What’s For Lunch? | 3 On The Go Lunches

I work in an office, which means that four days a week I take my lunch to work. Going out for lunch doesn’t seem like a good use of my time, energy or money. I like having a quiet lunch break where I can watch a show or catch up on Instagram stories, so I don’t want to spend half of it in the drive through line.

Over the years I’ve learned (the hard way) that the key to success in workday lunches is planning ahead! Sometimes I take leftovers or the standby sandwich + chips + fruit, but most often I prepare something ahead of time specifically for lunch.

Here are three recipes I’ve enjoyed in my lunches recently!

Southern Italian Chicken Soup

I made this for our supper but then enjoyed the leftovers for lunch a couple days. The addition of the cheese tortellini and the southern veggies makes this such a nice change from regular chicken soup!

Here’s my tip for making it even easier – use a rotisserie chicken! I pull the meat off the bones and store it separately.

After I heat the soup, I put cold chicken in the bowl and top it with the hot soup. It heats the chicken without overcooking it!

Slow Cooker Chicken Chili

This is SUCH a delicious recipe! I only let it cook for 2 1-2 to 3 hours on high. I can’t stand overcooked chicken, so I pull it out and check the temp with my meat thermometer to know when it’s done.

I make a full batch of this, let it cool and then ladle individual servings into ziploc sandwich bags. Those go into a gallon freezer bag and live in the freezer until the night before I need one. I let one serving defrost in the fridge overnight and by lunchtime it’s thawed enough to remove from the sandwich bag and pop in the microwave.

Individual Layered Mexican Dip

I saw Paula Deen make this on Monday morning and went right into my kitchen to make it, using ingredients I had on hand! I used leftover taco meat instead of bean dip and it was so good. You could assemble the dip in small containers or mason jars and have them ready to go for the week!

I replace my lunch tote every so often – right now I’m carrying this one that’s less than $6 on Amazon! It’s not insulated, but I don’t need it to be and it wipes clean so easily.

If you need ideas for kids’ lunches for school, my friend Whitney at Polka Dotty-Place shares great ideas on Instagram. Follow her hashtag #polkadottyplaceyumbox to see all her adorable kid lunches!

Which one of these recipes will you try? What’s your favorite thing to take for a work day lunch?

More Lunch Ideas:

• Kale and Quinoa Salad (with the story about our reptile infested office…)
• Brown Rice Burrito Bowls