Two Totally Not Boring Desk Lunches

I’ve been eating my lunch out of tupperware containers every week day since the summer started!

Between my internship school, most meals are carried in my trusty lunch box.

For the first couple weeks, I wasn’t very creative with my food, and I just kinda stuck to the basics. Chicken, sweet potatoes, spinach, some snacks like bars and string cheese. Ya know, nothing fancy, but still good. But then week 3 of school hit and I was like, “If I eat anymore rotisserie chicken, I will turn into a chicken.”

However, it’s hard to come up with a lunch that can be eaten at my desk at work or on a bench at school. (The only two places I eat, lol.) As much as I’d love a steaming bowl of chicken vindaloo or some grilled Atlantic salmon, I just don’t have the time or budget for that. Not to mention how I’d stink up the office break room microwaving those things 😂

So, I found a happy medium.

I browsed Pinterest for some easy recipes that would be inexpensive to shop for, wouldn’t take too long to make, and wouldn’t stink up the office microwave.

I love both of these recipes because you could customize them with whatever veggies you have on hand or whatever is on sale at the store.

But here’s how I made them.

Chicken sausage with sheet pan veggies

I found some chicken sausage in a feta & spinach flavor at my local HEB with a $1 off coupon, so my decision was made – I was definitely getting that brand over anything! (Tip: always shop by what’s on sale college babes. The store brand will always do just fine…especially if it’s marked down.)

I followed the directions on the pack to cook these bad boys, and made 3 out of 5 of them.

Then, on a lined baking sheet, I placed chopped carrots, zucchini, and red and yellow bell peppers. Drizzled those with a bit of olive oil and added salt and pepper. I usually roast veggies at 400 for around 25-35 minutes.

Threw one sausage with some veggies in a Tupperware and added some salad kit that we had on hand! Repeated this 3 times for 3 lunches.

Quinoa veggie salad

This was super easy because I barely had to cook anything!

I cooked a cup of quinoa on the stove. While that was cooking, I diced a cucumber, a red bell pepper, 1/2 a purple onion, and a bit of cilantro. I also added in one can of chickpeas, rinsed. I threw all that in a bowl together.

Then, I minced 2 cloves of garlic and combined that with 1/2 a cup of olive oil and 1/4 a cup of red wine vinegar. Mixed garlic, oil, and vinegar in a small bowl.

I also decided to hard boil some eggs as a protein source for this meal, that’s totally optional though. You could also add grilled chicken or a salmon patty…whatever you fancy!

Once my quinoa cooked and cooled, I combined everything. Poured the dressing (wet ingredients) over my chopped veggies + chickpeas and then folded in the quinoa. Viola!

Made two lunches out of this in Tupperware containers and added a side of more roasted veggies I had.

Note: since both of these meals were veggie-heavy, I normally ate them with crackers as a carb source. I love Mary’s cracked pepper crackers and plantain chips! 

Do you have a go-to easy lunch recipe? I’m all ears!

X,

Cristina