30 Easy, Healthy Work Lunches You Can Bring from Home
Save money, stay healthy, and still eat tasty with these recipes!
It's an endless problem, figuring out how to make a healthy, packable, tasty lunch that you can bring to work. If you solve it today, you've still got tomorrow to worry about.
To help, we've put together a month's worth of delicious lunch ideas, from soups, to sandwiches, to salads. Many of these are easy to make, or easy to make ahead, and most keep well and can be eaten hot or cold. Our recommendation? Pick your five favorites, and do the shopping and prep on Sunday, so you can set this problem, at least, aside for the entire week!
Veggie-and-Bean Burritos
Mix up a big batch of the rice and beans ahead of time, and you can simply roll up these healthy, tasty burritos in the morning before work. They're tasty hot or cold.
Orzo Pasta Salad
This hearty pasta dish is great cold, and the tangy dressing gives it lots of flavor!
Pimento Cheese and Quick Pickles
One of our favorite work lunches is a snack lunch! Quick pickled veggies are easy to make a day or two ahead. You can fill it out with bread, pimento cheese, dip, crackers, sausage... the only limit is your imagination!
Chicken-and-Spinach Tortellini Soup
If you've got a microwave, soup is one of the easiest and most satisfying lunch options out there. And if you don't have a microwave, keep it warm in a thermos!
Caprese Pasta Salad
The classic caprese flavors: cheese, basil, and tomato make an excellent pasta salad.
Buttered Leek and Gruyère Galette
Want to make your office mates jealous? This savory pie is easy to pack and absolutely delicious cold. Pair it with a side salad!
Asparagus Quiche
A slice of quiche makes a classic but elegant packed lunch, and can be eaten warmed or cold.
Turkey-Cobb Sandwiches
We love packing half a pita with our favorite sandwich filling. It's tasty, and makes eating over our desks a little less messy!
Ultimate Chicken Noodle Soup
You just can't beat noodle soup for a comforting lunch.
Pasta Salad
Italian style pasta salad isn't just for picnics! This packable dish makes a delicious meal.
White Turkey and Poblano Chili
Beef chili can be a little overwhelming at lunch, but this white bean and turkey chili is hearty without making you feel like you need a nap after.
Roast Beef Baguettes
An easy sandwich is the work lunch standard for a reason. A spicy sauce and good French bread gives this version lots of flavor.
Chicken Pozole Verde
If you pack this tangy pozole for lunch, bring along some tortilla chips and radish slices to add after reheating.
Creamy Mushroom Soup
This creamy classic, unfussy soup is best paired with a slice of good bread.
White Bean and Broccolini Salad
Want a packable salad that won't wilt away? Cooked and cooled broccolini and white beans make a hearty, filling base.
Shaved Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Warm Apple Cider Dressing
This crunchy bacony salad is so good we could eat it every day for weeks straight.
Get the recipe for Shaved Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Warm Apple Cider Dressing.
Niçoise Salad
Niçoise salad is a quintessential French country picnic food because it's delicious cold, and easy to pack. It's perfect for an elegant lunch, and you can make enough for several days!
White Chicken Chili
This simple chili is weeknight fast — you can make enough to bring leftovers for lunch, or just make it for lunch!
Farro-and-Acorn Squash Salad
This squash and grain salad has it all: It's tasty at any temp, it's easy to make, and it just keeps and keeps!
Cobb Salad
What else is there to say about Cobb salad? Our recipe gets a little easier by using rotisserie chicken, so it's a fast lunch option.
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