Packed Lunch for work

thriftlady_2

Things to be found in my lot's (aged 9, 12, 14 and 47) lunchboxes recently

pasties with leftover stew filling
cheese straws
Spanish omelette
chunks of cheese with oatcakes and coleslaw in a tub
a little tub of cream cheese with mini breadsticks, cheery toms, cucumber
bacon, cheddar and onion scones
roast veg with feta/halloumi plus bread
leftover green beans, hard boiled egg, blue chees, tomatoes, olives
chunks of pork pie
cold sausages
ham rolled up and sliced, skewered onto a cocktail stick with cherry toms
hummus, carrot sticks, pitta bread
pitta pizzas
pasta salad -pasta, cherry toms, sweetcorn, peas, chicken/ham plus dressing
filled baguettes
sandwiches -cheese, egg, ham, tuna, sardine, chicken, salami

plums, grapes, apples, bananas, berries in season, nectarine, chunks of melon
dried fruit, munchy seeds
blackberry and apple compôte
apricot cake
banana muffins
coconut muffins
choc chip muffins
raspberry muffins
blackberry muffins
carrot cake
fork biscuits
chocolate biscuit cake
flapjacks
chocolate

tiannaleigh

my daughter has just started school and is taking packed lunches,I bought 10 little plastic tubs with lids from B&M FOR £1, and I make her jelly straight into 5 of the tubs ,she takes 2 of these in her packed lunch box and she loves them, the jelly in tesco etc is really cheap to buy,were as if you buy ready made individual jelly in pots they are quite expensive

sillyvixen

my fave sandwich filling is carrot and homous!

huston_kw

At the weekend we make extra stuff - oh makes HM pizza on a Sunday, he makes two and one is for Monday lunch, when we cook pies we make extra and that is also for lunch.

If there's a microwave available to use (my oh does) - he's taken chilli con carne & jacket pots, soups, shepperd's pie, etc etc... we just make extra for next day or freeze & defrost the night before.

If there's no microwave you can always get soup flask, you can get them with bun sections in, I think we got ours for aldi.

If we have a Sunday dinner, we use Lo meat for sandwich filling (chicken, beef etc).

BLT sandwiches are lush.

Pasta salads, potato salads, dips & bread sticks / veg sticks, wraps, bagels, pitta breads

I know this is aimed for kids but you can adapt it to Oh

http://www.netmums.com/food/Food__Recipes__Lunchbox_Ideas.1435/

There is normally books in the library on lunch boxes, I've hired loads.

moonbabe58

As we have just bought a house, myself and OH need to try and cut back a little.

One area we see we are spending far to much on is lunches whilst at work. We seem to either spend ridiculous amounts of money on sarnies from Mr S/Mr T etc or driving home in our lunch breaks to attempt to save money and make it ourselves.

Would like some simple tasty ideas for lunches that we could take to work, that ideally could be prepared the night before.

If you lot cant help not sure who can!!

RachelW1987

What facilities do you have at work?

I either make sarnies/ wrap, take loads of fruit and youghert

I take left over tea or make soup or pasta for the next day

Make extra so you have enough left for the next day

You could take salad

Soups my fav in the winter with some tiger bread mmmmm

LameWolf

Mr LW takes a lunchbox every day, which typically consists of: two HM bread rolls, one containing cheese and the other containing HM jam, plus a small HM cake and a HM biscuit (or 2 cakes, or 2 biscuits) He also has 2 pieces of fruit, typically a banana and an apple. They don't have much in the way of facilities where he works, just a kettle; he also keeps a jar of Earl Grey loose tea, with a tea infuser at work, and brings the jar home for refilling periodically.
HTH

avstar

Well done Moonbabe - packed lunches will save you loads:T

I used to take sandwiches or salads to work but me and 3 colleagues got fed up of doing this so we bought a cheapy microwave and toaster from Argos - came to £25 in total. We had to get work to PAT test it all but they were fine about that.

We now do all sorts of things, soups, hot sandwiches in toasty bags, beans on toast, pasta and curry dishes.
I tend to make a batch of pasta/curry and freeze individual portions, put it in the fridge the night before and it will be defrosted by the time you eat it at lunch. yum yum!

CCP

I'm love sandwiches, so that's what I tend to have for lunch. There was a discussion on here a while ago about interesting sandwich fillings, which I didn't get round to reading at the time - I must go back and have a proper look at it as there were some really different ideas in there.

In winter I'll sometimes have HM soup, or make extra stew for dinner and take that in for lunch the next day - you need to have a microwave at work for that, though, and I don't know if you have.

HM pasties are good, too, and much cheaper than buying one from the baker's next door!

esio_trot

I suppose it really depends on what facilities you have at work as to what you can take with you. Though taking any packed lunch rather than buying it will save your precious pennies.

I'm really lucky in that I have a fridge, toaster, kettle and microwave at work so I often take leftovers from tea the previous night, make up some salad, heat up some beans on toast or take some soup from the freezer and a sandwich. I also keep some cereal bars or fruit in my desk in case I get peckish through the day or if I'm working later. Like another poster, I have a couple of tins of loose leaf tea and an infuser at work to stop me from popping down to a coffee chain at lunch. I also keep a bottle of diluting juice in case I fancy something sweet.

however, my OH isn't as lucky and doesn't even have access to a kettle at work. His lunches are usually a box of salad or a sandwich. That said, I've recently bought him a thermos which keeps hot for 12 hours so that he can take soup during the winter.