Let’s face it. Many of us are busy, and when it comes to eating lunch, we just want to grab-and-go. Therefore, learning how to plan and make an easy lunch is important for your whole family. Ultimately, eating a healthy lunch is essential to maintaining a vital and productive week, whether you are running a busy household or a chaotic workplace. Learning from my mistakes, I have developed some tricks. My goal is to eat healthy, keep my food cost down, and make my mid-day meals enjoyable.

Here are the top 10 tips that I routinely practice:

1. Keep it simple.  Pick only 2 to 3 main ingredients for a week. Then vary the cooking techniques to create a full range of meals. This is my parents’ trick when I was growing up. Example: by varying slicing and dicing, heating and chilling, chopping and blending, I can create a variety of meals with just a few ingredients. In the meantime, I save money.
2. Buy fruits and vegetables that are in season. They are usually higher in quality and cheaper.
3. Eat a combination of fibre, protein and good fats while limiting the amount of carbohydrates. This is an energizing food tip that I recently learned.
4. Include some snappy vegetables or crunchy fruits or nuts as snacks in order to cut down on the craving for chips and fries.
5. Grill fruits and vegetables to enhance their sweetness. I use this technique to cut down the desire for extra sugar in my meal.
6. Use pita-pockets to speed up the preparation for a sandwich made from left-overs. Keep the stuffing and the pita separated until it’s time to eat to avoid a soggy sandwich.
7. Dilute soda and bottled fruit juice to make your own fruity water. I noticed this trick from my aunt when I was a child. Little did I know that the stores actually sell these products nowadays. I use sodium-free carbonated water or plain water to dilute my soda or bottled juice to about ⅓ to ¼ of the original sweetness. You can also practice this technique at the soda fountain. Just look for that water lever. This method saves me money and cuts down on sugar.
8. Grill your own sandwich meat instead of buying expensive deli meat that is usually loaded with salt. I save money by grilling pork loin and chicken breasts, and then slicing the meat for sandwiches. Any left-overs can be cut into chunks to make Cobb salad to create another meal.
9. Use dividers to keep your lunch box organized and the food pleasing to eat. I learned this technique from the Japanese restaurants. I use lettuce cups or baking cups to subdivide a lunchbox. Also, a Bento style lunchbox or serving platter is well-suited for this job.
10. Take a 5-minute walk after lunch. I often spend money for lunch in restaurants simply to satisfy my urge to get outside. Including a 5-minute walk in my day can curb that craving.

There you have it. Of course, this list can go on forever. If you have any other good tips, please write a comment so that we can all share.

~Have you eaten yet?