Packing brown bag lunches is a practice that ensures you eat nutritious food. Brown bag lunches enable you to pack lunch, which helps you in reducing calorie intake and thus reducing fat. This leads to overall health improvement. If choices of snacks to be packed are smart ones, then brown bag lunches can assist in reducing and maintaining body weight.
Research shows that a diet for kids around three years of age, which includes high amount of sugar, fat, and processed food might reduce their IQ in later years. To evade this situation researchers advise to give kids the diet, which is full of nutrients and whole food. So brown bag lunches can also help you in improving your child’s IQ.
Brown Bag Lunch Ideas
1. Kit of Fruit and Cold Cheese
In a reusable container put fruits, which are easy to eat like apple, grapes, and also assorted cheese slices.
2. Falafel Pita
Bake falafels (available at supermarkets) ahead of time and then put inside them a whole wheat pita spread. You can also add some hummus, which can either be bought from market or prepared at home.
3. Fish
Put fish serving (tuna or salmon) with pasta salad, in sandwich or green salad. You can also add tuna or salmon to balsamic vinaigrette.
4. Leftovers from Dinner
You could use leftovers from the previous night for lunch next day. Put them in portable containers, refrigerate, and take to school or work.
5. Pasta Salad
From the leftover of pasta prepare cold pasta salad and add to it cheese cubes, chopped vegetables, and vinaigrette dressing.
6. Pizza
Bake a pizza and top it with veggies and cheese; and then you can put it in a toaster till the cheese melts.
7. Southwest Wrap
Wrap in a wheat whole tortilla some canned black beans, avocado, shredded lettuce, red onions, and cheese .
8. Sushi with Veggies
You can buy a tray of readymade vegetable sushi from any Japanese restaurant or from a supermarket.
9. Wrap it Up
You can use a flour tortilla made of whole grain and wrap in it tomato pesto, or honey mustard. Put some slices of cheese or lean meat, veggies, and lettuce.
10. Cobb Salad
In hard boiled egg, you can add chopped romaine or spinach. You can also add dried avocado or tomatoes.
11. Chinese Chicken Salad
Mix shredded chicken, salad veggies, carrots, sliced green onion, and sliced almonds in a reusable container and carry for lunch.
12. Chicken Caesar Salad
Mix chopped tomatoes with romaine lettuce. You can also add chicken strips.
13. Berry & Walnut Salad
Toss together green lettuce, berries, and toasted walnuts. If desired, you can also add blue cheese.
14. Salad Dressings
You can have salads during lunch. For this, keep several salad dressings in the fridge. Choose dressings, which are made of olive or canola oil and has very less sodium.
15. Edamame
You can find Edamame, a preparation of immature soybeans in pod, in most supermarkets. Add these to your brown bag.
16. Leftover Breakfast
You can wrap the breakfast leftovers in soy or chicken sausage. Freeze it in a zip-lock bag and carry to lunch.
17. Muffins
Make muffins at home from whole wheat flour, little amounts of canola oil and very less sugar. You can put them in your lunch bags.
18. Mix Nuts or Trail
This is a very healthy snack to be carried for lunch.
19. Cups of Yogurt and Fruit
In low fat yogurt, mix fresh or frozen berries; this will be your self-made yogurt cup that can be carried to school or work.
In order to have a healthy lunch, you should opt for foods, which have higher quantity of nutrients (protein , Vitamin C, and fiber ). Stay away from food, which has high sodium content, added sugar, or saturated fat. You can achieve this easily by opting for whole food and by avoiding junk food items.