By Heather Nicholds
Healthy meals on the go can save you time and money, and are so much healthier than what you’d buy at a restaurant, fast food place or cafeteria.
And if you can get in the habit, it’s actually really easy.
Making your own healthy meals can save you time in your day because you won’t have to go out to find your meal, or wait for it to be made. If it’s your lunch break, you can spend the whole time just enjoying your time to yourself.
Saving Time
Often the biggest challenge in making meals quickly is if you try to find or make up a new recipe every single time. Your best strategy is to find a few simple meals that are easy and tasty that you’ll enjoy time after time.
You can still get variety by using different combinations of vegetables and by using different seasonings, herbs and spices for the same basic recipes.
You can make things even easier by making a large batch at once, and then packing it into individual to-go containers. If you make two or three different meals, you can then take a different one each day.
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The best type of recipes are ones that toss things together in one dish, so that you only need to take one container. Soups are great, too, if you have a thermos or some container that seals tightly and doesn’t leak.
For a salad, start with some beans (canned make things super quick), grains or pasta for complex carbohydrates (aka energy) and add some fresh veggies and/or fruit for nutrients and flavor.
Toss it with a flavorful dressing, and maybe throw a handful of nuts or seeds on top and you’re ready to go. You could take some lettuce separately to make a big salad, or use for wraps, or take a pita or a wrap to spoon your salad into.
Here are 7 of my favorite recipes for healthy meals on the go:
- Quinoa Tabbouli Salad: Light, fluffy quinoa with lots of zesty lemon and flavorful parsley makes a super-healthy and satisfying meal.
- Chunky Sweet Potato Stew: This stew is packed with flavor, and is great for warming you up on a cold day. Reheat it with a bit more water on the stove, or bake it in the toaster oven.
- Tomato Cucumber Avocado Salad: It’s like a cross between salsa and quacamole. Take some lettuce leaves separately, then spoon the salad into them for delicious fresh wraps.
- Tuscan White Bean Salad: Bean salads are perfect healthy meals on the go. They’re even tastier when you let the vegetables and beans marinate in dressing for the morning.
- Rice Salad: A little bit sweet, a little bit salty, a little bit savory, some bites crunchy and some bites soft, this salad hits all the tastes and textures in one go.
- Soba Noodles with Citrus and Avocado: This salad is so tasty with the different citrus juices and the fresh crunchy veggies. If you don’t have soba noodles, you can make it with any kind of your favorite pasta.
- Black Bean Dip: You can whip this dip up in 5 minutes flat. Take it for lunch with some fresh veggies for dipping or as a spread in a sandwich or wrap.
