Advice for healthier packed lunch

[Paul2023]

Hi all , actually after advice for me. Early 40s lorry driver, normally do late shifts so I usually have breakfast, then a main meal about 12pm.
I take a packed much to work with me , normally eat that anytime between 5-7pm, normally get home about 11.30 pm. I start normally at 12.30pm.

In terms of a packed lunch I normally take;

Brown seeded bread sandwich. Filling usually cheese and ham or ham and mustard- Probably not that healthy?

An apple, banana and a tangerine- healthy

A cereal bar- Mainly a Go- Bar, it’s three fruit type biscuits- Healthy?

A packet of crisps- the supermarket own branded ones- Not healthy.

A pack of bevita biscuits- healthy?

Of course the cheap branded crisps are unhealthy and full of salt , but trying to take a packed luck to work that s not expensive and filling enough for a 11/12 hour shift.

I also drink de- caf tea and about 3 litres of plain water.

I'd take a wide necked thermos filled with a chunky home made soup - veg, beans, lentils etc. Some kind of protein to eat in addition - cooked chicken, falafel with humous, half or mini whole meal pitta with some tuna, that kind of thing. Bake some healthier muffins - I had some banana, pecan and date ones recently - no sugar in them.

I have a bento box - well sort of.

It has 5 compartments one with a lid. Do I do

1 x carb
1 x Protein
1 x fruit
1X veg
1 x other - usually a treat.

So for the carb - rice, cous cous, bread (pita, croutons, bread roll) or cold cooked new potatoes.

protein - ham, cheeeese, hard boiled eggs, nuts, hummus maybe tofu.

fruit - always slice / peel the fruit - if you have apple of pear then a little lemon juice will stop it discolouring.

veg -often a salad or coleslaw, carrot batons, baby corn or a mix - carrot and baby corn work well with the hummus.

the 'other' can be anything, another portion of veg to be more healthy, maybe a yoghurt or a bit of chocolate.

I also agree with getting a flask and taking soup.

I’d get a vacuum flask thingy and do something like a protein and a grain. Chicken/tuna etc with rice/barely/ pasta.

A flask makes healthy lunches so much easier. I batch cook, freeze and then microwave for my son's lunch. Things like daal, chilli, pasta, soup are filling and let you get away from ham sandwiches. Though if your bread is decent a sandwich is fine.

The cereal bars and belvita are just healthily packaged biscuits. I once compared cereal bar ingredients in the supermarket and ended up buying choc chip cookies as they had less sugar and more oats than any of the cereal bars. Naked bars are a bit better, or you could buy a bag of dark chocolate Brazil nuts and have some of those each day for a hit of sweetness.

Do a big batch of tuna pasta salad so it's easy to pack some each day. Then add your fruit.

Don't know why people are recommending fat free Greek yoghurt. Full fat is much better because it's healthy fat.

OP if you're having breakfast and lunch before work, you don't need all those snacks. I'm a greedy sod so not lecturing you! For heath reasons you shouldn't eat regularly after 7 or 8pm.

So pack food for tea plus a Greek yoghurt with fruit and nuts as a snack.

Do you bake? There are lots of low sugar muffins/granola/breakfast cookies you could make on line. Not necessarily low calorie but full of things like nuts that would keep you satisfied and low sugar.

Home made granola is great too with Greek yoghurt and some berries.

Things like shop bought biscuits/crisps really contain little to no nutritional value. If you enjoy then I would maybe take 1 but I would limit it to just 1. Try and follow the 80/20 rule.

Protein and healthy fats are your best bet for keeping you satiated and full. Whilst fruit is good it's often not that filling.

Could you take a cold pasta salad as a change sometimes? Fill it full of veg/salad bits and then some chicken/tuna/eggs for protein.

Do you have any time and storage space for simple meal prep?

I do a couscous salad every week. Boil some stock and add whatever you want to it. You can keep it simple or add any flavours you like: spices, chilli, herbs, harissa, tomato puree, garlic. Anything! Then just pour it over the couscous and cover for 5 mins.

While you do that, chop any salad veggies you have: red onion, tomato, cucumber, peppers. You can add any herbs here too. Maybe some pomegranate seeds. But anything you want.

You can mix any protein in there. Tinned tuna? Or some cooked chicken, or ham. Again, whatever you like.

Mix it all together and it'll keep for a few days. You can make it as simple/cheap/extravagant as you want and it's very healthy and filling.