Finding tasty, healthy meal ideas that you actually have time to prepare can sometimes seem easier said than done. Whether you work from home or in the office, finding a time to make something other than a PB&J can seem like a miracle when you’re juggling what feels like a million different tasks at once.
The truth is that there is SO plenty of homemade breakfast ideas and healthy lunch recipes that will satisfy both your cravings and your appetite without torpedoing your busy work day. Yes, they require a little more work and planning than a ham and cheese or can of soup, but not necessarily a ton of active cooking time. You can often get away with just a few minutes of work to make a nice, healthy lunch. It just requires thinking ahead, picking up a few hot items on your regular grocery run, taking clever shortcuts, or preparing a healthy meal. preparation. (Think: cook rice in advance for an instant grain bowl, swapping homemade sauce for store-bought in a spicy taco meal, or batches of veggies on a baking sheet on Sunday to use in your salads and sandwiches.) And, of course, it also helps to choose a healthy lunch recipe that is actually realistic and exciting to prepare.
While there are a few factors that determine what makes a lunch healthy for you as an individual (more on that below), the first is making sure your meal will be satisfying and balanced. Generally speaking, a large meal usually includes three or four different food groups (fat, protein, starches and fruits/vegetables), SELF columnist Jessica Jones, MS, RD, certified diabetes educator and co-founder of Food heaven, tells SELF. This way, you get a balanced variety of textures and flavors to please your palate, as well as different nutrients to provide you with a steady flow of energy, says Jones.
Another thing that is always worth keeping in mind when bringing easy and healthy meal ideas to life is that you shouldn’t be afraid. make substitutions or tweak recipes to your liking, including your taste preferences, budget, time constraints, dietary needs and access to certain ingredients. “I look at recipes as a guide or inspiration,” Cara Harbstreet, MS, RD, LD, of Street smart nutrition, tells SELF. “There are many ways to adjust recipes while still preserving the essence of the dish.” For example, you can replace quinoa with wild rice, turn the components of a salad into a sandwich, or choose a different variety of vegetables that are in season where you live.
With these basics in mind, if you’re looking for some inspiration to help you figure out what’s going to happen at noon, check out these 50 easy lunch recipes for the same new and delicious healthy lunch ideas.
A note on the word in good health here: We know that health is a complicated concept. Not only can it mean different things to different people, but it’s a pretty loaded (and sometimes heavy) word, thanks to the food industrythe influence of the way we think about food. At SELF, when we talk about healthy foods, of course, we’re talking about foods that are nutritious, filling, and satisfying. But we also talk about foods that help you connect to your culture, promote joy, and simply delicious. Some of these foods might fit conventional ideas of what “healthy” is. And some might not. We’ve selected these recipes with all of this in mind while trying to accommodate a wide variety of nutritional needs and taste buds.
