| Lunches |
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For many, finding time to eat a healthy lunch at work or at home may be even more challenging than finding ten minutes for breakfast. But since we eat about one-third of our daily calories at lunch, it's important to find ways to make that meal nutritious.
Like all balanced meals it's important to try and eat a variety of foods which will give you: carbohydrate for brain fuel, protein for alertness, a little fat to provide us with fat-soluble vitamins and essential fatty acids.
Here are some recipes to inspire you!
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| Lunch Nutrition Comparisons |
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| | Calories | Fat (g) | Saturates (g) | Fibre (g) | Salt (g) | | Ham, cheese & coleslaw baguette | 662 | 31.2 | 12.4 | 3.5 | 4.0 | | Large sausage roll with baked beans | 735 | 43.6 | 16 | 9.1 | 5.2 | | Avocado & crab salad (recipe) | 296 | 20.6 | 4.6 | 3.6 | 1.4 | | Red lentil, carrot & chilli soup (recipe) | 88 | 3.3 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 0.6 |
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| Avocado & Crab Salad |
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| Serves 1 |
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 | 1 small avocado or ½ large avocado |
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| Juice of 1 lemon |
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| 90g cooked crab meat, shredded |
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| ½-1 tbsp low-fat natural yogurt |
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| 1 tsp capers, rinsed and dried |
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| 1 spring onion, finely chopped |
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| Splash of Tabasco sauce |
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| Freshly ground black pepper |
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| Pinch of paprika |
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Combine the crab meat with the yogurt, capers, spring onions and Tabasco. Season to taste with black pepper, paprika and half the fresh lemon juice. Keep this in a small lunch box, separate from the avocado and lemon.
When ready to eat, peel and dice the avocado and squeeze the rest of the lemon juice over. Add to the crab meat and serve. |
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| Red Lentil, Carrot & Chilli Soup |
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The clever use of herbs and spices here means there is no need for added salt. When buying stock cubes, choose good quality ones that are low in sodium – this will further reduce the salt content of the soup.
Take this soup to work in a flask or sealed lunchbox to heat up in the microwave. Also suitable for freezing.
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| Serves 4 |
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| ½ onion, diced |
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| 1 clove of garlic, crushed |
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| 1 tbsp olive oil |
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| 2 carrots, scrubbed, topped and tailed, but not peeled |
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| 125g dried red lentils |
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| ¼ tsp dried cumin |
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| ¼ tsp dried ginger |
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| ¼ tsp dried coriander |
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| 750ml vegetable stock |
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| ½ red chilli, finely sliced |
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| Handful of fresh chopped coriander |
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| Simmer the onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft. Then add the carrots, lentils and dried herbs and spices. Add in the stock and boil until the carrots are cooked and the lentils look slightly mushy. Add in the sliced chilli. When the soup has cooled slightly, whiz it with a hand blender and then add the fresh coriander. |
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| Click here for some delicious dinner recipes. |
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