Packing the Perfect Low Carb Lunch
Packing the perfect low carb lunch really isn’t as hard as you think. Clean eating can be easy, and low carb clean eating can be just as easy too. You just need to follow some simple guidelines, pick and choose what you want and pack it away in neat containers for lunch. Take your low carb lunch on the go to work, school, meetings, or wherever you need to go. Or just eat at home as is. We’ve created a list plus infographic below for how to pack healthy lunches for work using different elements of a good lunch (protein, veggies, fruits, fats, snacks), plus we give some ideas of combos. Hope you find it useful.
Low Carb Lunch Components
How to pack healthy lunches for work or school or whatever is pretty simple really. Pick and choose from the categories below. At least 1 protein, 1 veggie and 1 fruit… but honestly, you could do what you want. Make it a salad or keep the food items separate. It’s your choice on how to pack your clean eating low carb lunch. You could even meal prep ahead of time if you wanted.
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-Pick and Choose-
Proteins: tofu, tempeh, beans, bean burger patty, veggie patty, egg(s), chicken salad or tuna salad (with Greek yogurt not mayo), chicken breast (roasted or baked), turkey breast (roasted or baked), salmon (roasted or baked), tuna (roasted or baked), shrimp (boiled, sauteed, etc), cottage cheese or Greek yogurt.
Veggies: Virtually any veggie are great! Some of the best are leafy greens like spinach, dark green lettuces, arugula and kale; green cabbage, purple cabbage, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, red bell pepper, beets, broccoli, carrots (shredded or sliced/diced how you like).
Fats/Oils: avocado, nuts, seeds, nut butter (peanut, almond, etc), tahini, olive oil and vinegar vinaigrette with dried herbs.
Fruits: apple slices, orange, grapefruit, melon, kiwi, pear slices, berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries). NOTE: You could leave out the fruit for even lower carb!
Extra Snacks/Sides: extra veggie slices (cucumber, carrot), hummus for dipping veggies, extra apple slices, nut butter for dipping apple slices, yogurt. And don’t forget the WATER! Drink up!
Low Carb Lunch Examples
From the components above we’ve put together 8 examples of what you can have as a clean eating low carb lunch. These are healthy lunches for work, school or wherever!
- 1 cup Chicken salad with Greek yogurt, 1 cup salad greens, 6 cherry tomatoes, a few cucumber slices, olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette, 1 apple sliced with 1 TBSP almond butter for dipping.
- 1/3 block tofu (diced), 1 cup salad greens, 1 heaping TBSP hummus, 1 TBSP fresh salsa, 1/4 avocado diced, 1 large tomato diced. Mix all that up into a salad (the hummus & salsa creates a creamy dressing). 1 cup berries & 2 TBSP sunflower seeds as a snack.
- 1/4 cup black beans, 1 large tomato diced, 1/4 cucumber diced, 1 TBSP finely diced red onion, 1/4 cup finely shredded purple or green cabbage, 1/4 avocado diced, 1-2 TBSP cilantro lime vinaigrette. Mix up to enjoy a nice bean/veggie salad. Almonds and dried cranberries for a snack.
- Roasted chicken breast with herbs/spices and some olive oil, steamed broccoli & carrots, 1/2 grapefruit as a snack.
- Broccoli, red onion and cabbage cooked in a pan with 1 TBSP water (slightly steaming and sautéing at the same time), some Braggs liquid aminos (soy sauce would work too, or just salt), dried herbs and ground black pepper. Serve with a black bean patty and 1/4 sliced avocado. Have an orange on the side as dessert or a snack later.
- 1 cup Tuna salad (with Greek yogurt instead of mayo), 10 large butter lettuce leaves to wrap tuna in to make tuna wraps. Have cucumber slices and cherry tomatoes on the side as a snack or add to wraps. Pear and whole almonds or mixed nuts as a snack. You could also do these Cucumber Tuna Boats instead.
- Grilled salmon fillet with olive oil and herbs. 3 cups steamed kale (it shrinks dramatically). Cup strawberries. 1/4 cup peanuts.
- 2 cups spinach, 2 hard boiled eggs (sliced), 1 tomato sliced, red onion sliced, salad dressing of your choice. Cup of watermelon as a snack.
