Preparing a packed healthy work/school lunch can save you not only cash but calories too! Restaurant, tuck- shop/ canteen, take-away or prepackaged meals can contain lots of refined sugars and unhealthy fats and are energy dense rather than nutrient dense.

So plan ahead and choose easy lunches and snacks to keep you sustained throughout the day. Make life easy for yourself by making extra at dinner time and using leftovers to add to salads/ sandwiches and buy easy snacky foods. Buy a good lunchbox or try out a mason jar if you want to look fancy :)

Make your own balanced lunch using the following combinations:

1. Healthy Carbohydrates

• Wholewheat/ Low GI/ Rye bread

• Wholewheat roll/ wrap/ pita/ multiseed bagel

• Wholewheat couscous/ brown rice/ quinoa/ barley

• Chickpeas/ lentils/ beans

• Butternut/ corn/ small baked potato/ boiled baby potatoes

1. Lean Protein

• Chicken (skinless)/ smoked chicken/ shaved chicken

• Tuna (brine/ water)

• Sardines/ pilchards

• Boiled egg

• Cottage cheese/ Ricotta cheese

• Slimmer's Choice Feta (30g)/ Slimmer's choice mozzarella (30g)

• Reduced fat hummus

1. Good fats

• Avocado pear

• Soft tub margarine

• Lite/Trim mayonnaise

• Basil pesto

• Olives/ Olive spread

1. Veggies

• Tomato

• Cucumber

• Carrots

• Sweet peppers

• Onion

• Beetroot

• Sugar snap peas/ fresh peas

• Celery

• Long stem broccoli

• Spinach / kale/ rocket/ watercress

• Radish

• Mushrooms

• Cabbage/ lettuce

Healthy Snacks to keep you going:

1. Savoury snack ideas

• Lean Biltong (30g)

• Boiled egg & 4 Finn crisps

• 2 Heaped Dsp cottage cheese & 4 Provita’s

• Vegetable crudites & reduced fat hummus

• 2 Rye Crackerbread with Marmite/ Fish paste

• Handful of nuts (30 g snack packet)

• 2 brown rice cakes & 2 tsp peanut butter (sugar free)

• 3 cups Popcorn (airpopped)

• Handful Extra Thin Pretzels (about 20 sticks)

• 3 corn thins with marmite & reduced fat mozarella (30g)

1. Sweet snack ideas

• Fresh fruit

• 2 Crackerbread with cottage cheese & banana

• Plain low fat yoghurt with I cup cubed paw paw

• Fat Free Greek Yoghurt with ½ cup berries

• Fruit yoghurt (fat free, no sugar added)

• x1 Muesli Lite rusk (Ouma)

• Slimmer's Choice frozen yoghurt (125ml)

• Apple slices with 2 tsp peanut butter

• 3 dates + handful almonds

• 1- 2 date balls

#lunchideas #worklunch #schoollunch #healthyliving #healthyfood #balancedmeal #healthysnacks