fixing lunch fast

I like to think of myself as reasonably healthy, but even so there are some less than ideal habits that I know I should break. For example, I am not the best at preparing lunch in the mornings. In Chicago I used to buy my lunch at the hospital cafeteria pretty often. I almost always hit the salad bar for a mix of veggies and hummus, which was healthy and fairly cheap, and thus easily justified to myself. However in C-ville there is no cafeteria at work. There are not even any good restaurant in walking distance. In absence of the easy salad bar solution, I got into this tendency to pick up a few boxes of Amy's or Kashi meals, as they are really easy to grab in the morning. But even though those brands are healthier than many with their organic ingredients, they are still processed. Eating less processed foods is one of those goals that keeps popping up every year, which means cutting back on this shortcut.

So what are the alternatives? The easiest, fastest option is to take leftovers if available. And salads are good healthy options to maximize veggie consumption, but in my morning rush I have a tendency to be really boring when throwing salad ingredients together - think a bunch of spinach in a tupperware with some leftover grilled chicken and salsa on top. This lunch isn't horrible, but it's also kind of boring especially if eaten several days in a row.

Yesterday was one of those mornings where I woke up a bit late and was tired and hurrying to get ready. After a debate whether to bother packing my lunch at all and just going out to eat, I remembered that Steve was going to drop me off so he could have the car, which meant no transportation to go to lunch. And the coworkers I sometimes go out with have not been around this week. So, at the last minute I needed to throw something together. Looking in the fridge, inspiration struck when I saw the cucumber I was offered from a coworker's garden excess. I quickly chopped up half of the cucumber and threw it in the food processor with a bit of greek yogurt, a squeeze of lemon juice, and dill. And suddenly I had some tzatziki sauce!

I spooned the sauce into tupperware with the chicken and then threw in the other half of the cucumber and a few of our garden cherry tomatoes. Then I packed some romaine leaves in a separate ziplock bag, and filled a small tupperware with blueberries. Checking the clock, I was pleased with how quickly I put together a healthy and interesting lunch!

I realize this may not be exciting for those who are pros at packing healthy meals to go. But for me it seemed like a good milestone. I want to keep this up, so I am documenting my success! I think this worked out for a few reasons:

• having a teammate ~ Steve grilled the chicken on Monday night. If he wasn't around, I probably wouldn't have cooked that chicken, and thus would not have had the leftovers
• having extra veggies to use, along with accompanying ingredients ~ the success our garden means we are trying to use tomatoes in as many recipes as possible. Also my coworker keeps bringing veggies from his garden in to share every week. It's nice having office goodies that I don't feel guilty about! Plus, shopping over the weekend meant we had yogurt and a lemon on hand to put together the tzatziki sauce.
• eliminating the lazy options ~ I haven't been letting myself buy my fallback frozen meals, which means I can't eat them! Also the logistical circumstances which meant going out to eat was not an option forced me to find something to pack up.
• maximizing shortcuts  ~ chopping up veggies always seems time-intensive to me, so I usually just skip it when I'm in a rush - hence the boring spinach-only salads. But I've realized that I can take advantage of some unique aspects of my workplace to reduce my morning prep time. My office is equipped with a full kitchen, including an oven/stovetop and a supply of utensils/cutting boards/ plates/ cutlery. This means I can throw whole veggies in my tupperware, and then chop them up at the office just before I eat. So while I don't have as many walking distance restaurant options as I did in Chicago, I have other resources I can use.

I do know that there is room for improvement in the form of doing more pre-planning. Meal planning strikes me as such a good idea, but I have not yet been very successful at implementing a system for myself. But at least I'm getting the hang of putting together some good salads for myself. And with Steve home now, there's been way more cooking during the week - which means more leftovers! Today's lunch was delicious leftover pizza that we made again last night. So easy, and a no-brainer! Gotta love having fast, easy, healthy, and delicious options!