32 Make-Ahead Lunches You Can Prep and Pack Tonight

Salting the cabbage before dressing it ensures this slaw will stay nice and crunchy for more than a few days in the fridge. Feel free to top it with chickpeas or leftover cooked chicken to make it heartier.

Jarred salads have definitely had their moment in the spotlight. And while their buzz has faded a bit, we still find them to be incredibly smart and easy to make.

With a base of broccoli slaw, crisp red peppers, and even crispier tofu, all smothered in a peanut butter dressing, you’ll never have to worry about this being a sad desk salad.

Think of these buns as calzones without the red sauce. Instead, you’ll want to eat them warmed up, with a healthy dab of whole-grain mustard.

Upgrade your boring Caesar salad with three changes. First, use kale for a heartier base. Second, add canned or smoked salmon for some protein and flavor. And third, wrap it all up to make it even easier to eat.

This pasta salad — speckled with roasted eggplant, tangy feta, and fresh herbs — is just the kind of dinner your summer evening is asking for.

Layered with noodles, marinara, two doses of cheese, and spinach, muffin-pan lasagna delivers just what you’d expect from its full-size counterpart — but better.

This salad relies on store-bought fresh cheese tortellini and a few other grocery staples to make an easy, satisfying lunch salad that hits all the right notes — savory, salty, and sweet; crunchy, chewy, and tender.

These vegetarian wraps are full of nutritious garbanzo beans and fresh vegetables and get a flavorful kick from salty feta.

This spicy carnitas number is built from ingredients and toppings you’d happily eat anyways with a bold and crisp base and toppings ranging from slow-cooker carnitas to pickled avocado.

Rather than give up our torrid noodle-cup affair (as if!), the obvious solution is to make our own DIY cups — and you’ll be surprised at how easy that really is.

The great thing about this salad is that the lemony vinaigrette keeps its place on the bottom of the jar, while all the other ingredients get layered and packed on top, so everything stays dressing-free until you toss the salad in a bowl.

This packable salad is a light yet nourishing lunch, with red quinoa and avocado to make it just a little more satisfying.

These do double duty beyond lunch. You can also make a bunch to feed a crowd of kids on a busy day. And for any and all football lovers, turkey wraps are perfect make-ahead game day food.

These pockets use your leftover chicken and add salad with beets, crunchy romaine lettuce, and a tangy mustard vinaigrette.

Playful spiralized zucchini noodles aka “zoodles” are paired with poached chicken breast, a creamy blue cheese dressing, and Buffalo-flavored croutons.

Stuffed into quesadillas, spinach adds a much-needed dose of green vegetables to a normally cheese- and meat-heavy dish.

Marinated in olive oil, lemon, garlic, and spices like cumin and paprika, these chickpeas are zesty, smoky, and moreish. To turn them into a sandwich, they are spooned into halves of pita bread alongside fresh greens, crisp raw onions, and any other vegetables you want to add – tomatoes when they’re sweet, crunchy cucumbers, whatever you have in season.

Burritos with tender, slightly charred roasted vegetables feel healthy, but also hearty.

The spinach and feta filling you know and love from spanakopita is tucked inside whole-wheat pizza dough, then wrapped and baked into portable hand pies.

These baked pockets give us just the slightest twist on the classic PBJ. All the great peanut flavor and sticky jam, but made ahead (and frozen!) for easy lunches through the week.