Happy Friday!

So you guys remember at the beginning of March, when I said how excited I was that it was finally March, and therefore the beginning of spring?

…yeah, Mother Nature is getting the last laugh on that one. We’ve already had 20 cms (8 inches) of snow in the past 24 hours, and we’re expected to get another 10 cms in the next 12 hours. So in a day and a half, we will have a foot of snow.

Uncool Mother Nature, uncool.

Just like winter, my cold has settled in and decided to stay for awhile. I can no longer say I am fighting anything off, as I am full on sick. My streak is broken, sadly. However, I am planning on keeping it very low key for the weekend and hopefully by Monday morning I will be better.

I’ve had a couple of requests for suggestions on packed lunches. Which first off, thank you. Seriously, if you guys ever want to see something on the blog, please let me know. I LOVE hearing from anyone out there who’s reading.

I pack a lunch every day. Well, at least every work day. It’s very rare for me to buy a lunch, and will typically only happen if I make plans to go with a friend the day before. So, this morning, while packing everything up, I took some pictures of what I bring. Please note before I start that this is the amount of food that works for me. This doesn’t mean this is the quantity of food you need- maybe it would be too much, or maybe it wouldn’t be enough. Please decide for yourself and your own hunger cues what works best for you.

Breakfast and lunch

First up is the oatmeal. Which I really tried to take a nice picture of but damn, oatmeal is hard to photograph. I make my oatmeal the same way as almost every other blogger out there- 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 cup water, 1 banana, a scoop of peanut butter and honey, with some cinnamon sprinkled in. I add a bit of almond milk and stir it in at the end. I usually make it in the morning, but won’t have time to eat it until I get to work- so between 8:00-9:00 am.

For a mid-morning snack, I usually will snack on fruit. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m having a slight addiction with blood oranges right now. As such, there are two sliced up in there and one kiwi. I’ll typically eat this around 11.

For my lunch, I like to have a big meal. This is leftovers from Wednesday night- which is the quinoa salad and salmon (Mark added honey and dill on top). I ate this cold, so leftovers like this are great if you don’t have access to a microwave.

About 3 months ago, Mark and I made the transition to a bunch of glass containers. With all the research and bad press you hear about heating up plastic containers, and the chemicals that get leached into your food, we decided that we would just not risk it. This container is one of the ones we bought, and I absolutely love it.

I typically slowly snack as I work, so I’ll eat this between 12:30-1:30.

I like to bring a snack in case I get hungry in the afternoon. A lot of times I won’t eat it, but some days I’ll be starving by 4, so I like to have something on hand. Mark soaked these nuts and then baked them with spices (next time he does it, there will be a post about it, because these are delicious). I’d say on average, I’ll snack on a handful of two around 3 or 4.

On top of all the food I pack in a day, I also love to have tea with me. I’m always cold as it is, so working in a chilly office all day, I find it difficult to drink a ton of water. Tea pretty much saves me here, as I get caffeine, warmth, and I’m still drinking water. I typically drink between 2-4 cups of tea a day (plus some actual water). Today I packed a black tea, a white tea, and two herbal teas.

I then stack everything up into my “lunchbag” (which is a dirty, old Lululemon bag) and off to work I go.

What does everyone else do for breakfast and lunch during the work week? I’m always on the look out for ideas so let me know if you have something that works great for you!

Have a great weekend. Stay warm out there!