Ask any survival expert, “How do I stay alive in the wilderness?”
The inevitable answer: “Step 1: Be prepared.”
The same goes with your lunch.
If you want to eat right, you always need to be one step ahead of Taco Bell.
Whether you’re flying, road-tripping, going to school, or just getting ready for work, packing your lunch is for winners.
Want to be lean, healthy and happy for the rest of your life? Don’t get stuck eating from truck stops, corner stores, airports, or – even worse – hospitals.
When we’re traveling, we often pack breakfast, lunch and dinner.
It might look something like this: Fatty Coffee in the morning, green smoothie for lunch and a satisfying Wild salad or meat and veggie entree for dinner.
On our recent road trip to across the country, here’s what we packed up:
- Green Smoothies in 2 quart-size mason jars: Green smoothies are great because they’re convenient and provide a variety of nutrients. This one had celery, kale, soaked chia seeds, superfood greens powder, vitamin c, collagen, goat whey protein, parsley, and olive oil.
- Chopped Salad with baby kale, cherry tomatoes, nitrite-free/organic ham, hard boiled eggs, cucumber, red onion, parmesan cheese, and sunflower seeds with a side jar of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
- Collard Greens Wrap with leftover steak, grilled onions, bacon, goat cheese, hot sauce, and thin slices of zucchini wrapped up in collard green leaves.
- Snacks include, celery sticks and a small jar of nut butter, 2 avocados (to be chopped up and eaten with salt or added to the salads and wraps), 2 cucumbers, a container with sauerkraut, and homemade mixed nuts.
So want to pack a Wild lunch for work, school, travel, or a picnic with your family?
Here are 9 satisfying Wild, fat-burning, packable meals to keep you fit as a fiddle.
Lunch #1: Salad In a Mason Jar
Hipsters will love this one. Pack diced veggies, leftover meats (or unprocessed deli meats), grass-fed cheese, eggs, and greens into a large mason jar. This one is an Italian Antipasto Salad—but any salad will do.
Bring a small jar of your favorite Wild dressing (or just olive oil and vinegar), pour it over the salad, put the lid on and shake. Pour it out onto a plate. Alternately, pack your salad in a glass container with tightly fitted lid, or reuse that plastic container your greens came in from the store.
Lunch #2: Leftover Entrees & Sides
Make double batches of your dinners so you can pop a portion into a container for lunch tomorrow. It’s that easy.
This is leftover Bacon and Brussels Hash with boiled eggs on top—and it’s just as good cold as it is hot.
Lunch #3: Collard Wrap Burroitos
Use big collard green leaves as a wrap for your favorite Wild fillings (steamed or raw).
Try leftover meatballs or burgers, bacon and turkey, taco meat with avocado and salsa, shredded chicken with buffalo sauce, even canned salmon or tuna. The possibilities are endless. Just remember to remove the large fibrous stem from the collard green for easier rolling.
Directions for Rolling:
- First, lay collard green leaves on large rectangle piece of foil (big enough to wrap around a burrito), and add a scoop of cooked meat or other toppings into the middle. Top with anything you like… avocado, hot sauce, chopped tomato, cilantro, fried egg, etc.
- Next, fold the sides of the collard green leaf in so they nearly touch, then use your thumbs to bring up the bottom of the leaf and roll it up like a burrito. Wrap the foil around the burrito by folding in the sides, and then folding up the bottom and rolling it up around the collard green burrito.
- Store in the refrigerator as a grab-and-go lunch.
Lunch #4: Soup In A Thermos
Invest in a great wide-mouth soup thermos. Make a big pot of soup or chili, heat it on the stove in the morning and pour it into your thermos. Voila—lunch is served. (You can find the recipe for this soup on page 222 of The Wild Diet, or in the Wild Kitchen App.)
Lunch #5: Egg & Veggie Bowl with Guacamole
If you don’t have leftovers or much time, you can still throw together a healthy lunch. Just wash and cut raw veggies, mash an avocado with a squeeze of lemon juice (to make quick guacamole), and sprinkle two boiled eggs with salt and smoked paprika.
Lunch #6: Nori Wraps
Wrap up leftover meats or smoked salmon in a roasted seaweed wrapper with goat cheese or avocado and thinly sliced veggies. No need to cut it into typical sushi rolls—just eat it like a wrap!
Lunch #7: Chicken Drumsticks Or Wings
Cold chicken is the ultimate lunch box food.
Roast a big batch of chicken legs or double-up the recipe on wing night. Pack a couple drumsticks or a half dozen hot wings in your cooler lunch box. Serve with cut veggies or a quick salad with oil and vinegar.
Lunch #8: Salmon Celery Boats
Grab a can of wild caught salmon, sardines or tuna and you’ll always have a ready-to-rock lunch. Just cut up some celery, open the can, and fill your celery boats with salmon.
(Due to the unique aromatic characteristics of fish, we don’t recommend this recipe for plane rides… or roller coasters.)
Lunch #9: Green Smoothie
Whip up a super low-carb green smoothie in the morning and pack it in a thermos or large mason jar. High-powered Vitamix and Blentec blenders make the best smoothies, but even the inexpensive blenders will do the trick.
Green smoothies will last up to 24 hours in the refrigerators. Just give it a good shake before drinking.
Quick & Easy Wild Snacks
To nip junk binges in the bud, keep Wild Diet Friendly snacks on hand like these.
- Coconut butter or nut butter packets (or fill a small jar with coconut butter/manna or coocnut oil)
- Canned fish,like tuna, sardines, or salmon
- Clean protein bars. We don’t typically recommend packaged protein bars, but some people find them convenient. Here are a few that are pretty clean and low in sugar: Epic bars (check the sugar content and keep it below 3 grams per bar), Primal Kitchen Dark Chocolate Almond Bar with Grass-fed Collagen, or PaleoValley superfood bars.
- Dark chocolate–80% cacao or higher.
- Jerky without added MSG and nitrites, like Mission Meats Graze Sticks or New Primal Grass-fed Jerky
- Raw or home-roasted nuts like almonds, cashews, or brazil nuts. Remember, nuts are high in Omega-6 fats and are easy to overeat, so just enjoy a few at a time.
- Roasted seaweed snacks or kale chips
LEARN HOW TO DROP 20 POUNDS IN 40 DAYS WITH REAL FOOD
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What’s your favorite packed lunch? Share with us in the comments below!
Ellen H Saul says
When I went traveling for several days and wouldn’t have a blender, I blended my fruit & veggies with coconut oil, cinnamon, lemon juice and froze it in baggies in serving sizes. In other baggies I put a serving size of protein powder and powdered greens. A couple of hours before I needed the smoothie, I set out the frozen baggie to thaw (or ran it under warm water if I forgot). A wide-mouth bottle works better than a small mouth bottle! I sure enjoyed having the food I wanted each day!
e-dub says
Good idea on traveling and smoothies, also when you put the salad in the mason jar, do you have to use a plate to actually eat the salad?
Alyson Rose says
Hey e-dub, not necessarily. If you’re using a dressing, you can pour the dressing right into the jar, shake it up to coat the salad, and then use a fork to enjoy the salad right from the jar. Or if you brought plates, pour the contents onto a plate and enjoy.
L. Bruno says
Thank you for the helpful information. It is always nice to know that there are alternatives available. I appreciate the effort that you and your wife put into the lives of others on a daily basis.
J Wayne Wayne Scherffius says
This post is just what I have been needing for a long time now. I work on the run with a day job and a business after hours. I get some great exercise on my bike ride to and from work everyday because I don’t have a car. When I am not on the bike I am walking. As you can imagine the hardest thing for me to do is prepare healthy wild meals. I prepare food both at home and at work since we have a full kitchen. Most of my meal preparation is done at work. I am going to take your ideas and see what I can do with them to make extra from my meals to take with me on the run. I typically eat all three meals at work since I simply stop working my day job and take off my day job hat and put on my after hours business hat and keep moving until I climb on my bike and come back home usually after 8:00 at night. Thanks Abel, I really appreciate this post.
Sarah says
Incredible! I pray one day I’ll be half this organized when it comes to our on the go meals. Tomorrow I’ll start by taking a salad in a mason jar to the pool! Thanks for the inspiration. Also, how do I find the free meal planning app you talked about on your podcast? Thanks!
Abel James says
Thanks Sarah! New app coming soon – and you can find our meal plans here: https://www.wild30.com/fatburningtribe
Lita says
What a nice post.. I forget about stuff like this. I usually (almost always) just pack leftovers 😀 I will be trying nori wraps though…….
Abel James says
Enjoy!
Tammie says
I see breakfast is interchangeable with bone broth/smoothie/fatty coffee. Question, the joint/energy benefits from bone broth, can we have a cup daily of broth in edition to our smoothie? Several hours apart. Thank you, Tammie
Alyson says
Yep, that’s a great way to do it, Tammie.
Patty Blissard says
Just joined The Tribe. So excited
Alyson says
Yay! See you on the inside, Patty!
Doug says
How about an android app?
MM says
This is great. Thank you.
Health is wealth says
Ohh I will go picnic ,Thanku you brother for the psot love you a lot man. One day i will spent my day with you learn everything from you
Maira says
Starting right away. Love all those recipes. Planning to have it packed everyday for my lunch. Thanks for sharing.