Lunch Ideas?

[bill]

Hey, my sister is on board!!  She came to
it on her own and is now asking me for
ideas. 


She wants ideas for lunches.  Problem is
I never eat lunch.  My breakfast
is real fatty and proteiny and I'm never
hungry until dinner (and sometimes not then).


It's true that there is no distinction regarding
when a meal can be eaten, y'know, breakfast
for lunch, dinner for breakfast, but she has
always had a sandwich for lunch.  She used
to have to eat every 2 hours to get through
the day.


Could y'all post some easy LCHF things that
could be recommended to her, to make me
look like a hero?


Thanks!

[Rita]

Hi Bill,


Here are a few ideas:


http://wheatfreeforum.com/index.php?topic=356.0

[arlin]

I used to be a sandwich girl myself before going grain free. Like you, I'm rarely hungry between breakfast and dinner, but on the few occasions where I feel like eating in the middle of the day I just usually do a lettuce wrap of some sort. You can put almost anything  you want inside a piece of romaine lettuce to make a wrap so she should experiment with what she loves most. I usually just do some shredded ham, chicken or turkey or even bacon if I'm in the mood, and add in some thin slices of tomato, a little bit of cheese and if I have a little zucchini or yellow squash on hand I might add a bit of that too. Or a couple of thin slices of avacado. Then whatever condiments suits her if she's using meat and cheese. She should play around with whatever interesting combinations she can think of. A wrap can be quite filling so it might be the only other meal she eats that day.

I'm so glad to hear she's joining in. She won't regret it!

[Randal]

Salads are the easiest lunchtime substitution. (Just make sure no croutons, tortilla strips, or my enemy, bread crumbs used in whatever meat you have on the salad.)


If you have them in your area, you can get In 'n Out burgers "protein style" (no bun). Carl's Jr. also has a low carb burger. Just about any place (especially real restaurants) will serve burgers sans bun.


If you have a Whole Foods (a.k.a. Whole Paycheck), you can get one of the pre-made chicken salads which will keep for a few days. Otherwise, they have a large hot bar, and they are the best at labeling the allergens in their foods. (I dislike shopping at WF because of the price and the owner's politics, but unfortunately it's the best choice I've seen for healthy eating.)


Tell your sister not to worry about calories or fat. (Fat is good!) At the beginning you lose so many pounds so rapidly, calories are not an issue.

[bill]

Thanks for the great ideas.


She's not worried about weight loss.
It's more about her blood sugar.

[Jan in Key West]

Omelets, all kinds of wraps, avocado/chicken salad on arugula, egg/bacon muffin cups (I make and freeze) leftover cold chicken w/tomato & avocado slices, hamburger on a bed of lettuce w/tomato, onions, cheese etc., skewered meats and veggies leftover from the night before and heated, meatloaf, crustless quiche, all kinds of soups, caprese salad, chicken and/or tuna salad on a bed of lettuce, over easy eggs on a bed of sautéed spinach, olives, cheese and nuts, avocado filled with chicken and/or tuna salad, salmon cakes w/dill, zucchini pizzas, zucchini chips with any leftover meat, taco salad sans chips, WB focaccia with favorite toppings.....and don't forget to encourage her to ramp up her good fats!

[bill]

Yup, yup, yup.  All great ideas.  I'll feed
her a few at a time.


Thanks again.

[Barbara from New Jersey]

As your sister transitions to this new way, my suggestion is for her to make the pumpernickel bread recipe in the WB Cookbook.
Slice it thin and then freeze it.  Lunchtime or whenever, she can make an open face tuna melt, cream cheese and lox with scallion, any kind of meat or fish "melt" with tomato and acceptable cheese (white cheddar, mozzerella, jack,etc,).  While  store bought mayo is not the best to use, right now she can have these wonderful openfaced  sandwiches that are creamy and delicious.  Down the road she can transition to homemade mayo or even the Wilderness Family mayo.


If possible, make sure she knows about the flaxseed wraps and the microwave muffins.

[Rita]

I gotta start thinking up take-along lunches for my son, now that school is just around the corner.

[Barbara from New Jersey]

Bill,

NomNomPaleo is currently doing a 5 part series on lunchbox ideas for her children and husband.  Worth looking into.  Her recipes are tasty and reasonably simple since she is a nurse who works full-time and has a family to cook for. 


How is your sister doing?
Are you her hero yet?   

[bill]

Thanks for the Nomnom paleo.


My sister has
good days and bad days.  I suspect it's more
about the Metformin than the LCHF diet,
though she doesn't know exactly why.  She's
really concerned about her blood sugar (as
she should be) and she wants more ideas
that have 0 sugar and low carbs.  Fruit is too
high sugar for her at this point. 


She says she's tired of meat and fat.


Still working on that hero thing.

[deanna in AR]

How about a big pot of soup, stew, chili, etc. prepared each weekend, then portioned into lunch sizes. We LOVE soup with Parmesan crisps! Or with white cheddar.

[aspexil]

Has she experimented with spices?  I've even gone down the path of making Indian and Ethiopian dishes that if you watch what you put in it can be pretty low carb. 

We've also started eating fish at least once a week (actually found a source that ships it in fresh from Alaska). 

One thing I like to do is some almond flour, flax seeds, tsp cream, tsp yoghurt, 1/2 banana (she can substitute chocolate pieces instead), pinch of baking powder (if she wants it to rise at all) and egg beaten together in a mug and throwing it in the microwave for 90 seconds is a tasty meal.

[deanna in AR]

FREE ON THE KINDLE OR KINDLE FOR iPad:


Easy Paleo Lunches


http://www.amazon.com/Paleo-Lunch-Recipes-Delectable-ebook/dp/B00EO7DNUO/?tag=facebook-cleainthzo-20

[Lynda (Fl)]

Thanks, Deann, I snapped that one up!  I'm boring my poor DH, got to get a few new and easy ideas. 

[deanna in AR]

These are school lunches. But they're great for adults too:


http://nomnompaleo.com/post/30267255011/a-week-of-paleo-school-lunches-part-1-of-5

[Lynda (Fl)]

That site looks good, too, Deanna.  Thanks.

[Rita]

Deanna-   Those prosciutto wrapped mini frittata muffins look good!

[Jan in Key West]

Lila & Deanna.....great recipe ideas....thanks for sharing!