Work lunch ideas

[DalekSec]

Been in my new job (out of edu) for nearly a year now, one thing I've struggled with is lunches. Don't have time/effort to make a lunchbox to take in. There is a van that comes around at lunch buy found myself spending £5+ at a time which soon adds up to £100 a month!

 

What do you guys do? Current plan is to buy ready meals that are aimed at work lunches. First one today lacks flavour (BOL Japanese katsu curry) might have to bring in my hot sauce...

 

(should state im veggie before people suggest stacking up on the fridge raiders)

[smurfomatic]

Takes me about two minutes every morning to make a sandwich, grab some fruit out of the fridge, and put it in a lunchbox.

 

Other options during cooler weather are the pot noodle and similar.

[DalekSec]

Takes me about two minutes every morning to make a sandwich, grab some fruit out of the fridge, and put it in a lunchbox.

 

Other options during cooler weather are the pot noodle and similar.

 

Trouble is i get bored of sandwiches after about 2 days. My free time in the morning is around 30 seconds, of which i use to scroll through X (formally known as twitter) and the news

[Brax]

A lot of staff here just have cup of soup for lunch. I also just do a sandwich and some crisps with a few tomatoes in a box.

[DalekSec]

A lot of staff here just have cup of soup for lunch. I also just do a sandwich and some crisps with a few tomatoes in a box.

 

Could try that, just want something not overly expensive, that i can just eat or stick in work microwave. With lots of different flavours as i get bored of food quickly!

[3s-gtech]

You need to give this more time - eating well is more important that browsing guff on X in the morning [emoji6]

 

Sarnies can certainly get boring, but it may still pay to plan a rotation of foods - couple of days of sandwiches, one soup, a pasta dish, a salad. Then buy them from a supermarket and prepare them - you’ll save a lot of money and control what’s in them/portions etc much better. Worth five minutes a day!

[sigma]

If you have access to a microwave, then a jacket potato could be a possibility.

[Olliedawg]

I rotate between sandwiches, beans on toast, soup.. I used to trek down to the local Co-op & grab a meal deal every day

[Sonic007]

What about making slightly more in the evening and taking that in to work to reheat in the microwave.

[arwen]

I tend to have left over pasta/soup/curry from the night before. Or at the start of the week I'll go the shop before work and buy a bag of salad, cold meat and a load of fruit, maybe even some rice cakes. These stay at work and keep me going for the week.

 

We do have a canteen on site so I do occasionally get something from there.

[DalekSec]

I tend not to waste time in the morning, i wake up at 6:45 (or earlier if baby wakes for feed), walk dog, shower, sort out kids then go to work. So morning is a no go for setting bits up.

 

Could try saving bits from night before, instead of giving left overs to dog (he wont be happy about that!).

 

Will try and get various bits this weekend and starter proper next week (having tooth pulled on friday so only 2 days this week left...)

[MatthewL]

I get bored of sandwiches, have tins of soup and other tin stuff in the draw for the days when I dont want them. Problem is all the fast food places are outside the front enterance of the office so does become expensive at times. I'm not a big one for dinner, prefer breakfast and then skip dinner.

[hardtailstar]

Batch cooking at weekend?

 

Most of the month I cook 5 days of meals on a Sunday and put three days in the fridge, freeze Thursday/Fridays meals.

 

I tend to cook two different meals for the five days. On Wednesday and Thursday I take out the meal for the next day so it defrosts for the next day.

 

If I do sandwiches for the week I box them all up on the Sunday.

 

An hour of time on the Sunday saves the time during the week.

[korifugi]

I alternate between sammiches and noodle pots, with the occasional wander out to get something to try and keep it fresh.

[jmak]

Couscous is a quick alternative: pour boiling water over the couscous, mix in stuff you like: sun-dried tomatoes, peppers, olives and plenty of dressing or yoghurt.

 

Or pasta leftovers/pasta with "stuff".

 

Both better made the night before. I also sometimes cheat and cook a supermarket pizza to take in cold - not as cheap as making something, but a lot less expensive than buying take away.

[TechMonkey]

Mix up the sandwiches by making some interesting fillings. Browse the sandwich filler aisle at the supermarket and then make your own. Bit of time at the weekend and you make them for a tenth of the cost. Make wraps for something different.

 

Extras from the night before is a good one, that is how I get through the summer holidays mostly. And the extension of that is a batch cook at the weekend. Do a few of those and you can have a mix of meals for the month.

 

Homemade noodle pots are a good one if you can get boiling water at work. Noodles, frozen peas, mushrooms, spring onion, tofu (other protein alternatives are available) and anything else you want in a tub, chuck in a lump of miso then just add hot water at lunch and you are sorted. Not as good as one that has been simmered for a bit but still pretty damned tasty. quite a few recipes out there to keep it interesting.

 

If you are feeling lazy I did used to get cheap and cheerful frozen meals, the Asda range used to be pretty good. I'm pretty sure terrible for me and I don't think I could use them now without ballooning to a perfect IT pyramid shape, but to add variety it might work. They did get a bit samey and as you found, they aren't the most flavoursome.

[elsiegee40]

I brew a big pan of soup, blitz it with a stick blender and then put it into microwaveable pots for lunch at home or work.

 

Plenty of soup recipes around. Regardless of the recipe, I chuck red or green lentils in it which thickens it and makes it more hearty so I feel full longer. I always blitz it because that too helps you feel full for longer.

 

You end up having the same soup for a few days and then the next batch is something different.

[HarkNowHear]

Big fan of intermittent fasting so don't tend to eat at work these days. Back in the day my intake was quite frankly a disgrace!

[Iain.Faulkner]

Batch cooking at weekend?

 

Most of the month I cook 5 days of meals on a Sunday and put three days in the fridge, freeze Thursday/Fridays meals.

 

I tend to cook two different meals for the five days. On Wednesday and Thursday I take out the meal for the next day so it defrosts for the next day.

 

If I do sandwiches for the week I box them all up on the Sunday.

 

An hour of time on the Sunday saves the time during the week.

 

This is what I do, I batch cook most weekends and freeze them. My freezer tends to have four or five different things in there (lasagne, chicken casserole, beef casserole, veg chilli, veg/chicken curry) and I just grab one in the morning (with some fruit) and microwave it.

 

I label all ours as well, however, if you like to live dangerously you could skip the labelling and have a "lunchtime roulette"