How to Pack a Cheap, Healthy Lunch for Work

Grabbing food at the nearby burger joint will cost you in the long run.

Eating out every day at work will take a big bite out of your paycheck. If you currently spend $6 eating out every day, you are spending $30 a week, $120 a month, and $1440 a year just eating out -- and $6 is a cheap lunch. Packing your own lunches can save you hundreds of dollars a year, and steer you toward healthier options. That way you won't pack on the pounds if you're sitting in a cubicle all day.

Things You'll Need

• Containers/baggies for food
• Basic cookware and food prep items
• Kitchen scale or measuring equipment

Instructions

1. Spice up your entree. Your lunches don't have to resemble the brown bagged lunches from your childhood. Swap that soggy tuna sandwich for some multigrain crackers with tuna salad. Step up a PB&J with hearty oat bread and a marmalade. Also consider deli-style salads, such as pasta salad. You can make a ton ahead of time and use it all week. Leftovers work well if you have a microwave available -- you may find yourself making extra dinner to take to work the next day. When preparing your entree, use whole-grain pastas and breads, and swap out mayo with a lower-calorie alternative. Avoid products with added sugars.

2. Choose three snacks, including a raw fruit or vegetable. Cut up an apple and coat it with lemon juice to keep it from browning. Put grapes in a baggie. Peel and cut carrots into munchable sticks. For the other snack, crackers and chips can be work if you bring only a single portion -- or try an individual serving of cheese, dry cereal or popcorn. For an afternoon snack, bring pudding or rice cakes, depending on whether you're in the mood for sweet or salty.

3. Pour home-brewed iced tea into a water bottle, or add 1 tsp. of your favorite drink mix to a water bottle for your drink. You could also put your morning coffee in a plastic cup and chill it in your work fridge for an iced coffee in the afternoon.

4. Choose an auxiliary snack: We all want to hit the vending machines at 3:00. To avoid this pitfall, pack an extra snack according to what you crave. Do you crave sweets? Try a single serve pudding or a serving of cookies. Salty or crunchy? How about a few rice cakes? Whatever you take, it will still likely be better than what you would've eaten.

Tips & Warnings

• Some dinners can easily be portioned into individual containers and frozen, just like your favorite TV dinners. This works great with casseroles, not so much with good cuts of meat, lone cooked vegetables, or eggs.

• Pack your lunches the night before. Incorporate your lunch into your nightly routine -- it will be much easier than scrambling around in the morning.

• Be considerate of your coworkers. Avoid particularly smelly or loud foods if you are around people all day. You may even want to start packing food to share!

References

• Eating Well: Cheap Healthy Lunch Ideas for Work