Lunch?

I'm looking for easy lunch ideas, preferribly ones that don't need microwaving and don't involve peanut butter. I'm coeliac, so my bread tends to run 130 a piece.... so.... 

Aiming for 600-700 lunch ideas? 

What foods do you like? Flavours? Spices? Would you be willing to eat nut butter that isn't peanut?

Like, I really can't stomach nut butters- they literally make me want to puke. I tried some yesterday, and yeah, it tasted okay, but I honestly thought I was going to up-chuck it. But, also, even when I was like, 4, they made me feel this way.

Flavours... nothing really salty or chock full of spices (no Indian food), but I'm going to try to be really open on anything.

Cream cheese is good as a sandwich filling--with sundried or fresh tomato, cucumber, and pretty much any salad item really. 

What about a cold pasta salad, or potato salad? 

Sorry, I need a bit more info before I can really give you ideas. x: Mel's ideas are good, but do you like pasta? Even if it is rice or a gluten-free variety. Do you like potatoes? How about rice? Alternative grains (couscous, bulgar wheat)? You might notice I'm asking largely carbohydrate because they're a good thing to base the meal on.

What proteins do you like?

What fats do you like? Are you okay with just nuts?

Sandwiches with high cal fillings such as cheese, avocado, meats, smoked salmon etc. all good choices

Along with some dried fruit, veggies, glass of milk and a home made bran/banana muffin. That would make a good filling lunch.

Baked sweet potato, cut up and eat cold with cottage cheese on top, chicken, turkey, tuna, salmon pitas with veggies, Boca Burgers, salad with chicken or tuna, fresh fruit cut up, low-fat cheese sandwich or wrap, egg beaters in a wrap with veggies.

These individual suggestions are only about 200 calories each. You could just eat a couple of them together, I guess.

Unless you have problems with cholesterol, you could have a boiled egg. Might sound weird, but I actually like to put Ranch salad dressing on mine. (or I make deviled eggs, and put it in the yolk-fluff, along with mustard and pickles chopped up really tiny!)

Pretzels are good too. The low sodium kind wouldn't be too salty. For extra calories, dip them in cream cheese or cake frosting. In fact, graham crackers dipped in cream cheese frosting tastes much like cheesecake!

Cookies and milk! Or a couple of granola bars and milk. I get Quaker "dipped"...chocolate chip chewy granola bar, that's got chocolate coating, and a big glass of milk... it's about 550 calories if you have 2 bars and 1 cup whole milk.

This also sounds weird, but my friend likes Pringles dipped in cottage cheese. Though that might be too salty. I tried tortilla chips with cottage cheese, and that was okay too. Or just wheat crackers (bit of extra protein, too) with cottage cheese.

Fruit dipped in yogurt. I like the store-bought caramel dip for apples. And my mother-in-law made this stuff... equal parts marshmallow cream and berry flavored cream cheese, mix it all together. You can either dip cut up fresh fruit in it, or (because I'm lazy) I like to dump the canned fruit cocktail in it and make a fruit salad kind of thing.

And of course you can make shakes to drink. I just put a couple recipes up on "Support Recipes" thread (page 2). Those are 500-1000 calories.

Mix and match! Heh. Save the OP is coeliac. No wheat gluten. D;

Thanks for the suggestions!

Sorry for not being specific- I do like pastas and rice and potatoes... but couscous and bulgar wheat are out since they have gluten. 

Fats: probably vegan butters/cream cheeses (healthier fats), and I really don't like nuts (never have) regardless of what form they're in. Olive oils, pesto, coconut are all good though. 

Also, random question: Sometimes, at a snack, I'm not hungry (but not full either) but get something to eat anyways, and once I start eating, I become hungry. Is this normal? It's like the eating triggers my hunger? 

What about a hummus and avocado sandwich? 1/2 and avocado gives you about 160 calories. Add two tablespoons of hummus (50) with some raw veggies (1 cup = about 25. I suggest putting some on the sandwich and the rest on the side) or just use a serving of sun-dried tomatoes. and you've got about 500 calories in your sandwich and veg alone. Add a piece of fruit and perhaps a yogurt and you're there.

If you wanted something more sweet - try 3-4 tablespoons of cream cheese with a tablespoon of ground nuts and some jam or dried fruit. I know you dislike nuts, bubt if you grind them up and mix them into something like cream cheese, yogurt, or a breakfast cereal - you can't even taste them.

Another thing you can do is brush your bread with a tablespoon of olive oil and toast it. It gets nice and golden crunchy, plus it gives each slice of bread an extra 60 calories.

And it is normal for eating to trigger feelings of hunger. Your body probably isn't totally used to eating and being fed yet, so you starting to feed it makes it say "hey, I like this. Good job, keep it up!"

Great. Thanks a TON for the ideas! (specially about the hummus! Forgot about that food...) 

south beach diet wraps they come in turkey, cheese, and bacon, or grilled chicken ceaser, or southwestern style chicken they all come with sugar free jello. Only 250 calories for the whole wrap kit.

She's asking for lunches that equal 600 to 700 calories. Gaining weight. Not losing.

Stir fry with chicken,veggies,rice,olve oil

Omelettes made with veggies,eggs,cheese and olive oil

Any sandwich ideas like tuna or turkey but using your gluten free bread or wras I saw

Salmon,sweet potato,veggies

I know you said no heating but Amys products makes gluten free

To increase calories add a yogurt,drink,bake gluten free

bagels could be very useful here. Get a big bakery for more cals then add stuff like hummus, full fat cream cheese and salmon would be nice.

 Tuna mayo, egg mayo etc.  Anything with real mayonaisse is good as the mayo is pretty dense (100cal per tbsp) and you can eaisly mash in more without noticing. Also stuff like chicken and turkey with mayo and avacado too. Remember to use real butter too!!

Have whatever you would have for dinner - for lunch! It's a great opportunity to use up your leftovers! Like today for lunch I had sauerkraut, carrots, potatoes, and ham. My little brother whipped up some ham and cheese crepes. One of my favorite leftovers is chili.

have you ever heard of the brand called "enjoy life"? i think you would like it b/c their stuff doesn't contain nuts or gluten. they have bagels, granola, bars, trail mix, and some other stuff.

i agree with a lot of what has been said. you could make sandwiches (out of bread or bagels) with things like, avocado, cheese, veggies, hummus, eggs, mayo, meat, ect.

if you have 2 slices of bread, that equals 260 calories. then you could add another 240-340 calories (of things mentioned above) to the bread (which would equal 500-600 calories). then to add another 100-200, you could make a smoothie with milk and fruit. you could also have a cup of fruit or a cup of milk/juice or both instead of a smoothie.

you could also have something like a larabar on the side (which are about 200 calories) with the sandwich. larabars are really good, natural, and don't contain gluten (but some have nuts-you can't really taste them that much though).

you could also buy tv dinners that don't contain gluten. you could probably find some at a health food store. i also found some here.

i know they also sell gluten free rice, pasta, oats, quinoa, and other grains like that. you could prepare all of this stuff ahead of time and store it in the refridgerator. then to have a quick and easy lunch, you could take some out and add things chopped up (like you added to your sandwiches) to it. i like to make a cold pasta salad with italian dressing and mozzerela cheese (and sometimes some veggies). i'm a vegetarian, but my mom likes to add peperoni to hers. you could also add olive oil, canola oil, or any other type of oil to help add calories. you could also add a side of soup, bread & margarine, cottage cheese & fruit, or yogurt.

i bet they also have gluten free tortillas. you could make a burrito with cheese, beans, meat, sour cream, cheese, or anything like that. & then add (a) side(s) to get more calories.

have you ever tried other nut butters other than peanut? they also make almond butter, cashew butter, walnut butter, pecan butter, ect.. they're pretty good and they really help get the calories in. another thing that helps is nutella & it's really good. it's really good on bread w/ some kind of nut butter and a banana. hope this helps! :)

another thing-- when i was in inpatient & residential treatment, we pretty much had about 500-600 calories for each meal (in food) and those that needed to gain had an ensure plus added on to all the meals and some had them added on to their snacks. ensure can be really helpful when trying to gain weight because it gets you used to eating a normal amount and not eating to gain. do NOT get in the habit of replacing food with ensure though. ensure should only be used on top of a maintenance meal plan of food.

Tweety: I have tried Enjoylife (cookies) and they are SO good.

I've eaten most of the frozen TV dinners... not quite so good for lunches (microwave) and tend to be a bit on the pricier side (and usually quite simple to make from scratch)

Thanks so much!

Sandwiches are generally fairly easy to make high-calorie.  Here are some lunch ideas:

1.  1 large bagel [350 calories] with 3 oz turkey [100] and 2 TB mayonnaise [100] with 1/4 cup dried fruit [130] and 1/4 cup nuts [170] and 1 cup 2% milk [120]

=970 calories

2.  2 slices whole wheat bread [180 calories] with 3 oz cheese (315) with lettuce & tomato [15] and a smoothie:  1 cup whole milk [150], yogurt [150], banana [100]

=910 calories

3.  salad:  spinach [40], tomatoes [15], 3 oz chicken [125], 1 oz shredded cheese [110], 4 TB creamy salad dressing [290] and 1 ww roll [140] with 1 TB butter [110] and chocolate milk [150] with 2 cookies [180]

=1,160 calories

4.  Tuna Salad Wrap:  4 oz tuna [150], 2+ TB mayo (100), wrap [150],

chocolate milk [150], 1 oz pretzels [110] and 1/2 cup ice cream [150]

=810 calories

Hope this helps!  Enjoy :P