How to Decide What to Take in Your Lunch and Get Easy, Affordable Recipes

Taking your lunch to work can not only save you time at the office but money. Break a bad habit in 2021 by taking your lunches to work. Here’s how to decide what to take and a few easy recipes to help you out.

How to Decide What to Take in Your Lunch

1. It Needs to Be Cost-Effective – If you are trying to save money by not eating out at lunch every day, you want to make sure your recipe doesn’t require expensive ingredients. Buy in bulk and you can use ingredients for several different meals.
2. It Needs to Be Easy to Make – Just as you want to keep the cost down, you also want to keep the time it takes to make it low as well. Meal prepping for the week can save you time. But if you want something fresher, making something the night before needs to be just as easy.
3. It Needs to Be (Somewhat) Exciting – Every lunch doesn’t need to be a gourmet meal, but you also don’t want to pack a lunch you are bored with. Pre-making your meals can ensure you are going to eat whatever you are preparing.

Easy, Affordable Recipes

Avocado Chicken Salad

This chicken salad has four ingredients. You can also make it into a sandwich or a wrap, which makes this quite a versatile recipe.

Ingredients

For the chicken salad:

1/4 avocado

2 tablespoons plain yogurt

1 teaspoon lemon juice

3/4 cup shredded chicken, precooked

For the sandwich:

1 whole-wheat English muffin

A handful of lettuce or sunflower sprouts

2 slices tomato

Directions

In a small bowl, mash the avocado together with yogurt and lemon juice until completely combined.

Add the chicken to the bowl, and mix with a spoon until all the chicken is coated.

Serve your chicken salad on top of a bed of lettuce, or split on top of two English muffins with a tomato slice and sunflower sprouts.

Ham and Arugula Sandwich with Cranberry Chutney

Cranberry and mustard are the perfect match for the savory ham and slightly bitter arugula.

Ingredients

1 (8-ounce) package Italian-cheese-flavored pizza crusts (such as Boboli)

¼ cup cranberry chutney (such as Crosse & Blackwell)

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

8 ounces lean cooked ham, sliced

1 cup loosely packed trimmed arugula or chopped romaine lettuce

Directions

Preheat oven to 450°.

Place pizza crusts on a baking sheet. Bake for 5 minutes at 450° or until warm.

Spread chutney over the bottom side of 1 pizza crust. Spread mustard on the bottom side of the remaining crust. Arrange sliced ham over mustard-coated crust. Top with arugula. Place chutney-coated side of remaining crust over arugula. Cut into four equal sandwiches.

Roast Beef Roll-Ups

Easy to make, easy to eat. Substitute any lunch meat if roast beef isn’t your thang.

Ingredients

12 Asparagus Stems

12 Roast Beef Deli Slices

12 Sharp Cheddar Horseradish Deli Cheese

12 Chive Stems

Red Pepper flakes optional

Instructions

Lightly steam asparagus stems.

Add a half slice of Sharp Cheddar Horseradish Deli Cheese to the center of a Roast Beef Deli Slice.

Add asparagus to the edge of the roast beef slice. Roll Asparagus from one edge of roast beef to the end.

Tie chive around the center of Asparagus and Roast Beef Roll Up.

Sprinkle with red pepper flakes for garnish.

Brown Bag It

Taking your lunch to work saves you time and money and can be healthier for you.

By Leslie Radford