chicken fajitas in six minutes - quick healthy lunch for one

Quick Healthy Lunch for One: Six minute warm lunches

October 5, 2018 Kristin, Exploring Domesticity

Who has time to make a quick healthy lunch for one? I mean, we cook for our families, but how many of us don’t take that time for ourselves?

I’m definitely guilty of that! Lately, I’ve found a way to make amazing fresh meals for just myself. It feels like such a treat. A treat we all deserve!

Check out how to make a fresh, quick healthy lunch for one in just minutes. I started with Chicken fajitas and fish with broccoli, but I have other great ideas for you too!

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Lunch is my downfall.

I’m home alone once the kids leave for school. If there aren’t leftovers in the fridge, or if I haven’t prepped some salads, my lunch ideas can be pretty sad. I will grab for things like popcorn, string cheese, and a beef stick and just call it good.

Not good. Usually that leads to a day of random snacks instead of anything that could be considered a balanced meal.

I rarely make a nice meal for lunch for myself. Or anytime I’m not cooking for the whole family, really…

How many other moms are with me?

But it is possible to make a quick healthy lunch for one! Start to finish these meals took me maybe 10 minutes total. If I had the ingredients prepared ahead of time, the cooking only took 5-6 minutes!

Ready. Chef. Go!™ Cooking Bag

I recently found these cooking bags and they are a total game changer!

Reheating leftovers can get dried out, soggy, or just not taste as good as the first time around. These bags allow you to completely cook your meal from raw to done in just over 5 minutes!

You can use these bags in the microwave or the oven. I like how quick and easy it is to do in the microwave. But if the microwave isn’t your thing, you can use them in the oven too.

Just fill the bag, remove the tape to expose the seal, and fold over. Cooking instructions are on the front, so you always have a guide for your meal. Since cooking times vary, it helps to just take your best guess and go longer if needed.

Bring it to work

This is a whole new way to prep meals for work too! Instead of a container of leftovers, you could bring a sealed bag with your meal inside and cook it right at work! It also saves a lot of money over buying lunch each day.

You could even just rip open the top and eat it right out of the bag. That’s the only downside… The bags are not reusable, but it’s perfect for work and makes for very easy cleanup.

Quick Healthy Lunch for One

How nice is it to have a way to have a fresh lunch for one without all the work? It’s just as easy and reheating something, but barely any more work. Depending on your meal, you may need to prep a bit, but it can be as simple as sticking some frozen veggies and a piece of fish in the bag.

I started with two meals just to see how easy this really is.

For my first meal, I went with fajitas. I sliced a frozen chicken breast and cut up a piece of an onions and some pepper. It went super quick!

For the second meal, it really was as easy as thawing one fish fillet from the freezer and grabbing a handful of frozen broccoli.

Six Minute Fajitas

The first meal I tried is microwave fajitas. We happen to have some small, sweet peppers in the fridge. I also had an onion on hand and a bag of frozen chicken.

I sliced up a quarter of an onion and 4-5 of the small peppers. The frozen chicken breast I used was about 7 oz. I thawed it a little and cut it into slices while it was still frozen. Then I just sprinkled salt, pepper, garlic power, cumin, and chili powder over everything.

Pop it in the bag and fold over the edge, and that’s all there is to it!

I looked to the bag for a guideline and went with six minutes in the microwave. It was perfect! The peppers were soft, the chicken was juicy, and it was warm and delicious!

Five Minute Fish with Broccoli

The next easy lunch was fish with broccoli. There is really no prep with this one and it’s such a quick and easy healthy lunch for one!

I always have a bag of frozen Swai from Aldi in the freezer. The fillets are individually sealed, so it’s possible to take out just one and thaw it. I also always have huge bags of frozen broccoli from Walmart in the freezer, so I used up the rest of the bag – probably a cup and a half.

I added a teaspoon of diced garlic, salt, and pepper to both the fish and the broccoli. I added a little dill to just the fish.

If you have it, you can add a squirt of lemon juice or a lemon slice to the bag. I also might suggest seasoning with a bit of paprika for color because the steamed fish comes out of the microwave almost the same color as it went in.

The bag suggested five minutes, so that’s what I went with and it was perfect! The fist was flaky and the broccoli was soft.

Other ideas for a quick healthy lunch for one

Almost anything goes with these bags. A quick, fresh meal can be made in minutes.

I’ve been looking for more ideas, so I thought, “it’s just like we do with foil bags for camping.” So, I’ve been collecting all sorts of foil dinner camping meal ideas on Pinterest.

Some of my Favorites

I bet our Chicken and Veggies sheet pan meal would work perfectly in a steam bag as well! I also bet there are a lot of sheet pan meals out there you could look up that would be great ideas for this. If you need some inspiration, I pin a lot of them here.