Another Low-Calorie Lunch

I'm getting pretty good at putting together 300-calorie lunches for my husband. This one is actually under 300 calories!  Recently I discovered Sara Lee 45 Calories & Delightful bread, which the whole family loves. At only 45 calories per slice, I can really cut back on calories when making sandwiches. Compare that to regular sandwich bread, which is about 70-80 calories per slice.

Deli lunch meat is surprisingly low-calorie, and using mustard as a spread instead of mayonnaise also help cut way back on the calories. Simple sides of fresh fruit and some whole-wheat pretzel sticks with Light Laughing Cow cheese round out this low-calorie, portable lunch.

300-Calorie Lunch: Turkey & Spinach Wrap

Today, for Andy's 300-calorie lunch, I packed turkey & spinach wraps.

I spread a flour tortilla (140 calories) with 1 wedge Laughing Cow cheese (50 calories), topped that with fresh baby spinach and some very thinly sliced yellow onion (10 calories); then I staggered 3 slices of Oscar Mayer turkey breast on one end (60 calories total), rolled up tightly, and cut in two. Sides were green pepper strips (15) and more strawberries (25), bringing the estimated total right to 300.

Now, I need to remember to buy several flavors of Light Laughing Cow cheese, at 35 calories per wedge. That stuff is really good, and it makes a perfect sandwich spread!

Packing Lunches

Every weekday morning, I pack my 6th grader's lunch and lately, I've been packing my husband's.  As I mentioned in a previous post, my challenge for packing my husband's lunch is keeping the calories around 300, as he requested. Today, I packed him a pasta salad with some fruits and veggies as sides.

A 300-calorie lunch

For the pasta salad, I mixed 2 cups of cooked whole-wheat rotini with 1 tablespoon mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons mustard, 2/3 cup frozen peas, 1 tablespoon sliced green onions, 1/4 cup chopped seeded tomatoes, 4 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese, and some salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder for seasoning. This made a total of 3 cups of pasta salad at 770 calories. I measured out 1 cup of the pasta salad, which was 256 calories, and spooned it onto a bed of lettuce. With strawberries and yellow pepper strips (a total of about 45 calories) as sides, his lunch for today is right around 300 calories.

My challenge for packing my 6th grader's is making sure I pack enough food to get a hungry, growing, 11-year-old through the day without "starving." I try to include each of the following: a protein source, a fruit, a veggie, a dairy, and a grain. I usually add an extra little snack or dessert, if there is room in her lunch box.

Today, I gave her the same pasta salad I packed for my husband, but added some miniature pepperonis to it for extra protein. I packed green and yellow pepper strips and green grapes as sides, and also included some salsa-flavored Wheat Thins, a handful of Craisins, and a little Ghirardelli chocolate for dessert.