My Lunchbox Lifestyle

Adjusting to a full time job from a student life has many trials. And one of the biggest adjustments is going back to prepacked lunches of our younger school years. Yes I could eat from cafes on work days but let's be honest- that's not super healthy for my bank account... nor my diet really. Eating out results in not knowing how much or what is put in your meal- restaurants add more oil and salt than you would at home, and I'm sure by now we all know that. So I sucked it up this year and bought another brightly coloured school-days-esque lunchbox and have been trying to replicate the fabulous and fantastic lunches my mom made me every day.

Trying to prep healthy meals every evening is really not easy- but isn't the most challenging thing in the world either... it just takes a little extra creativity. Especially to avoid falling into the routine of the same meals every day. I'm going to share a few of my own tips for how to keep your packed lunches healthy, varied, and pretty easy;

1. Have a few staple base meals that can be altered slightly.

I do this mostly for breakfast. On the mornings that I go to gym before work I usually switch between two breakfasts; overnight oats or a smoothie. And thankfully both of these are easy for on the go, and meals that can be made differently every time.

My oats range anywhere from chocolate and nut butter flavoured, to honey and berry flavoured. As long as you have your base of oats, liquid, and sweetener down- you can really chop and change the flavours every day and make it a little more varied to avoid getting tired of it so soon.

The same applies for my smoothies. I always have frozen bananas, maca powder, and my collagen powder, but some days I go for a chocolate protein, others I go for a vanilla-strawberry combo, and quite often I just add all the superfoods I can with a generous serving of spinach and end up with the perfect green smoothie.

2. Work off a basic formula.

A pretty simple break down of my lunches is;

• a base carb (quinoa, sweet potato, butternut etc),

• as many veggies as possible- which is usually left overs from the night before-,

• a protein (boiled eggs, chickpeas, meat alternatives, fish etc),

• and a fat (always avo but have also been loving my seed sprinkles)

When you break it down like this, it's much easier to work out your lunches the night before- especially based off the leftovers you have from dinner that evening.

This formula will also often include snacks. I'm not much of a snacker, but when I'm working longer days I often find I'm wanting something around 4pm to push me till the end of the day. And I always go for fruit. I'm always carrying around an apple or naartjie, and I find them more satisfying of the sweet craving than if I had packed a date ball or protein bar. If you are someone who prefers smaller meals and more snacks, prep for that. Pack little bags of nuts, or an extra banana with PB. I definitely have days when I don't want to have lunch and just pack tons and tons of snacky bits in my bags to nibble throughout the day.

3. Meal prep.

This is an obvious one, but I promise it works. I don't mean make yourself the same meal just five times over. I prefer to prep parts of meals, like bulk cook butternut and keep it in the fridge, or make an extra large veggie curry to pack in a wrap or with veggies. Meal prepping doesn't have to be as boring as filling your fridge with tupperware of the same meals. I also find it helpful to premake the tupperwares of breakfast and lunch the night before, and then pack my cutlery and fruit into my lunchbox, so the next morning all I have to do is open the fridge door and put the right containers in the bag on my way out!

I use my days off as cooking days, where I make meals like my veggie curry, or stir-fry, or even just roast veg, so that I don't have to worry about it the evening before I'm up and out the door by 6am for gym.

Making freezer friendly meals is also ideal- things like lentil bolognese or soup are perfect to make in bulk and freeze portions of. That way when you need them, you just take them out to thaw the night before, make sure your pasta/rice/etc is ready and combine the next morning.

4. Keep it simple.

My favourite meals have been roast veg and two boiled eggs. I don't always feel like making a full stir-fry or pasta dish, nor eating it for lunch. And lately I have been seriously loving my simple veggie bowls. I just recommend not overthinking it. If you don't have the time or energy to make a full on buddha bowl of healthiness- just put some hummus and tomatoes on a sandwich and call it a day. You don't need to have these extravagantly healthy meals every single day, just as long as you are eating mindfully and trying to make nourishing meals 85% of the time, you will be fine. I've had many days where I just haven't wanted to pack a lunch and have resorted to ordering a veggie burger on uber eats- and it's so okay to do that.

5. Bring your reusable everything!

Not food related but definitely mindfulness related. I have a 1L reusable water bottle, two eco-cups for tea, reusable smoothie or oat jars, metal straws- you name it. Using single use cardboard tupperware, coffee cups, cutlery etc etc, is just SO terrible for the environment. I promise you, while expensive at the time, investing in things like reusable coffee cups or your own metal straws will be so so worth it in the end. Our planet is crumbling under the weight of mindlessly using single use containers/cutlery/plastic. It might not feel like your pretty bamboo coffee cup is making a difference, but I promise you it is.

And there it is. It's so simple to be healthy at work, and it's not the end of the world if you have a few days where you order from the cafe next door or just pack a sandwich (and tbh what is even wrong with a sandwich?).

I'm also going to share some of my go to recipes for healthy meals soon- veggie curry, lentil cottage pie, bomb overnight oats recipes- you name it. They're coming!

I hope you found this somewhat helpful and that living out of a lunchbox isn't so daunting anymore!

Have a lovely day chickpea x