healthy living

A Snack Lover’s Lunch Box

What do you put in your lunch box during work week?Here's what mine looks like as I just love to snack during the day.

I am somewhat of a snack lover.  Okay, I’m snack obsessed.  I have a, uh, problem with snacking.  We rarely have snacky foods in our house; for one, because they’re usually not that great for you, and, two, because I will destroy whatever snack that is within days, if not hours.  If there is a box of Cheez-Its around me, watch out, it’s go time.

Because I’m so snacky, I usually don’t make traditional meals – with the exception of dinner.  This is especially true for the work week.

During the work day, I never really break for big meals.  I basically just graze all day (this does wonders for the metabolism, so I guess it works out well for me).

Because of my snacking and grazing habits (why does that make me sound like a cow?), my lunch box is not your average sandwich-chips-apple combo.

Here’s my lunch box for today:

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From left to right:

  • Turkey sausage.  I just discovered this and it’s surprisingly easy to make this microwave-style with some water.
  • Watermelon slices.
  • Crushed TLC Kashi bar + Plain Greek Yogurt.  I hardly ever eat anything but plain because the fruit varieties have so much annoying sugar!  I always mix the crushed bar into the yogurt.
  • Orange.  And a sad-looking one at that. 🙂
  • Amazeballz!  From Gina at The Fitnessista.  These protein balls are AMAZING and you must try them ASAP.  Close up picture below.
  • Cheese stick.
  • The makings for Chocolate Protein Oatmeal (my original chocolate oatmeal dish that I seriously need to post the recipe for).

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I eat breakfast at work, too.  With the exception of eating the Chocolate Protein Oats for breakfast right when I get to work, I don’t eat anything else at any specific time or order.  I just graze whenever I feel like it!

You might notice that I’m missing veggies here … whoopsies.  I don’t have any in the house since I haven’t been to the store this weekend.  But, veggies are regularly missing from my lunch box.  I LOVE roasted and sautéed veggies for dinner, but I always have trouble figuring out ways to fit them into my day (with the exception of green smoothies).

For someone who doesn’t love cooking, I still always bring a lunch box to work every single day no matter what.  My work is located in an area of Kansas City that is just ridiculously craptastic as far as restaurants/eating out goes (which I always say is a blessing in disguise for my wallet).  No matter what, I always find a way to throw something, anything together to eat throughout the day.

Expect more Snack-Lover’s Lunch Box postings in the future!

What’s in YOUR lunchbox today?

P.S. Can you please help Blonde & Balanced reach 100 fans on Facebook? 🙂  Like me here!

30 Comments

  • I’m a big snacker too and I’m one of the few people who’s always munching on something at work and carting a huge lunch box (if not multiple boxes) into the office. Although I work in the CBD and have amazing food options, I rarely every buy lunch (although now I’m moving to a more suburban office, I will have to try a few places I haven’t got to yet while I still can! I also hope this means most of my coworkers will be lunch-bringers rather than lunch-buyers, too :D)

    Definitely hear you on struggling to fit veggies into your lunch. I’m trying to incorporate them more into curries, stirfries and salads, myself (gotta have veggies because I like very few fruits!)

  • Thanks for the peek into your lunchbox! 🙂 Lately I’ve been having hummus with whole-wheat crackers and plain yogurt and fruit. I usually bring string cheese or graham crackers with peanut butter for snacks. There is nowhere decent to eat around my work, either, except for maybe Chipotle, and that’s pushing it. LOL at the Cheez-It comment–I’m the same way with Goldfish crackers. 🙂

  • I’m a snacker too (and can completely relate to your Cheeze-Its comment!)

    Todays “lunch”: cereal (yes, I eat breakfast at work too); yogurt (vanilla); salad with tuna and balsamic dressing; Special K bar; pear; almonds; laughing cow cheese.

    I now work at an office where people mostly bring their lunch (in fact, its hard to find a place to put mine some days!) even though we work in an area that some people would call “food court heaven”. We work in an area of downtown Toronto where the food courts of about 20 office buildings are accesible by an underground path. Needless to say it could get very expensive very fast (not to mention bad for the waistline) if I didn’t bring my lunch and snacks every day 🙂

  • I’m a snacker too! I graze at work as well with my only actual meal being dinner which now that hubby is out of town that’s kinda been tossed out the window too. I get annoyed with this importance on meals. You got nice healthy snacks too! I try to do the same, cause if it’s there it’s gone. It MUST be healthy.

  • I’m a real snacker too, and I LOVE veggies in all forms. I like to take a little box of hummus/delicious dip/lite ranch in my lunch box, and fill another box with carrots, cucumbers, celery, broccoli, etc. It’s a great way to have a yummy and nutritious snack (especially if you opt for hummus or a yogurt-based healthy dip). There are tons of recipes online, and if you make one big batch of dip, it lasts FOREVER.

    Also–a little box filled with dried fruits and nuts is amazingly good for you, AND will make you feel pretty full. Walnuts, almonds, raisins, dried blueberries, cashews—a little goes a long way!

    • I need to find a good dip I like to eat with cut up veggies, but I’m not a fan of hummus or ranch. 🙁

  • I TRY to be a grazer, but it’s just not my style. My broke-ass metabolism is such that I typically don’t feel the first pangs of hunger until noonish, so unless I expressly force myself to eat breakfast or a morning snack, I simply don’t eat until lunch time.

    Today’s lunch is leftover potato salad – healthy style, composed of only skin-on potatoes, leeks and fat free greek yogurt, and a small slice of vegetable frittata, featuring spinach, zucchini, tomatoes and onions. Technically, I brought the frittata for breakfast, but got busy before I thought to eat it.

    Will have some grapes as a snack at some point late this afternoon.

      • It is! And it’s so easy. I made it last week and Dude and I have each taken a slice to work 4 times. I’m going to make another one this week with lots and lots of mushrooms.

        I’ve also made it with butternut squash, caramelized onions and goat cheese and it was AMAZEBALLS.

  • Crumbling a granola bar into plain yogurt is such a great idea! I’m going to have to try to remember that…

    My lunch today: PB&J; granola bar, strawberry yogurt; a baggie full of strawberries, baby carrots, and raspberries; banana and apple!

  • Hahaha, I too am a snack lover and cannot have them in my house. I almost bought Cheetos for my kids today and then I was like “What are you thinking? You’ll inhale those in one sitting!”

    I like to keep a stash of snacks in my desk drawer at work (usually Kind bars or Lara bars) so that I never get tempted to go out or to raid the vending machine.

    • I cannot even have Larabars around! I will eat like 10 of those things! The Cherry ones are soooooo good.

  • I’m a snacker too! I hardly ever eat meals unless I’m going out to dinner with friends and unless Rambo pressures me to cook, I’m tempted just to eat cereal for dinner and then a snack of chips. Mmm, chips. And I bring lunch 90% of the time. I’d rather spend money on Starbucks.

  • Hi,

    I love your blog!!!! I found your blog via Bloggers.com!!! I have lots of catching up to do. 🙂

    XoxO, K

  • I bring lots of snacks as well. I usually eat chips, trail mix, string cheese, broccli, fruit and a sandwich of some sort throughout my day. I like so spread it out and just eat when I feel hungry.

  • Im really bad because I love lunce boxes (yours is really cute btw) and I love to carry anything I might want to munch on in my bag. I always have a huge lunch box but I dont use the office fridge (too much stolen) and I want it by me in case I want to munce so I have to have room for my drinks and I pack too.

  • I found you through brucebucks on twitter and I am loving your site. I love this post. I am a flexatarian (well that’s what I like to call myself). I don’t eat meat, but I eat fish. I am actively trying to add more veggies and fruits in my diet to stay away from the processed foods. I hit up the farmers markets and stock up on all types of veggies. You mentioned that you lack the veggies in your snacking. A great snack veggies is snap peas. They are delicious to just much on here and there. I also only eat salads for lunch now. That has helped me stay on a more healthy track. Thanks for sharing! 🙂

  • I love snacks. They are so unhealthy, though. I never feel satisfied until I eat a full meal, so I snack AND eat a meal which is an issue.

    If I don’t eat out, my lunch is usually a bagel, some fruit, and a granola bar. It rarely varies.

  • I am a snacker as well. Even though I am into Fitness and I am fully aware I have to eat 6 meals a day, but I am not so good keeping up with that. Snacking works pretty good for me, I think if you eat good snacks it counts as meals.

  • Ha-ha! You’re article had me rolling with fits of laughter. My husband calls my snacking grazing! According to him, I’m like bird who just constantly picks at things all day and never really consumes any real amounts of food. LOL. Trust me–if we actually had packaged snack food in the house, I wouldn’t be a grazer, I’d be a gourger. 🙂 I work from home, too, so the food I have around me has to be healthy or I’d turn into me times ten in probably one month.

  • :::yawn:::: I would like to see more posts about finances. Lunchbox posts are ok, but it would be nice if you posted more frequently. It’s just disappointing to have to wait over a week for a post only to see pictures of food.

    • 🙂 After my wedding, I’ll be back in full force. Not to worry. 🙂 Although, I haven’t been 100% PF for a long time and don’t plan to be in the future.

  • I love snacky meals like that too, and that’s usually the type of lunch I pack when I need to pack a lunch & snacks for a whole day. My favorite snacks are: veggie slices & hummus, pretzels, greek yogurt, and bars.

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