Easy Light Meals for Lunch

Do you find yourself running out of enthusiasm later in the day? A lack of hunger at lunchtime is not really a good indicator of what your body needs.

Healthy, energy-packed lunches are the key to successful afternoons, so it is important to eat a healthy lunch in order to fuel your body, even if you do not feel particularly hungry. Trust us, your body will thank you for it.

We all know that eating healthy meals is important to maintaining your energy, focus, and wellbeing, especially at work. So why is it that lunch is usually the first meal to be discarded when you have too much on your plate?

Food is the fuel that powers every system in our bodies, which means that almost every part of your body is impacted when you skip a meal. And when your energy runs low, you might be tempted to turn to cheat food for a quick burst of energy.

Snack foods like biscuits, chocolate, and even cake with your coffee do not provide you with the sustenance and nutrition that your body needs to get through the day. So leave the coffee and cake for morning tea and try some of our favourite healthy lunch ideas.

Before we give you some ideas for great lunches that will get you through the day, we have some tips to help you make a habit out of eating lunch.

Why should I eat a meal at lunchtime?

Why do people skip lunch so often?

When you are busy at work, and under pressure to meet deadlines, eating can be the last thing on your mind. And while most people understand the effect of good nutrition on their energy levels, it can be easy to make a habit out of skipping lunch. When you skip lunch, you are training your body to be less hungry during the day.

While this might seem like a benefit for many people because they believe this will lead to weight loss, this is actually a myth as your body still needs those calories for you to be at your best.

We generally skip meals due to one of these three factors:

• Time (or not making the time)

• Not planning what we are going to eat in advance

• Not enough healthy lunch ideas

So, to help you make the most of your lunchtime, in this article, we will discuss time, planning, and inspiration.

1. Time

We all have 24 hours in a day, so while you cannot make time you simply do not have, you can make the most of what you do. You will often find that refuelling your body in the middle of the day gives you the energy you need to be more productive in the afternoon.

If you are like many people in the mornings and are running late and do not have time to prepare a meal for lunchtime, there are simple changes you can make to your dinner preparation each evening which will prove beneficial.

A lot of people will make a big batch of soup or an easy dinner at night time and take the leftovers to work for lunch the next day. This is a great healthy lunch idea as it fits well with our desire to avoid food wastage. If you make a healthy dish the night before, by all means, take it to work with you for lunch the following day. A few minutes in the microwave, and your lunch is ready to go.

Even a simple sandwich can cover some of the nutrition that you need to succeed in your day; an egg salad sandwich or a tuna salad sandwich are both healthy lunch ideas. Another delicious alternative is a fresh fruit salad. But the important part is finding the time to fuel your body.

2. Plan your lunches ahead of time

If you are already planning your dinners, it only takes a little bit of extra time in your week to plan your lunch too. If you are not, we have some simple ideas for you to follow.

Here are our tips:

Do your planning on the weekend

If you work Monday to Friday, Sundays are common meal prep days. But you can really do your planning on any day, as long as you take the time to do it. Think of a day that would suit you to plan your healthy lunches and make a note of it in your diary. Committing to the practice is the first step to forming a healthy habit.

Make a list

Think about your favourite healthy lunch ideas and write them all down. What about the facilities you have access to where you work? Do you have a refrigerator to store your fresh salad in? Is there a stove or microwave to warm up hearty soups?

While you are thinking, create a shopping list of all the ingredients you will need and think of lunch recipes that you can make ahead of time.

Can you reuse some of the ingredients that you have leftover from dinner?

If you have healthy ingredients for some lunch recipes in the fridge and pantry, this will set you up for success.

Meal preparation

Some people swear by meal preparation, you can make a few days of lunches at once and leave them in the fridge. If you are the kind of person who wants to get it all out of the way in a single day, then the freezer is your friend. Just remember to move your healthy lunch from the freezer to the fridge at least a day before as you need it to allow it to defrost.

Keep it simple

A healthy lunch could be a chicken salad sandwich or simply fresh vegetables and canned tuna. Even though you love poached eggs, you probably will not have access to a place to cook them, so a great alternative is to prepare a hard-boiled egg salad ahead of time.

The key is to form a habit that sticks, so do not overcomplicate the process!

Prepare. Even if you work from home

Because working from home is something quite a few of us have become accustomed to, this should not mean that your preparation for a healthy lunch should stop.

If you still have to come up with lunch ideas in the middle of the day, you will find yourself less productive, and it might seem like too much effort in the moment. Plan ahead, and the structure it brings to your day may just help you stay on task at work.

3. Inspiration

While a set menu can be great for forming a habit of lunch preparation, it can get a little stale to be eating the same meals over and over again. Sometimes you just want a delicious healthy lunch without being tempted by the cafes or fast food restaurants in your area.

So to help, we have put together a list of the best healthy lunch ideas to keep mealtimes fresh and to make you the envy of the office.

Healthy Lunch Ideas for You

1. Quiche Lorraine with a green salad

   • Quiche is one of our favourite lunch ideas because quiches are healthy and yet so portable. You can make them ahead of time in small pans and take one to work with a small side salad. Delicious!

2. Moroccan couscous salad

   • Couscous is great to fill you up, and in a salad, it is great for a hot day. Not only will couscous make you feel energised and ready to take on the rest of the day, it is also a great opportunity to get some plant-based protein into your diet.

3. Fish pies

   • Simple yet satisfying and great for an occasional treat, fish pies are perfect for a quick lunch break. You just need a microwave for this treat as they reheat beautifully. And for a healthy lunch, have a small salad on the side.

4. Croque monsieur

   • A classic French hearty meal for a cold day and another great idea for an occasional tasty treat. Traditional Croque monsieur is made with slices of seeded rustic bread loaf, off-the-bone leg ham, homemade Bechamel sauce, and authentic swiss Gruyere cheese.

   •  

     

5. Pumpkin and coriander soup

   • Thick, creamy and ideal to keep you warm on a cold day, pumpkin and coriander soup makes a delicious lunch, especially when it is leftover from last night's dinner. You can even take a dinner roll to work with you for some carbs to get you through the afternoon.

6. Roasted vegetables

   • Lunch does not have to be a full meal with meat and bread. Leftover roasted vegetables are a great option as a healthy lunch idea. You can even bulk cook them at the start of the week and eat them cold in the office. Seasoned with salt, fresh herbs, and fresh lemon juice will make them taste even better.

7. Pasta Bolognese

   • Pasta bolognese, or a simple pasta salad, can be prepared ahead of time, meaning lunch is already prepared, saving you time at the office, and your body will have the fuel it needs to take you through until dinner time.

8. Garden vegetable soup

   • There's no better way to sneak extra veggies into your diet than a delicious vegetable soup. Robust, colourful fresh vegetables go perfectly in a soup that you can make ahead of time and really enjoy for lunch.

9. Chocolate and walnut brownies

   • During the day, having a small snack with your coffee during morning tea can fire up your appetite in preparation for lunchtime. Chocolate brownies with some tasty walnuts baked in are the perfect accompaniment to your morning latte.

So there are just a few ideas that we hope will help you make the most out of your midday meals.

We can make life simpler

Thinking it might be simpler to have us take care of your meals? At Délidoor, we offer over one hundred different meals for any occasion. And our lunch options will make you the envy of your co-workers.

We believe in homemade cooking, which is packed full of fresh, nutritional ingredients and delicious flavours. The kind of meals you are happy to share with your family and friends.

Even if you only have one meal per week, that means one less lunch that you need to worry about preparing and cooking. So why not give yourself a day off, and let us provide your lunchtime nutrition.

But best of all, our meals are delivered to you frozen, which is the best way to ensure that you get the most nutrition and the best flavour.

At Délidoor, we love frozen food

Of course, we recognise that not all frozen food is created equal, and we will not serve you the unhealthy and unsatisfying frozen food you find from many options on the market today.

When we launched Délidoor, we spent time and money researching the frozen food market. We discovered that frozen food can be high quality, tremendously tasty and beneficial for our bodies, our lives, and the environment.

Prepared by professional chefs with love, delivered directly to your doorstep with care, and with meal options to satisfy every dietary requirement and even the fussiest of eaters, you can be assured that Délidoor's lunch ideas will have the nutrition your body needs to make the most out of each day.