Lunchtime plan to save money at work - lets see how much we can all save in a month!

aloiseb

My tip for the non-organised:
If you often don't have time to make sandwiches in the morning, add Cornish Wafers and cream cheese to your regular shop. Then you can always shove them into your bag, and maybe some fruit from the bowl, quickly on your way out of the house...

Miss_Cocoa

I always take vegetable crudites and mixed nuts. Haven't got bored yet . . . and it helps to keep me healthy! It does have variations . . . better than my friend who spends £2.20 on the same plain cheese sandwich every single day . . .!

Scully's_Girl

Great ideas. Currently I gym it several times a week & pick up little Japanese triangles at Wasabi on the way back to the office. I have tried taking lunch to the office, but it is difficult as we do not have a refriderator or microwave available to us. Does anyone have any ideas of what one can bring in these instances? I tried sandwiches but the bread gets either hard or soggy by lunchtime. For a while I was bringing little enchiladas in an insulated lunchbag, but my husband started getting stomach upsets so I thought maybe that wasnt the best idea. And I cant do cup-o-soups. Any ideas?

angeldiva

We don’t have access to a microwave at work and tired of sandwiches all the time (especially in the winter) I brought a lovely little flask. They sell in tescos for about £4.99.

I put soup in it and it stays piping hot until lunchtime. It takes me 2 mins to make in the morning (I just put it in the microwave, pour it in the flask and that’s that) You can also put a nice pasta dish in it and even casserole!

Straying slightly from the subject a little….. I always used to buy the soups but that was actually working out just as expensive, but a few weeks ago I downloaded some soup recipes from the internet, went home and made my own, my favourite is this 'root vegetable soup' Its amazing…sorry had to add that on, I'm really proud of it. :T

lynzpower

Scully's_Girl wrote:

Great ideas. Currently I gym it several times a week & pick up little Japanese triangles at Wasabi on the way back to the office. I have tried taking lunch to the office, but it is difficult as we do not have a refriderator or microwave available to us. Does anyone have any ideas of what one can bring in these instances? I tried sandwiches but the bread gets either hard or soggy by lunchtime. For a while I was bringing little enchiladas in an insulated lunchbag, but my husband started getting stomach upsets so I thought maybe that wasnt the best idea. And I cant do cup-o-soups. Any ideas?

Hmm well.

Id go for vegetarian options all the way, if you dont have a fridge. What about a veggie pasta salad, or cous cous salad? We have linda mccartneys sausage rolls as part of our luches and they are superb ( always been a bit dubious of "meat" sausage rolls in any case ) even OH loves them and has been known to demolish a packet straight from the oven, and 6 months ago he slagged me off for buying a veggie lasagne saying it was*wrong* No longer Otherwise, the odd pot noodle/pot curry ( the balti ones are mmmm) You could do enchiladas/wraps with just veggies in, wont do you any harm? Do you have a toaster? My ex took in his own mini argos breville and a block of cheese to work? Or you could invest in a cool bag, but youd need to be pretty organised to freeze the blue blocks with them?

Pontoon

This is a fantastic thread. I am never organised, though my OH always takes his lunch to work with him. I tend to buy breakfast and lunch stuff in our staff shop, which is subsidised. I never spend more than £4 but I know I could save more by not spending there.

I'm tempted to buy a box of cereal and keep that in my drawer, that would save money on breakfasts. Though I don't have access to a fridge yet!(After our building is rennovated I will and I'll be able to use a microwave to opening up all my options)

Scully's girl - If your sandwiches are getting dry before lunch try the ziplock style sanwich bags, making sure you squash the air out (without squashing the sandwiches) before zipping them. That should stop that.

As for soggy sandwiches, I really love houmous I could easily take a tub of that and a pitta to work, that avoids the soggy sandwich thing. Think that there are other fillings like that which can be carried separately too which are just as appetising.. hmm home made tuna mayo, cheese, peanut butter... the list goes on.

Think I'm going to start planning lunches a bit more carefully now.

JasonLVC

I've made my own sandwiches for years as I really detest paying upto £3.00 from a shop for basically two slices of bread cut into a triangle.

What I do is make all my sandwiches on a Sunday night when there's nothing on the television. Normal loaf with ham, cheese or whatever and then I freeze them all in individual freezer bags. I also wash the salad (toms, lettuce, etc) and bag these individually as well and put them in the fridge. Take about 15 minutes all in as you get a rythym going if you know what I mean.

Each morning I grab a frozen bag from the freezer and fresh bag from the fridge and come lunchtime the sandwiches are nicely defrosted ready to receive fresh salad - so nothing gets soggy.

As for lunchtime shopping it is hard, but I keep to a strict £10 per week - so that's to cover newspapers, treats, etc. It's tough but does work.

And yes I am married ....with friends !!.

irocan

Oatcakes are great to pop in your bag for a morning snack if, like me, you can't find the time for breakfast at home and can't wait an hour to get into work. A box of 4 prepacked bundles of 7 oatcakes costs from 59p depending on the brand in my local Sainsburys, and they're a good energy food.

lazy&indebt

oooh Jason LVC that's a great idea! I'm lucky enough to live literally a mile from work but when i start walking and not driving (lazy I know) I will start bringing stuff with me. It's difficult cause I am ALWAYS hungry!

libitina_2

Use individual bottles of water as iceblocks for your cool bags. Tip a little bit out first as they'll expand when frozen. By lunchtime you'll have cool lunch and a cold drink to go with it too. Especially nice in warm weather.