Since I’m traveling this week, no grocery post. Instead I figured I’d ask for your best tips. My mom eats a lot of refined carbs and Lean-Cuisine-style frozen meals for lunch. She’s gained a fair amount of weight and wants to lose some, and also feels like she’s in a total rut on the lunch thing; she used to like the frozen meals but now finds them boring. But at the same time, she doesn’t really like to cook, especially in the summer when it’s really hot here.
As you might see from this info, I don’t eat much like my mom 🙂 We actually have quite different tastes. She doesn’t like salty or strong flavors, and isn’t a huge fan of acid (vinegar, lemon juice, etc) either. She basically likes sweet stuff.
So, when I was trying to come up with some easy, healthy, filling lunch options that don’t require standing over a hot stove, I was struggling! Help my mom out: what are your best ideas that might fit those parameters?
Salads? Make a big whopping load of spinach-strawberry or something at the beginning of the week, take along a mild non-acidic oil-based dressing, and each day have a little bit for lunch? Not a lot of cooking (just throwing things in a bowl) and better than frozen meals.
Spinach-strawberry sounds great! Maybe with poppy seed dressing or something. I’ll pass that on.
This recipe vegan-friendly black bean fajita recipe requires some prep/cooking, but it’s delicious! Bring it over rice for a less-messy lunch-option at work.
That sounds like a great idea, but the link didn’t come through — can you post it again?
I’ve been on a cottage cheese kick for lunch. About as easy as you can get; I just buy a few cartons each week, and dump some in a bowl at lunch. One of my coworkers just brings in a few pieces of fruit, which might be better for someone who prefers something sweet. I find I’m hungry later in the day if I eat fruit.
Cottage cheese and fruit actually sounds like a great idea. I’ll pass it along.
I’m a basic sandwich kind of girl, but I think wraps are always a good idea. Buy a roast chicken at the grocery store and eat that all week with some veggies and hummus. Hummus is a great sub for mayo and is healthy and doesn’t have too strong of a flavor. I make my own several times a week.
Hummus! Yes! Great ideas all.
Smoothies could be a great option. Handful of spinach, frozen banana, scoop of peanut butter – done!
Hard boiled eggs, egg salad, tuna salad on lettuce leaves are all possibilities too.
I should totally suggest smoothies. She says she doesn’t like hard boiled eggs or tuna salad except with mayonnaise, and the mayo seems counterproductive. Too bad because those were some of the first things I thought of!
I am a sucker for “food bowls” (name needs some work). Basically a carb (like rice or beans usually), a few veggies (usually lettuce, tomatoes, avocados and normal salad stuff), and some protein (meat or boiled eggs), covered in a sauce (Soy-Vay, Peanut Sauce, salsa, or salad dressing). You can add nuts and berries too.
However, these might be a lot of calories. I eat a lot of food, so maybe I should stop suggesting things.
I love food bowls, and I also eat an awful lot of food 🙂 My mom likes them when I make them too but I think she thinks they’re too much work (her feeling, as far as I can work it out, is that she cooked for thirty years and is just kind of done with the whole thing.) Your suggestions are great, though, we’ll see if any of them work. Thanks for the website too!
I should have thought of this blog earlier… http://www.canyoustayfordinner.com/
Wraps! You can customize them with whatever you want in them – I usually have a caesar chicken one for lunch. Plus they’re easy to make!
Good call!Thanks for the idea.
Could try my diet during high school – consisted pretty much solely of chocolate, but not all that much of it 😉
My mom would definitely enjoy that, but she might want more than “not all that much” 🙂
If your mom likes sweet things, think of some of the healthy food that you make, but then add in a handful of corn… I know it isn’t a low G.I. food, but it always adds a nice sweetness to recipes, and in moderation with other low G.I. foods I think it works. I sometimes toss it in with quinoa or beans for a nice salad (with other veggies and such). I sometimes use the canned stuff, or the frozen kind thawed in the microwave… but right now corn is fresh, so you could use that… but that might add to the “cooking” factor… the easiest is probably just canned…
Oooh, good idea! Thanks!