Packed Lunch for work

Quillion

Pasta salad.
Soup and Crusty cob

Well done. You must have saved a fortune.

I like little gem lettuce leaves stuffed with chicken and mango and tuna and tomatoes.

Making me hungry now

greenbee

I leave the house early (although this is because I go to the gym on the way to work, so my own fault!), so I take breakfast as well as lunch.

I tend to have a glass of fruit juice before leaving the house, and have a banana with me to eat straight after I do my workout.

Breakfast is fruit, yogurt and muesli, which I mix up the night before, so the muesli is nice and soft (I make my own muesli, but that's another story...)

Lunch is usually a salad of some kind, with pasta (sometimes dried shapes, sometimes fresh filled), salad stuff (tomorrow I have mixed leaves, tomato, radish, cucumber, red pepper), pumpkin or sunflower seeds and either cheese (goat/cottage/cheddar/feta/blue), chopped hard boiled egg, flavoured tofu (smoked/pesto/red) or fish (smoked mackeral/tuna). I use round plastic boxes from ikea, which psychologically seems to work better for eating out of than square ones! It feels like a meal, not a picnic.

Alternatives for lunch include leftovers, soup, pasta with pesto & yogurt and handful of cherry toms, sandwiches with plenty of salad in them etc.

I also have dried figs, almonds and plenty of fruit (right now, clementines & apples) with me so that if I do get hungry I'm not tempted by the vending machines at work.

Penelope_Penguin

Forris wrote: »

Hi. I have been very good over the last year and have been taking a packed lunch to work every day. I'm a parcel courier so I get plenty of opportunity to buy stuff from garages and village shops, but I have 'upped the ante' by not taking any cash or cards to work.

:eek: I couldn't do that - what happens if there's a disaster and I need to get a taxi, or a meal out in an emergency :eek:

Back on topic try these threads:

Lunch for work (merged threads)

How can I find time to make lunchboxes ...

Lunch In A Box -Bento

I'll add this thread to the first one later.

Penny. x

Forris

Thanks for the ideas. Part of the problem is that I don't always get time to actually stop for lunch, so I slowly work my way through the lunchbox throughout the day. This also makes things like salads and 'fiddly stuff' a bit tricky. I may try the pre-made breakfast though. I could eat it after I finish loading up the van in the mornings.

PP - I used to spend loads during the week, especially in the little village shops. Its very easy to spend £5 a day, and that's just on food! Then I had my LBM (or Disaster Day as my wife subsequently wrote on the calendar!). I now limit myself to £10 per week, but for the last 4 weeks I have left it at home as I find temptation very hard to resist!

freebiequennie

I know this feeling dont know how my husband doesnt get bored of his lunchbox i do so take in re heatable things and even pasta is fine cold and i take salads i have one of those boxes where the ice block clips in the middle and fork in the top.

husband has

sandwiches - (ham, cheese, jam, marmite, chicken), sometimes has pittas

piece of cake or a choc bar

5 cherry toms or an apple (has both if doing sport after work)

some grapes

a babybel or cheese triangle

crisps

ClaireLR

I got bored with sandwiches on 'normal' bread so I've just started taking the seed sensations (hovis) bread which makes a nice change, on offer atm in Asda for a pound, bargainous since it's £1.79 in our local Somerfield :eek: I also keep a pack of pitta bread and bagels in the freezer for a change occasionally!

rach

It's probably not enough for you but something similar might work....

I take a plastic box filled with carrot sticks, celery sticks, cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas etc plus some babybel cheeses and ryvitas or other crispbread. I often don't have time to stop for lunch but it's easy to munch at and I find it fills me up well!

I often do pasta for my husband - cook loads of chopped mushrooms in stock and then mix into pasta with a splash of olive oil, some lemon juice and grainy mustard. He also often takes cous cous with lemon and peas in, plus a tin of mackrel in tomato sauce, which he says is a nice change. tomorrow he has chicken, mango & avocado salad. He used to spend a fortune on lunch but like you decided to cut out the spending and save the money instead!

Broomstick

There's a page on this website which lists all kinds of different ideas for packed lunches:

http://www.beckyandlolo.co.uk/content/lunch_idea/

nightsky224

My b/f has no microwave at work so he is a bit more limited with lunches than I am as I often have left overs and re heat. Great non salad/sandwich cold meal is...
1 packet of cous cous between 2 (sachet ones but prob cheaper to make own if have time) cost under 40p mix with some pesto and throw in some olives (We buy massive jars from costco) 1/3 of a quiche each (always but them reduced in supermarket for 20p-£1 and cook the night before) and then some baby spinach leaves thrown on top if we have any. (normally do as we buy this instead of lettuce) Nice big lunch for well under £2 for 2 people.

Next day split the remaining 1/3 of a quich and have it with salad (spinach, celery, cashew nuts, seeds, raisins, cucumber, toms or what ever is in the fridge and add some cheese or a boiled egg if required

YUM! lol

pinke9

Try a salad of rice noodles mixed with stir fried veg and a soy, lime juice and sesame seed dressing. Add leftover cooked chicken or Quorn for protein.
Rice or Couscous salads with left over peppers, chicken, sweetcorn etc are also good for a change.
Pitta breads can be stuffed with salad and Quorn fajita strips (you can quite often find them reduced) or chicken leftovers etc.
Invest in a good coolbag and an icepack to keep it cold and fresh, take a pretty plastic plate with you and eat in style!