A Week of Healthy Recipes

Buying lunch can be a hassle. Spending money on food daily can start to add up quickly, especially in the center of Chelsea, where options are plentiful but expensive, whether you’re in Chelsea Market or around the neighborhood. Not only is it expensive, but deciding what you want to eat at the last minute everyday can be draining. However, making your lunch is far less expensive and stressful and can contain more variety than buying lunch in the same neighborhood. You might be thinking, “Doesn’t that take a lot of work? It’s so much easier to buy food than to make it.” Well, yes, this does take some effort. But everyone has at least 20 minutes to spare in their day to make lunch, no matter how busy they are. In the long run, it’s so much easier, and you won’t have to worry about how much money you have to spend or go out for lunch on a rainy day ever again. So, without further ado, here are five lunch ideas to start you off (one for each school day).

Monday:

This is a simple, yogurt-based recipe that you can use for a healthy, comforting Monday lunch.

Yogurt of preference (I recommend Fage or Chobani)

• Strawberries

• Chocolate chips

• Almond slivers

This meal can also serve as a delicious breakfast to start your day.

Tuesday:

This is an easy salad recipe that is healthy and delicious.

• Tomatoes

• Cucumber

• Edamame

• Chicken

• Peppers

• Avocado

• Lettuce (omaine)

• Balsamic vinaigrette

These ingredients can be altered, added on to, or kept as is to make your favorite salad.

Wednesday:

Here is a simple recipe that’s made up of:

• Bread of your choice

• Cream cheese

• Lox

• A green of your choice

• Seasoning

The first image contains a plain bagel, spinach, and Everything But the Bagel seasoning. The second, an equally healthy and delicious alternative, involves rye bread and parsley (without seasoning).

Thursday:

A simple turkey sandwich

• Sourdough bread

• Turkey

This recipe is the easiest and most flexible! But also so delicious.

Friday:

For Friday, we chose a complicated salad for that final boost of energy to show you that you don’t need specific ingredients to make a good meal; sometimes, you can throw a bunch of stuff together, and it can still taste amazing. You can use whichever ingredients you want, but feel free to use this salad for inspiration.

This particular salad contains avocado, spinach, tomato, corn, blueberries, dried cranberries, chia seeds, rosemary, apple, corn, chickpeas, croutons, sesame seeds, and Trader Joe's Everything But the Bagel seasoning.

We hope you found these ideas helpful and that you try, even if only for a week, to make your lunch for school. Good luck!