowl…
1. Green base – could be leaves, spinach, kale or a mix
2. Starch/Carbs – rice, potato, sweet potato, quinoa, couscous or lentils
3. Vegetables (as colourful as possible) – broccoli, Brussels sprouts, peppers, sugar snaps, Beetroot, celery (bleurgh!), cucumber, carrots or tomato
4. Protein (the part that keeps you full) – chicken, pork, salmon, boiled egg, chickpeas or edamame
5. Healthy Fats – avocado, nuts, seeds, hummus or a little flavoured olive oil.
6. Get saucy – lime juice, sriracha, soy or vinaigrette
My Buddha Bowl
This is not an exhaustive list as we’d be here all day! It just gives you a flavour of how you can put a bowl together. Now, as promised, here’s my current fave.
My green base is a mix of spinach and kale wilted down in a pan with a little stock. I use chicken but it’s up to you.
My starch is always brown rice. I cook enough to make 3-4 portions.
For veg my constants are tomato, cucumber and pepper but I sometimes add broccoli, sugar snaps or brussel sprouts. I roast these from frozen in a little garlic oil, salt and pepper. SO good!
Protein is nearly always chicken breast. I either oven bake them plain or sometimes cook them in teriyaki sauce. I often add edamame for an extra hit as well as crunch.
Healthy fats I always add a mix of seeds for a lovely crunch. I also add almonds or cashew nuts dry fried in a hot frying pan to toast them.
My current favourite sauce for EVERYTHING is crucial yoghurt and mint. It takes this bowl to another level!
Carbohydrates 51.5g
Protein 64.6g
Fat 25g
Fibre 10.9g
Calcium 104% of your daily needs. Take that milk!
Potassium 919mg
Vitamin A 381% of your daily needs
Vitamin C 251% of your daily needs
Don’t you feel your body getting stronger and healthier just reading these ingredients and nutrients?
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading through my favourite work week lunches and it’s given you some ideas about how to shake up your lunchtime routine. If you feel there’s anything I’ve missed or would like to leave your own ideas I’d love to hear about them in the comments. Please do remember though that although these recipes are on the healthier end of the scale I eat plenty of food from the other end too! Especially in restaurants! I tend to post these on my Instagram feed so be sure to take a look!
