Trying to figure out what to eat for lunch?

Watch my YouTube video where I share my top tips for fuelling yourself with a nutritionally balanced lunch to help you feel great.

What does a healthy, balanced lunch look like?

Aim for half of your plate (2 good handfuls) of lower starch vegetables (most veg apart from potatoes and kumara).
Have enough protein! Aim for at least 20g of protein (palm size), this can come from foods such as meat, fish, chicken, eggs, pulses, tofu and cottage cheese. If you don’t have enough protein, you maybe be more likely to get the 3pm sugar munchies.
Carbohydrates! How much you need depends on how active you are, but there is always value to having at least some as part of your lunch. Focus on wholegrains or the starchy vegetables such as potato or kumara.
Healthy fats! This includes things such as nuts, seeds and avocado. This can also help beat those 3pm sugar cravings.

Soup - An easy, nourishing and affordable lunch and is great as you can make a batch on the weekend, ready for the week ahead! Use veggies that are available/in season. Remember that a plain vegetable soup will not keep you full all afternoon. Make it more filling by adding in things like barley or pulses. Make sure you have enough protein overall too - perhaps add chicken and/or chickpeas to your soup, or have a couple of wholegrain crackers with hummus, tuna, a mashed boiled egg or cottage cheese alongside.
Leftovers - These are great for a portable lunch the next day. Be sure to make sure you are getting enough veggies - add extra frozen veggies into left over mince for example.
Sandwiches/wraps - Make sure your bread is grainy! It can also be difficult to get 2 handfuls of veggies into a sandwich so you may need to have a carrot, capsicum, cucumber or tomato on the side depending what is in season.
Salads - Can sometimes lack carbohydrate or healthy fats which can make you super hungry at 3pm! To achieve a balanced salad, alongwith your non-starchy veg and protein, you could add either roasted starchy vegetables, chickpeas, brown rice, or crackers. You can also add nuts, seeds, and avocado for healthy fats.
Crackers - Can be a really good base for lunch. Choose a wholegrain option e.g. vita wheats or corn thins. Avoid the flaky, greasy crackers like snax or meal mates. You could add sliced tomato, avocado, cottage cheese, tuna on top of and alongside your crackers.

I understand that it can be challenging to think of new ideas to keep lunchboxes fresh and interesting, here are some easy ideas my family enjoy:

Sandwiches with cucumber and cream cheese or peanut butter
Tuna or egg wholemeal roll
Wraps with coleslaw, cheese and chicken or mashed chickpeas
Mini veggie frittatas (see below) or hard boiled eggs
Leftover pulse pasta (much higher in protein than plain pasta), tomatoes and cheese
Leftover cooked chicken or lamb
Leftover roast veg
Slices of carrot, cucumber, capsicum, cherry tomatoes, edamame beans
Slices of cheese or hummus and crackers
Nuts and dried fruit
Yoghurt pottle (pre-frozen to keep cool - it will defrost before time to eat)
Fresh fruit such as banana, apple, mandarins - depending on season*
Homemade banana bread or muffins