Lunchbox: Advice for Packing Lunches

For many students, school has started, or is about to.  For others, it’s the same old day-in-day-out Monday to Friday grind.  Whether you are a student, a parent of a student, or someone who works, you can benefit from eating a healthy meal.  Hopefully, it can save you some money, because you would be buying more servings of food for less money, instead of buying the shit they sell at fast food joints.

Beverage:  What should you drink with your lunch?  Things like soda and juices are loaded with sugar, which can cause a sugar crash later on.  I would recommend drinking water, black coffee, or tea.  Water, by nature, is hydrating.  Coffee is less so, but the caffeine can also perk you up for the rest of the day.  So long as you do not add sugar, milk, or creamer to your coffee or tea (or I suppose, your water, but adding those to water sounds fucking nasty if you ask me) you can save Calories on your meal.  A 12-ounce can of soda is about 150 Calories.  Water is zero.

Main course:  For me, I typically go with a sandwich for lunch.  It’s highly versatile, as the interior and bread can be changed around.  Usually, I eat sandwiches with cheddar, lunch meat, and whole-wheat bread, with mayonnaise and mustard.  I would substitute the lunch meat with deli meat or things not loaded with nitrites, but I am a fucking broke college student.  That shit costs too much.  The mayonnaise and cheese can be taken away to lower the amount of Calories from fat, if that is what is desired.  The bread itself can also be substituted with lettuce leaves to reduce the glycemic load.  My goal, however, with the main course is to NOT be too messy, so as to not get food remnants all over my clothes.

Sides:  Instead of eating chips or other snack foods, why not eat something like chopped carrots, broccoli, an apple, or other produce?  A serving of produce is going to be much more nutrient dense than chips or candy.  Plus, it is much more filling for way less Calories.

To recap, what are the benefits of packing meals the way I have described?  Making simple switches from soda to water, as well as something like chips or candy to fruits and/or vegetables has already decreased the meal’s Calories while increasing the amount of nutrients present.  I suggested one main course that is highly variable and can be toyed around with to find what works for you.

Do any of you readers have tips for people on packing their own lunch?  Any advice I missed and did not put up in this post?