Sandwiches/Wraps

The easiest and safest thing to pack is a sandwich or a wrap. But that doesn’t mean it has to be the same thing every single day. To stay healthy and to keep your taste-buds tingling, use a variety of whole-grain breads, pitas and rotis filled with lean fillings like sliced eggs, tuna fish and cheese or sliced chicken breast. Add some veggies like assorted greens, sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, onions or avocados, to jazz up your wrap. The more veggies you add, the easier it is to meet your minimum-5-veggies-and fruits-per-day goal!

Salads

These definitely don’t have to be boring. Invest some time and thought in making a dressing that works for you. Vinaigrettes are obviously better than dairy based dressings like Caesar and Thousand Island. Once you’ve got the dressing sorted, change up the ingredients of your salad from day to day. On day 1, try lettuce, chicken cubes, apricots and almonds. That’s enough protein and omega 3 to give you an energy boost without a weight boost. Another day, try a pear, walnut, lettuce, and egg salad.

Pasta

Got left-over pasta from last night’s dinner? Perfect, make a pasta salad out of it. Anything from linguine to macaroni can be improvised into a pasta salad. Less penne and more broccoli, zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes, bell peppers and a little grated cheese should do the trick to keep you going through the rest of your day.

Rice Bowl

The best way to get a dose of rice, without eating too much of it, is to load a bowl with 1 part rice and 9 other parts of veggies, grains and other yummy healthy foods. Take a bit of rice and top it with rajma or chola, pieces of chicken or egg, sliced tomatoes, onions, lime juice, lettuce and sweet corn kernels and you’ve got yourself the most wholesome, hearty and nutritious lunch option. Oh, we forgot, it's the most tasty lunch option!

Stir-Fry

All those favourite veggies of yours, throw them together with some chicken, shrimp or fish and alternate until you get bored of this variant. Broccoli, chicken and baby corn for a day and shrimp, onions and zucchini another day. Use olive oil with the zucchini and soy sauce with the broccoli to bring out your favourite Asian or Mediterranean tastes. Pack some steamed white rice to accompany the stir-fry, some whole grain bread or a portion of Caesar salad to accompany your stir-fry.

If you want to look fit and healthy, never ever forget lunch or,at least, a meal that resembles it. Pack yourself an easy brown bag or lunch box meal that will satisfy you after gym, on the way to your next meeting or during your break at college or even when you’re running from a facial to pick up the kids in another part of the city. Why just limit this to you? Spread some lunch love and pack these easy lunch ideas for your kids and significant other when you can. Their good health will thank you!