Easy Healthy Lunch Recipes: 7 Proven Simple Meals For Weight Loss

easy healthy lunch recipes

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15-Minute Grab-and-Go Easy Healthy Lunch Recipes That Won’t Make You Cry

Ever stood in front of your fridge at 7 AM wondering what the heck you’ll eat at noon? I’ve been there—staring blankly, coffee in hand, brain refusing to function before sunrise. Last Tuesday, I actually tried to put my keys in the refrigerator while holding my lunch container in my hand to take to work. Kitchen brain-fade is real, folks.

After years of sad desk lunches (and one particularly mortifying incident involving a leaky tuna sandwich and an important client meeting), I’ve finally cracked the code on easy healthy lunch recipes that don’t suck the joy out of midday eating. And they won’t require you to become a 5 AM meal-prep warrior, either—I promise.

My Lunch-Making Evolution (Or: How I Stopped Dreading Noon)

I wasn’t always a functional lunch-maker. Back in 2016, my idea of “meal prep” was throwing a granola bar in my bag and hoping the vending machine had something besides Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. My coworker Jen (who brings these impossibly gorgeous grain bowls to work) once caught me eating peanut butter straight from the jar with my finger. Not my proudest moment.

Then came The Great Stomach Rebellion of 2019. My body basically said “enough with the garbage” and I found myself sprawled on my bathroom floor swearing I’d never eat another fast food burger if I survived the night. That’s when I developed what I call my Lunch-Adjacent Philosophy. It’s simple—lunches should be kinda throw-together-able but not disgusting. They need to be transportable without performing what I call “container leakage gymnastics.”

I live in Michigan where winter lasts approximately 11 months of the year, so my easy healthy lunch recipes MUST be something I can eat lukewarm when the breakroom microwave inevitably breaks down during the first snowfall.

What You’ll Need For These Sanity-Saving Midday Meals

2 bell peppers (orange ones taste sweeter than green, but honestly whatever’s on sale is FINE) — I’ve been known to buy the pre-sliced ones when life gets chaotic
1½ cups cherry tomatoes (the little sunshine bombs that make everything better)
A handful of mixed greens (or whatever leafage hasn’t wilted in your produce drawer)
3 cans of proteins that make sense to you — I like tuna, chickpeas, and those fancy beans that cost too much but make me feel like a grown-up
¾ cup farro or quinoa or whatever ancient grain you bought in that health kick phase (we all have one)
4-5 Tbsps olive oil, the kind you don’t use for your fancy dinner parties
2.25 teaspoons of whatever spices aren’t completely clumped together in your cabinet
A splash of lemon juice (from an actual lemon or that squeezy plastic thing—I won’t judge)
6 whole-grain tortillas or those carb-balance ones that taste suspiciously not terrible
A disturbing amt. of hummus (store-bought is PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE)
Some nuts or seeds that haven’t gone rancid (check by smelling them—if they smell like paint, throw them away immediately)

The Assembly Process (I Refuse to Call it “Cooking”)

First things first—cook that grain situation. I always use the finger-width water method my college roommate’s grandmother taught me. Pour your grain in a pot, add water until it reaches the first knuckle when you touch the surface of the grain, then bring to boil and simmer until it doesn’t taste like tiny rocks. Usually takes about 15 minutes for quinoa, longer for farro because farro enjoys testing your patience.
While that’s happening, do some veggie prep. Slice those peppers into strips—not too thin or they’ll get slimy by lunchtime (learned that the disgusting way). Halve the cherry tomatoes, or don’t—who am I to control your tomato experience? Wash your greens if you’re feeling virtuous.
Now for the fun part—what I call the Splash-and-Dash dressing technique. In a jar or whatever container you can find, put: 3 Tbsp olive oil, that splash of lemon juice I mentioned, 1.5 tsp of your non-clumpy spices (I like Italian seasoning because I’m basic), salt, pepper, and—here’s my weird tip—a tiny drizzle of honey. The honey thing came from my imaginary French grandmother Madeline who doesn’t exist but would definitely approve. Shake it until your arm gets tired or your roommate asks what you’re doing.

Wait, did I mention you should open the cans? Open the cans. Drain them well or everything will get soggy and you’ll hate lunch again.

Assembly station time! Get your containers ready—I prefer the kind with dividers because I have food-touching issues dating back to childhood trauma involving a rogue ketchup situation. But honestly, any container works if you’ve got the right stackification technique.
Base layer: greens + grains. Middle layer: proteins + veggies. Top layer: little container of that dressing you made. I used to mix everything together but that leads to what I call Sad Lunch Soup™ by noon.

Wait—I just realized I haven’t told you the actual recipes yet. I’ve been rambling about methodology! Let me fix that real quick.

3 No-Brainer Combinations That Won’t Make Your Coworkers Judge Your Food

Mediterranean Mish-Mash Bowl

Layer your cooked grain, chickpeas, tomatoes, some cucumber if you’re feeling fancy, and a big dollop of hummus. Drizzle with that dressing when you’re ready to eat. Add olives if you’re the kind of person who enjoys olives (I am not).

The “I’m Actually Trying Today” Wrap

Spread hummus on a tortilla, add a handful of greens, some of those pepper strips, your protein of choice (tuna works great here if you promise not to microwave it in the shared kitchen), and a sprinkle of those non-rancid seeds. Roll it up using what I call the Burrito Butt-Tuck™ technique where you fold in the ends first then roll.

The “Everything But The Kitchen Sink” Salad

This is where all your random leftovers go to find new purpose. Greens on the bottom, literally everything else on top, dressing on the side until the last minute. Sometimes I add a hard-boiled egg that I aggressively over-cooked because I refuse to master the timing. The key is including something crunchy—those sad carrots in your produce drawer work great here.

Epic Lunch Gear That Changed My Mediocre Life

THE SLANT-SECTION CONTAINER ★★★★★
These divided thingies keep wet stuff from touching dry stuff until the moment of truth.
I accidentally ran mine over with my car and it only slightly melted, which I consider a win.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4kucbBK

ANCIENT THERMOS FROM COLLEGE ★★★★★
It’s dented and possibly harboring new life forms but keeps soup hot for approximately forever.
The brand doesn’t exist anymore because I bought it during the Bush administration (the second one).
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3YXRGoN

Our best healthy and easy lunch recipes

But Wait, What If…?

If you hate all these ideas (rude, but fair), try these variations:

Make it Breakfast-for-Lunch by using scrambled eggs instead of beans (cold scrambled eggs sound gross but are weirdly satisfying)
Go Full Goblin Mode and just assemble little piles of snacks—cheese cubes, crackers, fruit, deli meat. My friend Mark calls this “Adult Lunchables” and eats it with his fingers like a heathen.
Try my “Leftover Resurrection” technique where you deliberately make too much dinner so lunch makes itself. Last night’s chicken becomes today’s protein!

The Eternal Lunch Question

Q: How do I keep my avocado from turning into brown sludge by lunchtime?
A: Contrary to all conventional advice, I’ve found that sprinkling it with lemon juice actually makes it worse—it just becomes sour brown sludge. Instead, I use what I call the Pit-and-Press method. Keep the pit, place it in the center of your avocado half, push plastic wrap directly against the surface with all air squeezed out, then secure with a rubber band. Still turns brown sometimes because avocados are temperamental divas, but less so. Alternatively, just cut your avocado at work and become That Person with a knife and cutting board at their desk.

The Final Word on Not-Sad Lunches

Look, making easy healthy lunch recipes doesn’t have to be a whole production. Sometimes I just throw random edible objects into a container and hope for the best. The key is having a few basic components on hand and embracing what I’ve termed Strategic Lunch Mediocrity™—aim for “good enough” rather than Instagram-worthy.

Did I solve all your lunch problems? Probably not. Will these ideas keep you from spending $15 on a sad salad with one piece of chicken? I sure hope so.

What will you make for lunch tomorrow? Who knows! That’s tomorrow-you’s problem. But maybe you’ll remember this rambling guide and throw together something that doesn’t make you sad at 12:34 PM.

Until next time, may your containers never leak and your lunch always be at least somewhat satisfying.

— Chef-ish Melissa, Bronze Medal Winner of the Entirely Fictional 2023 Midwest Weekday Lunch Championships