Bag Lunch Ideas?

Hi everyone,

Just wondering what you all pack for lunch for school/work. I usually bring 40g of carbs (an apple, some crackers, and cheese/peanut butter) but I am desperately in need of different lunches to bring-- I'm getting tired of eating crackers and cheese every day!

Thanks!

amanda

How about a peanut butter and banana sandwich? On low-carb bread or a wrap, that's about 40gs of carbs. (And it's easy!)

Amanda,
This may not be exactly what you're looking for as it's not an idea for lunches, but more directed towards a good trick if you find your carbs varying in trying out different foods.
I bring my lunches in brown paper bags, which may sound cheesy, but it serves my purpose well: I list the foods, the food's carbs, and the total for the lunch on the outside. That way I can subtract the right about of carbs if I eat part earlier (ie when low), add to it as needed, and know the total carbs without having to memorize it each morning.
Hope this helps. I have gotten a few questions about it -- people will say, "Do you just like math?" Yeah, suuuure. I write math on my lunch bag, of all things, because it's such a main focus and almighty pleasure of my life! :)
But usually, and generally, they'll just leave it alone. Or accept the answer when you say 'It's just carbs.'

Hey Amanda,

Is there anything you're not allowed to bring to school?  Our school division has banned peanuts/tree nuts and a couple of other things.

We found pea-butter at a local healthfood store that Beemer likes, so we do sandwiches like that.

Other than that, fruit, yogurt and a small treat (like 5g CHO of something) are staples.  My wife makes homemade granola squares and fruit leather for him as well.  

I'm not on any kind of carb limit, but I like to make sure that I have a couple different kinds of fruit available throughout the week at work.  We do bananas, apples, cantelope, oranges, watermelon (in season) and honeydew.

There's a snack here in Canada that you may have as well called Sezme Snaps (come in honey or vanilla flavoured) that are about the same carbs as graham crackers.

Also...some of the carb-regular stuff becomes more tolerable if you mix it up with some free carbs like carrots, different flavours of cheeses, etc.

If you have a thermos you could also do a fruit smoothie!

Hope this helps some!

Cheers,

 

that's true---i've never brought a wrap before. But I do have some low-carb tortillas that could work.

thanks!

amanda

Hey Alyssa,

Actually at my school it's considered weird if you don't bring a paper bag lunch! No one uses lunch boxes. If I do try new lunch combos I will use your method of writing the carbs on the bag. It's hard to remember when you leave for school at 6:45 and lunch is at 10:30!

thanks for replying!

amanda

Hi James--

At my school we can bring any food we want, pb and nuts are not banned.

I've never tried pea butter. I'll ask my mom to get that the next time she stops at the healthfood store. I always bring fruit. And I kind of get on Dannon Light-and-fit yogurt kicks but then I get tired of it and stop eating it for a while. The granola squares sound good! And we actually have a fruit dehydrator so we can dry pretty much anything (apples, strawberries) and we make applesauce fruit leather occasionally. I should make another batch of that to bring to school.

Never heard of sezme snaps either. but I just looked them up on google and they sound really good. I'll add those to the grocery list too!

I love cheese. Pretty much any "normal" type, xtra sharp cheddar, mozzarella, mont. jack, ny age reserve cracker barrel...just not blue cheese or swiss cheese. I also love baby carrots! Although I don't put them in my lunch as of now. But I could...

A fruit smoothie...now that sounds good. Do you have any particular recipes?

Thanks so much for all the great suggestions!!

amanda

Hey Amanda,

 

I have found this great kind of ham (you may already have it), called Black Forest Ham.  I love it on wheat bread with either mustard or mayo.  Also, I bring baby carrots, celery, and edamame regularly, too.  Edamame is nice because it can be eaten warm or cold, and it's still quite tasty.

adding on the the wrap comments, quesadillas are good, with either corn or flour tortillas, refried beans, and monterey jack cheese.  you could also throw in some other stuff if you wanted.  for now, i've been sticking with pb & j, fruit, and part of a power bar, but sometimes i bring rice pudding, which is amazing and isn't too bad for you.  trail mix is good too.  hope this helps!

Katie--

I love quesadillas! Also I like raisins and peanuts and stuff like that so trail mix would be good. Thanks for the ideas!!

amanda