Asklemmy

My dirty dirty secret: I get lunch at a McDonald’s near the office where I work once or twice a week. Double quarter pounder with cheese.

I love that and I’m not ashamed to say that. 😅

I eat Subway for lunch usually, we have a decent local one and I know the owner. Not necessarily because all the food is delicious, but it gets me to eat veggies like banana peppers and olives that I wouldn't normally eat. One footling will make 2 lunches for me.

Not sure if you work from home, but if so, canned chicken can go a long way. You can make quick quesadillas, chicken salads, make rice the day or morning before and mix that with some sautéed canned chicken with olive oil and seasonings of your choice.

Another quick go to for me is gluten free nuggets and chicken patties. IMO they’re even tastier than the other common options. A little pricier though but well worth it.

Try avocado and hummus sandwiches, nutritious and tasty.

Salad. Some lettuce or spinach, a few toppings, a little dressing.

I get one of those rotisserie chickens from the store and cut the meat up. It'll last a few weeks (freezing portions of it) for not that much. Cucumber is cheap. There is an olive bar at our grocery store, I pick some of the up and sometimes make my own croutons and cut up an apple with some veggies.

On Sundays I do lunch prep for the days in office. A few slices of deli meat and block cheese for a nice flavor. Then a pile of raw veggies and a small container of dipping sauce. I prefer sliced bell pepper and green onion with ranch dressing, but you can do whatever veggies you prefer (for example spinach, sugar snap peas, carrots). I always feel great after that lunch; grains like bread or chips always made me feel lethargic.

I take it into the office in a plastic bento box to keep everything from jostling around, and the sauce goes in a smaller reusable container separately.

Black coffee.

Actually, that's breakfast. I just drink water at work and eat when I get home. After the first few days, my body adjusted. I don't get hungry at work anymore.

I ordinarily don't eat lunch. Or breakfast. I eat a large dinner. If you eat less carbohydrates your body won't feel bad when it runs out, which might be why you feel bad after eating, if it's a while after.

Today, i'm eating lunch, and it's some pasta with olive oil, dill, and some canned tuna. Most of the time I eat the pasta right out of the fridge without heating it. You don't even need olive oil if you use tuna packed in olive oil.

Other times, I'll eat some raw vegetables and a can of some sort of meat, or I'll eat leftovers. Usually cold.

I've been intermittent fasting for quite some time, and it kind of makes you reevaluate your relationship with food. A meal can certainly be a luxurious experience, or it can just be fuel to get you through your day. I actually prefer eating one large meal a day, but it does tend to increase your cortisol levels, so when i'm already very stressed I tend to eat some lunch.

Not really that cheap, but when I have the household to myself during WFH, a typical lunch consists of a wedge of blue cheese with some added apricot marmelade. I can finally stink up the house with my eclectic taste without anyone complaining.

I’ve been into making adult lunchables. I’ll have some deli meat with crackers and cheese slices, mixed nuts, fruit and hummus. It’s easy to prep, cheap and fun.

I make big batches of lentil or chickpea curry, freeze half, eat the unfrozen during the week, then next week do a different recipe, freeze half, eat the unfrozen half, then thaw the first variety I made, and so on, so I have a constant flow of frozen and different curries.

You can also just thaw one if you can't be assed to cook that week, too.

To make em into a lunch, I usually make rice and a coleslaw or other quick prep veg so you get some nutritional variety up in that batch

Came here to say hot dogs. 🌭 looks like you’ve got that covered. 😉

If I've had a cooked dinner the night before I'll have that for lunch the next day.

My partner and I have done meal prep on weekends in the past as well. That can work well if you have the space to keep food frozen for a week or two.