Hello friends!
Since my recent “How to Pack Lunch in 5 Minutes Flat.” post was so popular, I’ve decided to continue this as a regular series on the blog!
Here’s your second installment, featuring my delicious lunch from today :)
On the menu for lunch:
- Mixed green herb salad with green pepper, cucumber, tomato, avocado, and tomato basil feta
- Hummus & Pita
- 2 clementines
Afternoon snacks:
- Nonfat plain Greek yogurt with 2 Tbsp. granola
- 1 kiwi
As I mentioned in my last post, I don’t usually plan my meals because it would stress me out; however, I always make sure I have healthy ingredients handy, and keep a general mental tab of what I have sitting around in the fridge because I HATE wasting food.
The only part of this lunch that took any time at all was the salad! I started with a big tupperware filled with mixed greens (this kind had fun herbs, too, yum!).
I quickly chopped some green pepper and added it to the mix:
Next up: cucumber and some grape tomatoes (which I sliced):
Followed by some almost-on-its-last-legs avocado:
And finally, topped off with this tomato basil feta!
Before closing the tupperware, I added some cracked pepper and a tiny shake of sea salt. I love fresh pepper on salads!
My advice for dressing is to store it in a little baggie in the tupperware so everything doesn’t get soggy! I love Newman’s Own Balsamic Vinaigrette, or you can make your own dressing, which is what I did today since I’m all out.
Lately I’ve been into Hemp Seed Oil instead of olive oil on my salads. It’s made from the seeds of the hemp plant and has a pleasant nutty flavor.
Don’t worry, mom and dad, hemp seeds (unlike the bud and leaves of the cannabis plant) do not contain any psychoactive molecules ;)
For my dressing today, I drizzled a little hemp seed oil into a baggie, followed by a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. I love this combo, especially with the black pepper I already put on the salad!
Store the sealed ziplock mini baggie in the top of your tupperware, and you are ready to rock!
The rest of the meal took no time at all to prepare. To accompany lunch, I grabbed a whole wheat pita and a near-empty container of hummus sitting in the fridge:
And a couple clementines:
All ready to go!
And since we know all hell breaks loose if Anne doesn’t have snacks handy, I grabbed a kiwi, a nonfat plain Greek yogurt, and bagged about 2 Tbsp. of granola (the delicious ginger one I bought in Austin!) to eat with the yogurt.
Done and done! Delicious, quick, and healthy :) Plus, so much cheaper than buying lunch out every day!
Time to get organized — tomorrow is the start of summer class — I’ll be taking Microbiology, my last prerequisite (along with the online BioChem course I’m taking through August) before school in the fall! I even bought myself a big girl backpack at Target yesterday to celebrate:
Yay! I’ve been using a little “daypack” that zips off my big traveler’s backpack, and it was time to upgrade :)
Speaking of class… remember the Nutrition project I did a month or so ago about Vitamin B12? (check out the comments on that post for some nerdy/awesome discussions!) Well, as part of that project, we had to create a flyer to “advertise” our nutrients. Mine was pretty uninspired, but my friend Dave created this AWESOME flyer for potassium, and I just had to share:
Hehehe…
Have a good one :)
I’m the same way, Anne. I HATE wasting food. I will use every scrap. Pretty sure my boyfriend thought i was crazy at first, but now he saves any leftovers of veggies/dinner bc he knows I WILL use it. That salad looks good!
your big girl backpack is awesome! i felt more grown up just looking at it (and perhaps slightly jealous ;))
I wish you could make me lunch everyday.
I’m taking notes! Today I had a complete lunch fail. It was so blah and I was completely unsatisfied. I definitely need to pack better lunches.
Just love the hemp seed oil “disclaimer” for your parents!
Good idea on the dressing in a baggie – I’ve always used little containers but they leak everywhere. Keep the tips coming!
Love these posts! Your salad reminds me of one of my favorites at Sweetgreen, Guacamole Greens, but I love your idea of adding flavored feta!
Oh, your salad looks very similar to the one I had today. I threw in some sliced strawberries into spring mix with a tomato-cucumber-mozerella ball salad. The tomato mixture was in some balsamic vinegrette dressing so I paired it with some light dressing of the same kind. It was delish! I’m really liking the idea of “easy” salads such as the one here (well the one entry of “part one” of a 5min lunch?).
The lettuce/herb mix looks fantastic! Where did you find it?
I’m a huge fan of tomato-basil feta (as well as the garlic-herb flavor) and use it in everything from wraps to omelets, to pizzas and yes, salads! So good.
I also just began Microbiology (my last prerequisite class)…Maybe we can share notes! ;-)
It’s from Trader Joe’s! But I’ve seen it at Whole Foods before, too :) And yes we should totally talk MicroBio ;)
Good luck on your summer class. I just started to take two yesterday online and wow what a course load!! I can’t wait for these 8 weeks to be done and over with.
Also I love making my own lunches for when I am on the go. I found smaller containers frm glad that are small and can contain dressing. I think they are 1/2 cup size
I loooove the baggie idea for the dressing! I will definitely start doing that instead of the extra container.
Hehehe, indeed, Anne! Lunch looks awesome. And the flyer is wonderful, too! Most impressive. Good luck with the next batch of courses…
Such a useful and TASTY looking post, Anne!
a) love Dave’s poster. so cute & funny.
b) also loving your 5 minutes flat posts – i too pack my lunch everyday and have got it down to a science – but i love learning other ideas for lunchtime creations and ways to go about getting the job done.
c) maybe you should do some other types of “5 minutes flat” posts – beyond packing lunch… i am always looking for ways to get things done quick & efficently. some ideas? 5 minutes flat of quality post run stretching, daily ab work out in 5 minutes flat, or a 5 minutes flat yoga flow (since its clear from your YOGA in the park post that a yoga instructor could be your next career move ;) ) , 5 minutes flat to the best X you’ve ever had (sangria, hummus, sandwich, etc.) , 5-minute beauty regiment, or some such…. my mind is in circles now ;)
xoxo
d)
I think I will start making my own dressing and put them in baggies! Good idea!
Awesome, I’m going to put a lot of your advice to good use! :) Great stuff for a college kid trying to build muscle.