Have you put away your lunchbag, or have you continued to pack lunch?

The Brown-Bag Challenge has been over for a full week. The results? Amazing. The challenge turned out to be not-so-challenging after all, thanks to a wonderfully supportive community of healthy lunch-packers. Reading everyone’s posts, emails and tweets was incredibly motivating. And several of Food Network co-workers took the challenge along with me so not only did we eat together in the office and share lunch ideas, we didn’t encourage each other to eat out (like we often do).

I intended to celebrate a successful month by treating myself to a restaurant lunch this week, but I ended up with a lot of dinner leftovers, so continued to brown-bag instead. Next week though, I think I might get myself some Thai food.

What about you? Have you eaten out since the challenge, or are you still packing your lunch?

Read more »

You could win a copy of this cookbook.

We’re teaming up with fellow food bloggers to host a Brown-Bag Challenge, a month-long initiative to eat consciously and save money by packing a lunch each weekday instead of eating out. Join us here and share what you’re eating on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #brownbag.

Our friends and fellow brown-bag lunch champions at Big Girls, Small Kitchen have a new cookbook, In The Small Kitchen: 100 Recipes From Our Year of Cooking in the Real World. The book is, according to Phoebe and Cara at BGSK, “a quirky cross between a food memoir and a beautiful cookbook with delicious recipes and colorful pictures.” Within the book’s 300 pages, the BGSK girls take you on their own journey into independence and learning to cook and entertain in a grown-up, post-college world — all from a small kitchen, and on a modest budget. It’s true that not every recipe fits into our healthy recipe criteria, but here at Healthy Eats we’ve always stressed the importance of cooking from scratch — it’s almost always healthier than eating out, and always healthier than choosing a processed product. So for those just getting started in the kitchen, and those with more experience, this is the perfect book to inspire plenty of homemade dinners, party appetizers, special-occasion desserts and brown-bag lunches for the whole family.

Read more »

Soup's for lunch, but what do you pack it in?

We’re teaming up with fellow food bloggers to host a Brown-Bag Challenge, a month-long initiative to eat consciously and save money by packing a lunch each weekday instead of eating out. Join us here and share what you’re eating on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #brownbag.

With everyone setting into back-to-school routines, healthy bagged lunches to pack for you and your kids are still front-of-mind. But brown-bagging your lunch is out and green bagging is in! When packing lunch, you’re already benefiting your wallet and waistline by packing nutritious meals and snacks. But the bag, containers, napkins and utensils you use and then toss are wasteful and weigh heavy on the environment. Here are some of my favorite ways to make your brown-bag lunch go green:

Glass containers: These are great for packing leftovers from dinner so you can have a hot and satisfying lunch. Simply reheat your meal in the microwave without worrying about any harmful chemicals from plastic containers leeching into your food.

Read more »

Chez Us's Lentil Salad. Image by Chez Us.

We’re teaming up with fellow food bloggers to host a Brown-Bag Challenge, a month-long initiative to eat consciously and save money by packing a lunch each weekday instead of eating out. Join us here and share what you’re eating on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #brownbag.

So an important question has come up during this challenge. If lunch is provided at work — sandwiches ordered for a meeting, a Friday pizza party — does that count for the challenge? Is it cheating if you eat a lunch at work that someone else purchased?

I will say that yes, it does count. If you eat food provided at work, you are still a successful challenge participant. But I say this because I’m guilty. In a 2 hour meeting yesterday that fell smack in the middle of lunch, I ate a sandwich off of the sandwich tray in the conference room. I justified it because I didn’t buy it, and I chose one of the healthier options: raw vegetables and hummus on whole grain bread. I didn’t feel guilty at all.

But did I cheat? What do you think? Have you eaten lunch provided at work during the Brown-Bag Challenge?

Read more »

We’re teaming up with fellow food bloggers to host a Brown-Bag Challenge, a month-long initiative to eat consciously and save money by packing a lunch each weekday instead of eating out. Join us here and share what you’re eating on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #brownbag.

A few weeks ago, we brought you a list of the latest and greatest lunchboxes so those of you participating in the Brown-Bag Challenge could bring your lunch to work in style. But with the arrival of cool fall temperatures, soups and hot dishes are going to start making appearances. We’ve got the best in hot food containers so you can plan for warm meals with no worries.

Bringing fresh vegetables to work just got easier thanks to the Aladdin Collapsible Steamer Set (above). No need to reheat soggy veggies when you can steam fresh ones at work instead. Just add three tablespoons of water and your raw vegetables microwave for three minutes and viola you’ve got a fresh, delicious lunch. Clean-up is just as easy: wash, collapse and store.

Read more »

Burrito, unwrapped.

We’re teaming up with fellow food bloggers to host a Brown-Bag Challenge, a month-long initiative to eat consciously and save money by packing a lunch each weekday instead of eating out. Join us here and share what you’re eating on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #brownbag.

There’s a Chipotle right near my office. I could walk over there, order a vegetarian burrito and be back at work, ready to eat in under a half-hour. For $8.50, I could have myself one tortilla, filled with rice, beans, salsa, guacamole, cheese and sour cream. Then the next day, I’d have to go back, there or someplace else, to spend another few dollars on another lunch. Over the course of a week or a month, dining out like this gets pretty expensive. But I really like burritos.

Read more »

This could be yours.

We’re teaming up with fellow food bloggers to host a Brown-Bag Challenge, a month-long initiative to eat consciously and save money by packing a lunch each weekday instead of eating out. Join us here and share what you’re eating on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #brownbag.

Our Brown-Bag Challenge is winding down, there’s just one week to go. Think you’ll make it to the end? Would a fancy new bento box keep you motivated? You can buy your own, or you can tell us about your lunch here for a chance to win one. Either way, when you get it, you can fill it with salad, pasta, stir-fry or even sushi. It’s easy to tote and it won’t take up a lot of room in the office ‘fridge and you can clip your fork (or chopsticks) to the top. It’s microwave and dishwasher safe, and BPA free.

Want one?

Just let us know, in the comments, what you brought for your brown-bag lunch today. The contest starts at 10 a.m. EST today, and ends on Monday, September 26 at 10 a.m. EST.

You may only comment once to be considered and you don’t have to purchase anything to win; a purchase will not increase your chances of winning. Odds depend on total number of entries. Void where prohibited. Only open to legal residents of 50 U.S. states, D.C. or Puerto Rico, and you must be at least 18 to win. For the first day of the giveaway, all entries (answers) must be entered between 10 a.m. EST on September 23 and 10 a.m. EST on September 26. Subject to full official rules. By leaving a comment on the blog, you acknowledge your acceptance to the Official Rules. ARV of each prize: $22.00. Sponsor: Scripps Networks, LLC, d/b/a Food Network, 9721 Sherrill Blvd, Knoxville, TN 37932

So what did you eat for lunch today?

Cut (at least!) 100 calories from your lunch by making some easy sandwich swaps.

Packing your own lunch can save money and calories. Here are 5 ways to cut 100 calories when you pack up sandwiches.

Sandwich 1:  Tuna, Chicken or Egg Salad
Pitfall: Too much mayo
Smarter Sandwiches: Each tablespoon of mayo has 90 calories. These salad options can be nutritious and high in protein, but you need to watch the fat. Trim these salads by down-sizing the scoops of mayo or replacing half with nonfat Greek yogurt like in this recipe for 5-ingredient chicken salad.

Read more »

Ambitious Kitchen's Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps With Sweet Mango-Cilantro Salsa Photo by: Ambitious Kitchen

We’re teaming up with fellow food bloggers to host a Brown-Bag Challenge, a month-long initiative to eat consciously and save money by packing a lunch each weekday instead of eating out. Join us here and share what you’re eating on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #brownbag.

Three weeks into the challenge and we’re still seeing lots of variety in everyone’s lunch bags. Sure there are sandwiches of every variety, but how about this meze platter from Cooking With My Kid? Soup is starting to be quite popular as the weather cools down — check out All Things Splendid’s Wild Rice Soup and the Coupon Chef’s take on Jamie Oliver’s Cauliflower and Cheese Soup. It’s hard to be bored at lunch when you can enjoy Quinoa With Peas and Spinach, Tart Pizza and Tofu Pesto Sandwiches or Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps (pictured above), and for dessert: Apple-Cinnamon Muffin Cake.

Read more »

You could win one of these -- just tell us about your lunch in the comments below.

We’re teaming up with fellow food bloggers to host a Brown-Bag Challenge, a month-long initiative to eat consciously and save money by packing a lunch each weekday instead of eating out. Join us here and share what you’re eating on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #brownbag.

We’re committed to a full month of home-packed lunches here at Healthy Eats — that means we’re not only bringing our own lunches each day along with you, but we’re offering tips, recipes and ideas on keeping your lunch healthy and exciting. We’re also giving you the chance to win cool containers in which to pack your healthy lunch.

This week, we’re giving away a lunch container from black+blum called box appetit. It’s more like a ceramic bowl than your standard food container and with better functionality, plus it’s quite packable. The clear, ‘glass like’ lid locks for tight seal, and inside the box, theres a separate dipping area where you can put your salad dressing, soy sauce or hot sauce. It also has a removable inner dish so you can microwave one portion of your meal, and keep the other cold. The box is BPA free, microwave and dishwasher safe and comes with its own matching fork.

Read more »