Ok, this is a hypothetical question for now, but here's a scenario:

You work 50+ hours per week. No stay at home wife or stay at home husband. High pressure job, stuck in a cube all day. You don't have that much time to even go out for lunch, as the office is in an industrial area. There's a microwave and a fridge in the cafeteria half a mile (seemingly) from your cubicle. You're not allowed to eat at your desk. The cafeteria food is awful, so you usually bring your own lunch. You could go out for lunch, but wouldn't have time for a sit-down restaurant on a regular basis. You leave the house at 6:30 a.m. and get home at 6:30 pm.

So far, you've managed to ditch gluten, hfcs, artificial sweeteners, legumes, dairy.

How do you work this? Any and all suggestions welcome

You must be describing my life? I work in a cube office, long hours, crappy cafeteria.

I bring a big box of salad veggies and then add extras to it --protein (grilled chicken or salmon or boiled eggs or lunch meat or whatever), plus some cheese or avocado or anything else I want to add. I keep salad dressings in my drawer. (You can also add bacon, sunflower seeds, boiled egg, various cheese, nuts, etc., so you are not bored).

I eat salad with protein every day at work. I cook the proteins on the weekend. (I bake a few pounds of bacon in the oven, saving the grease for cooking at nights and then crumble the bacon for future use; I boil 2 dozen eggs at a time; I roast chicken breast, salmon, ham, and then put them in individual serving baggies). I always have nuts, sunflower seeds, salad dressings, olives and avocado in the fridge.

I vary things by switching up the dressings (oil and vinegar, ranch, blue cheese, ceasar, etc.) and by switching around the salad ingredients. And when I just cannot take another day of salad, I'll bring some devilled eggs, or celery sticks to dip in fresh nut butter, or dinner leftovers to warm up in the microwave.

Thank you! I really do appreciate these suggestions. I'm going to cook more meats and things on the weekends.

ARe you describing my husband? I do SAH, so I pack his lunches and make him breakfast, but I suppose he could do it if I weren't around. I pack him leftovers that he can walk to the fridge to retrieive adn microwave if neccessary. The walk is good for him and it gets the blood pumping back in the legs.

He takes salads, raw veggies, sausage, the aforementioned leftovers, and that's about it. Pretty boring stuff unless I make something awesome the night before, but leftovers are boring by nature. If there are no leftovers he takes a ginormous salad with dressing in a small container. On the rare day I neglect to send a lunch he will order Jimmy John's unwich or go get a salad from the cafeteria.

This was me last year doing taxes. I brought casseroles of meat and veggies, pizza quiche. Or on the way to work I'd buy a bunch of cheeseburgers. We didn't even have a cafeteria, I just sat on the ground outside, walked around munching my lunch or sat in my car.

ditto on the giant salad - i pack enough for two full meals - veggies and protein. part of it is eaten for lunch, the other half is grazed upon when i'm hungry again.

i keep half a dozen cans of high quality tuna or sockeye in one of my drawers for convenience. also almonds, walnuts, and any other pantry item that will keep well in a sealable container.

i have not found any gluten-free wraps, only low-carb. i'm toying with the notion of making a wrap with rice paper and counting it against my +-100 per day. at 7 or 8 grams per piece, it's not too bad for a lunch item, but i wouldn't do it on induction.

Thanks for the great replies so far, hope to hear even more.

I go across the street and buy a cheesesteak (no cheese, no roll) and sausages (no rolls) with a little salad.

This is my life but I don't eat at work! *This isn't a suggestion lol* I just tough it out, I am terrible, lol. Not being able to eat at your desk is SUCH crap.

Definitely pack something you can just throw together. Hard boiled eggs, string cheese, salad, cut up salami or whatever meat you want. Nuts, berries, things like that. Meat sticks are also good if you can find some without fillers and garbage.

faduckeggs nailed it! I eat the same things too! Every day, a big ass salad with protein. It NEVER gets boring, because salad can be made differently every day. I make the salad fresh at home every two days...chop up the lettuce, celery, and peppers....and then EACH morning add the really perishible vegetables, things I don't want to chop up ahead of time because they get mushy....cucumbers, tomatoes, whatever else I'm putting in there.

Some days I'll add some nuts to my salad and some feta cheese...other days I'll add sunflower seeds...some days there is meat or eggs in there.

ALWAYS satisfying!

P.S. "Big-ass" salad...I love that expression...lifted it from Mark Scission of Mark's Daily Apple. Wish I could take credit, but I can't.

I generally take salads and meats to work, bolied eggs for snacks or pork rinds. However last night i made ground beef with taco seasoning and made double, half of which is todays lunch. I do the same when i make meatballs for tea.
When i make salads i put each thing cut up into its own individual bag so its nice and fresh when i come to eat it and not soggy.
I make the next days lunch while making tea at night, it saves time!

This, except I wake up earlier and cook the protein in the morning, with extras for breakfast.

Seems salad is very popular I'd gotten into the habit of thinking 'variety' was needed and that a salad every single day would be boring or something, but now seeing some of these replies, I can see that this isn't necessarily the case. Just have to change up the protein and add-ins.

I eat exactly the same thing every day, too. I can only either bring food or eat from one place since they are the only place I trust to keep dairy and shellfish off my food (allergic).

Back when I ate carbs, my standard lunch was either a sandwich with chips/pretzels/cup of soup or pasta of some kind or a slice of pizza. Very monotonous if you think about it.

Variety really isn't necessary, as long as you enjoy the food. Now if your dh hates salads with all his being, then salad isn't the answer for him.

My dh eats a can of tuna in oil (add salt and pepper) with celery sticks and a bag of pork cracklins every day for lunch. He wants to do LC with me, but he hates all cooking/effort when it comes to food, so this works for him. (I clean and cut two heads of celery a week for him and keep it in the fridge. He also likes celery with peanut butter for a snack.) But, he works from home. There is no way I would bring canned tuna and pork rinds to work. (the smells)