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This Mediterranean meal prep lunch box is incredibly simple to make and filled with wholesome, fresh ingredients. It’s full of veggies, protein-rich chickpeas, and creamy hummus. Ready in around 20 minutes, it’s perfect to prep ahead for a quick lunch.
You can find these glass containers here.
Mediterranean Lunch Box
Made with fresh ingredients that grow under the sun, all I can think of are my vacations in Greece and Sicily when eating this lunch.
Much like my Panzanella salad and Mediterranean quinoa salad, it’s simple, filling, and perfect when you don’t have much time to spare cooking.
These lunch box ideas are naturally vegan and can be made gluten-free by substituting the couscous for a gluten-free version or quinoa or brown rice.
What’s in this lunch box
This is what I used:
- Wholegrain couscous
- Chickpeas
- Black olives
- Bell peppers
- Red onion
- Cherry tomatoes
- Cucumber
- Creamy homemade hummus
- A simple dressing made with extra virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar, the juice of one lemon, salt, and pepper.
And what’s great is that you can customize each one of these boxes with whatever you have available, as long as you remember to add wholesome grains, proteins, and fresh crunchy veggies.
Grains: You can use brown rice, quinoa, orzo pasta, farro, or any other grain.
Proteins: You can use any lentils or beans, tofu, or, if you are not on a plant-based diet, eggs, or roasted chicken.
Veggies: Anything goes—rocket, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, just to name a few.
How to assemble
Thankfully, there isn’t much cooking involved.
All you have to do is to prep the couscous according to the package instructions. Then make the hummus, following my straightforward hummus recipe. Sure, you can buy it too. But honestly, it takes just a few minutes to make, and it’s creamy and much better than the one you can buy.
Last wash and chop the veggies and add some dressing and you are ready to go.
How to make the chickpeas taste nice
To keep this recipe extremely simple and perfect for meal prep, I used canned chickpeas, but I know that some of you find the taste a bit bland.
You can make these chickpeas taste much better in 2 ways:
- Before adding them to the lunch box, toss them in a bowl with some sweet smoked paprika, and a tablespoon of the dressing.
- You can do the same as above and then roast them in the oven for 15-20 minutes. This will add more prep time, but the end result will be delicious.
For my lunch boxes, I opted for option 1.
And if you like this recipe, check out these other lunch ideas:
- 5 Awesome Lunch Box Ideas for adults
- Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
- One-Pan Mexican Quinoa
- 10-Minute Chickpea Curry
- Panzanella
Mediterranean Lunch Box (Meal Prep)
Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked wholewheat couscous
- 1 medium cucumber roughly chopped
- 2 bell peppers 1 red, 1 yellow
- 1/2 red onion
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 1/2 cup fresh flat leave parsley
- 1 can chickpeas 15 ounces
- 1 cup hummus
- 1/2 cup Kalamata olives
Dressing
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lemon juiced
- 1/4 cup white or red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
Instructions
- Prepare the couscous according to the package instructions, making sure to add a bit of salt to the water.
- While the couscous is cooking and resting, prepare the veggies: chop the cucumber, the peppers, the red onion, and cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Finely chop the parsley.
- Prepare the dressing by mixing the olive oil, the juice of one lemon, dried oregano, salt, and pepper in a jar. Make sure to taste the seasoning and adjust to your liking.
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas, add them to a bowl and mix with 1 tablespoon of dressing and the smoked paprika. If you prefer, you can also roast the chickpeas in the oven for 20 minutes at 350F.
- In another bowl, mix the bell peppers with the chopped red onion, 2 tablespoons of dressing, and the chopped parsley.
- Divide the couscous equally among the meal prep containers. Then add all the chopped veggies, olives, chickpea salad, and top everything with a good serving of hummus (if you are making the hummus on the go, you'll need an extra 5 minutes, and you can follow my recipe here).
- Divide the remaining dressing between the bowls, and remember to mix well before eating.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this Mediterranean lunch box? Let me know in the comments!
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