What do you eat for lunch?

[mamacolleen]

I'm at a serious loss as to how I can make my lunches more interesting to me.
I am currently BF and am cutting out dairy and soy since my DD seems to react badly to them. I'm also trying to minimize my intake of sugars and carbs since I have a resistant topical fungal infection that I'm trying to get rid of. My DD prefers to be held a lot and doesn't nap well without my help so lunch has to be something I eat with her around (often on my lap) and easy to prepare.

I'm good with breakfast (usually granola or oatmeal) and meal planning for dinners. But lunch so far this week has been exclusively avocado/tomato on toast. It would be nice if we had leftovers but don't always. I'm also at a loss on what to have for a quick and easy snack other than fruit.

Please give me some lunch and snack ideas that are dairy/soy/sugar free! Thanks!

[ollyoxenfree]

I like having some protein at lunch.

Leftovers work here. I have school age kids, so I often make extra for dinner (pasta, soup, curried lentils, chili) and then fill up thermoses for their lunches. There's often some left for my own lunch.

I like to have a salad with some protein. I'll grill a couple of extra chicken breasts or chops etc.) at dinner, to deliberately create some leftovers for lunch. I'll slice it up and toss it with a simple salad - spinach and arugula or field greens, and a sliced radish and some cucumber and red or orange pepper. If I don't have extra meat protein, I'll use a hard-boiled egg, tinned tuna or salmon or some cheese (not helpful to you if you're cutting out dairy).

Eggs are another reliable lunch item - usually scrambled or omelets.

Soft tacos/tortillas are pretty quick - I'll fill them with cheese and salsa and warm them up until the cheese melts. If I have a little extra time, I'll caramelize onions and roll them in the tortilla with goat cheese and warm it up. You could make a dairy-free version with your avocado and tomato or corn and roast squash (again leftover from dinner).

I like making fried rice using leftover rice, but I'm not sure that fits with your need to reduce carbs and soy.

[Alyantavid]

These aren't really low carb, but these are things I feed my dairy free kids:

baked potatoes with chili
salad
sandwich - egg salad, chicken salad, tuna, ham
eggs
pizza - you can get creative with toppings and not miss the cheese
wraps

[kjbrown92]

I'm about to have some hash and eggs for lunch. Don't restrict yourself to "lunch" type things. You can have breakfast things for lunch, dinner things for breakfast, etc.

When you do have time (when someone else is around to hold the baby or she's asleep), do a bunch of prep work so that you minimize the time when you're making something. Cut a bunch of carrots and celery up for instance, so that you have something quick to grab if you want something other than fruit. Or make a big bowl of salad, stick it in a ziploc so you just have to pour some out, and make dressing so that you don't have to worry about soy/dairy -- Good Seasons packet dressings are soy/dairy free). I also sprinkle some pine nuts on my salad for extra protein/fat

Other ideas:
rice cakes with peanut butter (Peter Pan does not have soybean oil; and so far, none of the "natural" peanut butters have any oil)
deli turkey (check ingredients when you buy) wrapped around an avocado (easy to eat one handed)
coconut milk yogurt (they now have it at HFSs; I make my own)
soup - if you make a big batch of bone broth (high in calcium), you can just sip it for a quick snack
big batch of meatballs and stick them in the soup or just eat them with a toothpick

On the diet note: yes, dairy and soy are common triggers, however gluten and corn are the other top contenders for food intolerances. While you're eliminating, it would be extremely helpful for you to keep a food journal of everything you're eating so that if you notice a trend worsening or getting better you can see what you ate that might have caused it. My kids didn't want to be put down AT ALL when they were having foods that they were intolerant to.

www.kathysrecipebox.com has lots of dairy/soy free recipes on it. Many of them are gluten/corn free as well. There's a bunch of slowcooker stuff on there, so minimal preparation. Read labels VERY carefully on everything (even supplements).

[Pinoikoi]

My kids and I love cold salads for lunch.. two recent winners..

Ranch bacon veggie pasta

chop up leftover veggies (cauliflower, peppers, broccoli, peas, carrots work well) chop up a couple strips of leftover bacon. Boil pasta (I like using the multicolored ones made from veggies but any fairly small pasta would work, elbow, spiral, penne, etc).Rinse pasta in cool water. Toss ingredients together and add ranch dressing until well moistened. Serve cold

Whoops! Just saw that you mentioned carbs! Sorry. Well, unless you used low carb pasta I guess but I didn't like it too much.

Leftover turkey salad.. dice cooked turkey. Chop celery. Add dried cranberries and pineapple chunks. Mix with mayo. (I tried adding onion last time and it might work with a less pungent onion than I had, but for now I would leave it out unless I knew my onion were a mild one).