Anatomy of a Lunch Bag

Hi there!

It's a rainy, gloomy Tuesday, but it's warm out, so I can't complain, right? The week is off to a good start.

Sorry I've left you hanging a bit lately. We had one full week of Penelope hit with sickness and last week just flew so fast that I can't believe it's been two weeks since I've posted! Yowza.

Anyhow while time continues to fly, I wanted to talk about something super important today...something that permeates my mornings, afternoons and evenings.

The lunch bag.

This is simultaneously one of my favorite and least favorite things.

I love having a fully stocked lunch bag every day, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't take a lot of planning and prep. Over the last few months, we've really been trying to be conscious of what were eating while also going easy on our wallets. And that means bringing both breakfast and lunch to work 4 out of 5 days per week and saving the ordering in for just once or twice a week. That means we often order in on Friday or Saturday night only, and only buy lunch once per week, usually on Friday.

I've found that while it does take a little planning and time either before bed or in the morning (mostly the latter, consisting of me running around like a madwoman to pack both my and Penelope's lunch bags for the day...), both Shaun and I feel better knowing what we'll be eating for the day and hardly having to open our wallets during the week.

Our breakfasts and lunches don't typically vary too much. We all like what we like and I try to prep and pack as much as I can each Sunday before the week begins. And usually it means a lot of food being carted to and from work and daycare.

When I'm planning what we'll eat for the week, I typically start with the core item...is it going to be a sandwich week? Salad? Soup? And then build out from there with fruit, veggies and snacks.

This week, Shaun and I are going sandwich style. Shaun and I then load up and bring snacks like yogurt, fruit (clementines are our recent favorite), carrot chips and hummus and maybe a string cheese or applesauce.

To give you a peek inside this week's lunch:

Breakfast - low sugar oatmeal packet w/1 Tbsp peanut butter {6 Points+}

Lunch - turkey sandwich with a pickle slice and Laughing Cow light creamy Swiss, acting as both cheese and mayo. I usually toast the bread in the office. On the side, I'll eat carrot chips with 2 Tbsp hummus. {8 Points+}

Snacks - Greek yogurt, 2 clementines {2 Points+}

I try to balance it all out and most importantly, I never {ever} want to be caught hungry at the office without a healthy snack around. I don't typically eat both of my extra snacks, but I like having a back-up...just in case it's an extra hungry kind of day.

This menu is pretty typical for me. Of course I also drink lots of water and tea, plus my morning coffee. And for 16 Points+, I think this is a lot of food.

And as for packing it all up? You can tell I'm a container freak. I have lots of 'em and in many different sizes. You can never have too many when you're packing 3 full lunch bags every day.

So that's a typical day in the life of my lunch bag. I do tend to get a little bored, so I'm always looking for suggestions...please share them!

What do you pack in your lunch bag?

Comments

[emily (a nutritionist eats)]

I am a fellow breakfast and lunch packer! I usually switch between salads and avocado toast with turkey and one random day of eating out, frozen meal, etc. It is a pain to plan ahead and prep and pack and schlep but so worth it to me!

[Kimberly]

Ahhh...it really is SO much work. I am so sick of sandwiches, last night I spent lots of time prepping veggie bowls for the week and woke up at 6 today to cook quinoa! In my bowl is roasted mushrooms, zuchinni, squash, shredded chicken, quinoa and low fat feta! Here's hope its filling...I also bring avocado toast for a snack!

[Julie]

As much as I love variety in my life, especially my food choices, I am somehow ok with bringing the same thing to work almost every day. It used to be pb&j sandwiches (a throwback to the good ol' elementary school days??), but now I almost always have a spinach and romaine salad with grape tomatoes, croutons and dressing (currently raspberry vinaigrette but this does change), an apple, baby carrots, a yogurt cup, and a granola bar. Now that I'm pregnant with #2, I usually toss in an extra piece or two of fruit and maybe an extra granola bar. There are many things I'd rather eat (cookies! potato chips! gummy bears!) but by packing my lunch and not including those, I can stay away. Once I get home, however, all bets are off but at least I can feel good about my food choices made until then.