When it comes to putting together lunch, I always have a stand by. When it comes to eating clean, my lunch staple requires a bunch of fresh ingredients but typically I plan ahead. Most than often, I remember to buy enough veggies but forget a good protein! Luckily, I usually have a can of tuna on hand. Recently, I’ve been reading about the danger of BPA in the lining of cans. I’m hoping to remember next time I go to the store to buy the pouches instead but on this blog, I’ll probably still refer to it as a can, like people still “roll down” the car window even though it’s pressing a button these days. 
So what is in my go-to healthy clean lunch? First you start with lettuce or spring mix, whatever you have. Next I add in the veggies! Usually I can count on having grape tomatoes, cucumber and onion. The grape tomatoes and cucumber double as great snack options during the day with hummus and the onion tends to flavor more dinners than not.
If I have mushrooms, olives or sun dried tomatoes, those go in as well! A favorite combination of mine is adding a half a sweet potato to my salads. Since they take a while to roast, I usually microwave them. I poke a few holes in the skin and microwave for about 3-4 minutes (flipping half way through). I chop it up and put it in the salad as well for some good carbs to fuel my afternoon. It adds sweetness and when paired with sun dried tomatoes, I die! If I don’t have sun dried tomatoes, I use kalamata olives.
Next is the protein. Like I mentioned above, when I forget to buy enough chicken or don’t have time to cook, I add a can of no salt added albacore white tuna. For dressing I mix together dijon mustard and balsamic vinegar. If I’m feeling adventurous, I’ll add a tablespoon of hummus too. Mix it all together and viola! You have my favorite go-to lunch in a hurry!
What is your favorite clean eating lunch when you don’t have much time to prepare something?
Sarah’s Go-To Simple & Clean Sweet Potato ‘n’ Tuna Garden Salad
Servings Size: One large serving 🙂
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 cups of Lettuce
- 1/2 cooked sweet potato (4 oz)
- 6 Grape Tomatoes
- 4 inches of Cucumber chopped
- 1 Tablespoon of Red Onion chopped
- 1 Tablespoon of Sun Dried Tomatoes
- 1 Tablespoon of Dijon Mustard
- 2 Tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon of Hummus
- 1 can of no salt added Albacore Tuna
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. I like mine chopped up super fine. I typically do not measure the vegetables but for the purpose of this post, I did put measurements.
Question of the day: What is your go to lunch when you want to eat clean but don’t have a ton of ingredients on hand?
If I’m in a hurry, I use Organic Girl Supergreens as a base, but if I have time to cut and wash, I use raw kale and cabbage, which is great because it can stand up to the dressing really well all day and doesn’t get mushy like lettuce and spinach. I don’t eat meat, so I use chick peas (soaked and boiled because I just learned about the bpa can problem too) and crushed raw almonds for protein. The rest is whatever I have on hand, but I too am a freak for sundried tomatoes!
that is a great idea about Kale and Cabbage! I never thought about putting those in my list of BYO-lunch ideas!! How clever. I haven’t done chickpeas yet but want to soon now that fall has arrived. I’m looking forward to making homemade hummus with some home soaked chickpeas!
This is a quick lunch or dinner for me: 4 oz chicken breast with a large handful of ready chopped mixed colored sweet peppers all sauteed with 1 T olive oil. Depending on my mood, I’ll go italian or mexican. I buy the tubes of seasoning, about 1 t. of each. For italian, I’ll use garlic and basil. For mexican I’ll use red pepper and cilantro. and sometimes finish up with a bit of shredded ramono cheese, or a ww tortilla.
this looks delicious! Could you replace the tuna with hardboiled eggs? That seems to be my ‘go to’ protein for salads. I’m def going to try this recipe soon!
Hello Sarah,
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Sarah 🙂
This is such a sexy salad, I love it!!!! Your gut loves it too !LOL!
This salad looks delicious!! I love canned tuna, I’m usually too tired to cook up much when I get home from work so this is my go-to dinner! I’m going to give this a try this week 🙂 The sun dried tomatoes and hummus with your dressing sound amazing! yum!!
This looks like a great mix of veggies for a salad. I love making really hearty salads for my meals so they fill me up and I’m not craving dessert afterwards:) I also like to add fresh figs, feta cheese and mandarin oranges to my salads.