Healthy Work Lunch Ideas – Easy, Quick, and Vegan (recipes)

Lately, I have been making box lunches, not just for me, but also for my boyfriend. I know, aren’t we getting domestic? 😉 Well, he wants to try more vegan food and so sometimes I bring him his lunch to work, lol. The first time, I brought him homemade vegan “lamb” “meat” balls in tomato sauce, and he loved it. And even if I say so myself, they were pretty incredible. I passed the test, that’s a relief 😉

Healthy Work Lunch Ideas

While the lamb “meat” balls” take a while to prepare, there are many other meals that are quick and easy. Nowadays, we are all pressed for time. We get up in the morning, rush to get ready, barely have time for breakfast. By the way, it’s important to have breakfast, it’s better to make time for it, even if you’re just having a little cereal. My family always considered breakfast the most important meal of the day. Starting the day without anything to eat … that’s hard for me …

So, today I am going to jot down some ideas for work lunches. What is easy to make? Pasta and sandwiches are some great box lunches. I have many other ideas, but in today’s post I’d like to stick to pasta and sandwiches. More suggestions will come in upcoming posts, I promise. There is, of course, also the option of getting food delivered to your office, but I’ll talk about that later. Let’s start with the recipes. And don’t worry, sausages are included 😉 My site’s not called MyVeganSausages for nothing, is it? 😉

Sandwiches

That’s the easiest and fastest to prepare. I have several ideas here, but feel free to make changes or to do it at your gusto 😉

1. Veggie sandwich

What do you need? flaxseed bread, vegan butter, 6-8 spinach leaves, two table spoons shredded carrot, 8 cherry tomatoes, half an avocado (cut in 8 pieces), salt, and ground black pepper

1. Use flaxseed bread or any other dairy-free bread, toast four slices
2. Spread vegan butter on each slice (or optional: sprinkle them with olive oil)
3. Place some spinach leaves on one slice of bread
4. Top with shredded carrot
5. Cut 4 cherry tomatoes in half and add them
6. Add 3-4 pieces of avocado
7. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and 1/4 tea spoon of ground black pepper over your sandwich
8. Top it with the second slice of bread
9. If one sandwich isn’t enough, repeat above instructions for the remaining two slices. The combination of spinach, carrot, cherry tomato, and avocado brings out a rich flavor.

1. Vegan ham sandwich

What do you need? Flaxseed bread, Follow Your Heart Vegenaise, Lightlife vegan turkey ham, 2 leaf lettuce leaves, 1 tomato

1. Use flaxseed bread or any other dairy-free bread. Take four slices
2. Spread vegenaise (vegan mayonaise) on two slices
3. Add a slice of Lightlife vegan turkey ham
4. Put some leaf lettuce on the ham
5. Cut half a tomato in four slices and place them on the leaf lettuce
6. Top with other slice of bread. And once more, if one sandwich isn’t enough, repeat above instructions for the remaining two slices

Note: vegenaise and Lightlife turkey ham can be bought in stores. Follow Your Heart is a good brand, and it also offers different flavors such as chipotle, sriracha, garlic aioli, etc.

1. Vegan Sausage Sandwich

What do you need? Flaxseed bread, Lightlife Smart Sausages OR Tofurky Beer Brats,  4-5 table spoons olive oil, vegan butter or margarine (or vegenaise), 4 slices of tomato, leaf lettuce
Optional: vegan mozzarella shreds

1. Again, use flaxseed bread or any other vegan or dairy-free bread. Take two slices, yes, only two here, the sausage will fill you up. But if your job requires a lot of hard work and you need lots of fuel, by all means, prepare two sandwiches instead of one 😉 Choose either two Lightlife Smart Sausages (they’re like frankfurters) or one of the Tofurky beer brats (or any other flavor you like, Tofurky has several. Beer brats are my favorite)
2. Pour olive oil (4-5 table spoons) into a frying pan
3. Cut the sausages diagonally in half, and when the oil has heated, fry them in the pan, for 2-3 minutes, until slightly browned
4. In the meantime, prepare your sandwich any way you prefer. I sometimes spread vegan margarine or butter on the bread, but I also like to use vegenaise for this.
5. Place the sausages on baking paper, so that the sheet can absorb any dripping oil
6. Put the sausages on your sandwich, add four slices of tomato and some leaf lettuce.
7. You could also add some vegan mozarella shreds (cold or melted)
8. For the hungry ones, repeat above instructions for a second sandwich

Pasta

I love pasta! I could eat this all the time. And it doesn’t take long to prepare. Today, I made pasta for lunch, and the recipe is easy.

What do you need here? broccoli, olive oil, 3/4 chopped red Bell Pepper, half a chopped onion, salt, pepper, 1 tea spoon of oregano, 1/2 tea spoon of cumin, 800 grams of tomato paste (around 28 ounces), nutritional yeast (can be found in vegan food sections, health stores, or simply order it online), 1 pack of pasta (400 grams = 14 ounces), water to boil pasta 

Here we go.

1. Chop up the broccoli into small pieces
2. In the meantime heat 6-7 table spoons of olive oil in a large pan
3. When the oil is heated, add the broccoli and cook on low heat for 3 minutes
4. Then add chopped Bell Pepper and onion
5. Cook for another 4-5 minutes on low heat
6. In the meantime, start boiling water for pasta (see pasta package for cooking time), add a pinch of salt to water
7. Add tomato sauce to the pan, and mix with vegetables.
8. Add oregano and cumin
9. Stir
10. Cook on low heat for five minutes. If it starts bubbling, lower the heat
11. Add 4 table spoons of nutritional yeast.
12. Cook for another 2-3 minutes or until the broccoli is tender.
13. When the pasta is ready (I prefer al dente), drain the water, and mix the pasta into the sauce.
14. Et voilá, fill your tupperwares with this, and you got yourself at least 3 or 4 lunches 🙂

I hope that I have given you some good ideas. Like I said, feel free to make changes or replace any ingredients. We all have different tastes. Making a box lunch, however, is not time consuming. I do it every day. I keep myself very busy during the day time, but I always make time to cook, unless it’s too hot (I live in the beautiful Baja peninsula, and temperatures can get really high here) For those hot days, I also have some great ideas. Nope no salads. Remember, this vegan is no salad fan, although I do make them from time to time 😉

No, I’m talking about cold soups. There are so many delicious varieties there, and so in my next post I will cover cold soups, and a few easy Mexican lunch boxes – after all, I live in Mexico and I love Mexican food. I simply must include it, it’s so delicious 😉

If you really have no time – trust me, I get it – there is always the option of food delivery. Sometimes I also feel a little overwhelmed and the day doesn’t seem to have enough hours. That’s where food delivery services come in quite handy. Vegin’Out has a great menu and it delivers all over the United States. I wish we had them here in Mexico, but I can still rely on our local vegan chef Maria Amore who also makes amazing lunches.

So, take those healthy lunches to work, and stay tuned for my next post. Cold soups and Mexican box lunches, yummy 🙂

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