WIAW: 5 Lunch and Snack Ideas (Mostly Vegetarian Friendly!)

Growing up I watched my parents pack lunches for my brother and I (and themselves) almost every single day. I could probably count the number of times I ever bought lunch. So it makes sense that most work days Mike and I pack our lunches, but just to add some complexity, we normally have to pack two "lunches": one for lunch time, and one to eat on the way to tutoring for dinner/supper. They have to be portable, able to eat cold, and not a sandwich everyday.

And even more confusing: Typically I pack breakfast, a morning snack, lunch, a afternoon snack and sometimes even supper. (I will have a blog post about breakfasts at some point, but for now I will focus on lunches and snacks!) 

This means that I have packing my lunch and snacks almost down to a science! Morning snack is almost always almonds, fruit, and dried fruit. Lunch is as detailed below, afternoon snack is veggies and a protein. Packing my lunch everyday means I save some skrillz, and keeps me eating healthy. Don't get me wrong, I love a good sushi take out once and a while, but I try to pack my lunch most days!

Two things: 1. I'm not a vegetarian, however in making this post I realized most of the meals are veggie friendly! 2. I get fruit at work, so the fruit I typically eat is unpictured, but add an apple or banana or even sometimes fruit salad to the pictures below!

Lunch idea 1: Leftovers

I know it seems simple, but some of my favourite lunches are leftovers. Especially when I have to eat supper on the run (normally a wrap), having a warm lunch is pretty tasty. Most things can be packed as lunches. I like stir fry, rice an beans etc. I do not bring fish leftovers to work (only exception is tuna salad). I don't want to be that one person who makes the office smell like fish!

From lower right cc:
Breakfast Egg and Veggie Scramble
Lunch Chickpea, Zucchini and Garlic Scapes with Rice (leftovers)
Snacks: Cucumber, Almonds, Yogurt, Carrots, Hummas

Lunch Idea 2: Soups

Same idea of the leftovers, make a big pot of soup and I have lunch for days! I keep my soups full of veggies and protein (this one is Tuscan bean soup with Kale...veggie friendly). I normally either put a carb in the soup (rice, potatoes) or I will eat some pita with the soup to give me energy for the rest of the day. 

Tuscan Bean Soup

Lunch Idea 3: Salad

Just after Christmas I bought this lunch contraption to try to simplify lugging so many containers to work/around Toronto. Salad is my go to lunch, but truthfully it can be unsatisfying. I pump up my salads with FLAVOUR aka salsa. I can pretty much eat anything with salsa on it and think it is delicious. To keep my salad's filling I typically top them with beans or chicken. 

Lunch: Romaine Lettuce Salad with Sprouts, Black Beans and Salsa
Snacks: Dates, Almonds, Strawberries, Veggie Pulp Muffin, Babybel, Turkey Pepperoni stick, cucumber

 Even leftover salads have been know to turn into lunch:

Lunch: Iceberg Lettuce, Chickpeas, Peppers, Tomatoes, Avocado, Tahini Dressing
Snacks: Almonds, Dates (not pictured), Hummus, Carrots, Turkey Pepperoni, Babybel

Lunch Idea 4: Wraps
I eat a lot of wraps more for dinner than for lunch, as my dinner has to be consumed on the go! My favourite wraps include hummus and salsa (I put that stuff on everything!) and lots of veggies. Other alternatives include chicken, ham and cheese etc...oh and "Burritos" made out of veggies!

Burritos on tortilla or on Collard greens
Refried Beans, Rice, Black Beans, Sprouts, Salsa, Plain Greek Yogurt, Cheese

Lunch idea 5: Snacky Lunch
Imagine this as grown up lunchables. It is really just a bunch of snacky things thrown together for a lunch:

Turkey Pepperoni, Veggies, Cheese, Pita

Here is how that concept pans out for a full day of food, I used this concept for a snacky dinner:

Breakfast: Cereal, Greek yogurt
AM Snack: Dates, Almonds
Lunch: Open faced Burger sandwich (the burger is in the upper left container)
PM Snack: 1/4 Avocado, Strawberries
Post Hot Yoga: Granola Bar
Dinner: Small baked Potato, Snowpeas, 2 Hard-boiled Eggs, 1/4 Avocado

There ya have it...5 lunch ideas, nothing too ground breaking, but still tasty! Oh I forgot the most important bit: I make my lunches/dinners/snacks the night before, because if I didn't I would end up being lazy in the morning, and having to buy my breakfast lunch and dinner!!

What is your favourite "on the go meal"? Anyone else get super lazy in the morning and end up buying everything to eat that day?