35 Healthy Cold Lunch Ideas | Easy Work Lunches

This list included easy, healthy cold lunch ideas to make lunchtime easy! Wether you're working from home or taking it to the office, these ideas will fill you up and give you the energy to finish the day.

Tips for making lunch easy:

1. Meal prep as much as you can. If it's a chicken salad recipe or something that lasts more than 3 days, make it in advance. If it's a regular salad, wash and chop all the ingredients and throw it together quickly or put it together without the salad. Spend one hour on Sunday doing this and you won't end up not eating or eating someone unhealthy midday.
2. Have some standard lunch containers on hand. I love glass meal prep containers for bowls and wraps and I love mason jars for salads. You can also store things in silicone stasher bags (less plastic!).
3. Make 3 recipes each week and rotate them. This way you don't get sick of eating the same thing everyday!
4. Make a double batch of dinner. I have tons of healthy dinner ideas on my site. Double the recipe so you have leftovers for lunch. These are cold lunch ideas, but still a great lunch idea!

How to meal prep lunch:

There are a few ways you can prep your lunch in advance:

1. Wash and prep your produce in advance. Make sure it's clean and dried well so it doesn't go bad and store it in an air tight container until you're ready to use it.
2. Prep ingredients in advance like rice or quinoa. It's best to do as much as you can on the weekends, preferably right after going to the store.
3. Make the whole meal in advance! Just don't add dressing or sauces to the meal and keep them on the side until you're ready.

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What are some good cold lunch ideas?

The best cold lunch ideas are ones you can make in advance and are easy to transport. This includes bowls, salads, chicken salads, wraps and salads. Below I'm breaking down 35 recipes that will make your life easier.

Lunch Bowls:

• Veggie Quinoa Power Bowl | What Molly Made
• Rainbow Couscous And Tzatziki Chicken – Zested Lemon
• Honey Ginger Chicken Power Bowl | Fit Mitten Kitchen
• Mexican Kitchen Lunch Bowls | Simply Delicious
• Easy Chickpea Thai Quinoa Salad With Peanut Dressing | V Nutrition and Wellness
•  Caprese Chicken Salad Meal Prep Bowls from Sweet Peas and Saffron
• No-Cook Greek Pita Bento Box from Sweet Peas and Saffron
• Creamy Basil Pesto Chicken Pasta Meal Prep Bowl from Food Faith Fitness
•  Roasted broccoli and farro bowl Gimme Some Oven

Green Salads:

• Fall Salad with Butternut Squash and Apples | What Molly Made
• Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad | What Molly Made
• Antipasto Salad | What Molly Made
• Crispy Paleo Chicken Salad | What Molly Made
• BBQ Chicken Salad | What Molly Made
• Mediterranean Chopped Salad – This Farm Girl Cooks
• Fresh Caprese Quinoa Salad | Fit Foodie Finds
• Spinach Salad with Root Vegetables – This Farm Girl Cooks
• Greek Pasta Salad – Hungry Healthy Happy
• BBQ Ranch Quinoa Bowls | Ambitious Kitchen
• Mason Jar Chicken Taco Salad – Neighbor Food Blog
• Rotisserie Chicken Cobb Salad | Fit Foodie Finds
• Ranch Chicken Jar Salads from Sweet Peas and Saffron
• Black Bean Quinoa Salad from Peas and Crayons
• Southwest Chicken Salad | Fit Foodie Finds

Protein-Based Salads:

• Chicken Salad Stuffed Avocado | What Molly Made
• Everything Bagel Chicken Salad | What Molly Made
• Curry Chicken Salad | Fit Foodie Finds
• Healthy Tuna Salad | iFoodReal
• Mayo-Free Avocado Egg Salad from The Roasted Root
• Easy Shrimp Avocado Salad | Savory Tooth
• Easy Rotisserie Chicken Salad from Go Go Go Gourmet

Wraps and Sandwiches:

• Cucumber Subs – Wholesome Yum
• Chicken Hummus Naan Wraps – The Rising Spoon
•  Easy Turkey Pinwheels Meal Prep from Project Meal Prep
• Crunchy Rainbow Thai Chicken Wraps | Ambitious Kitchen

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