Packed Lunch for work

got-it-spend-it

I'm not a sandwich fan but I love cold pasta or couscous for lunch. I make extra when having it for tea and it will keep in the fridge for a couple of days. It's really good with roasted veggies, chickpeas, chunks of cheese or just some sauce or pesto stirred through.

I also sometimes take ryvitas or oatcakes with a tub of hoummous or cottage cheese as I prefer this to sandwiches.

If you've got access to a microwave leftovers are definitely the best though- unfortunately at my work we don't!

Penelope_Penguin

As this has fallen from the front page of OS, I'll add it to the exisitng thread to give you more ideas

Penny. x

moonbabe58

Thanks for all your brilliant ideas, at work we have an microwave and a kettle.

Will most things be ok to make the night before?

CCP

Most things are fine made the night before - if you're taking stew or soup I find it's often better the next day as the flavours will have had time to mature a bit.

The only thing that doesn't work so well is putting tomatoes in a sandwich, as the bread ends up a bit soggy by the next morning. If I want tomato in my sandwich I usually take a whole one to work with me and add it to the sandwich when I'm about to eat it.

loryarr

Im really trying to cut back on my spending and one thing I haven't looked at yet is lunches. I generally buy a sandwich £2.19 or some of the cold pasta salads at about £1.69. 5 days a week plus a drink and crisps soon mounts up. Does anyone out there have any recipes for cold pasta salads or any other cheap lunch ideas I could try. I have access to a microwave at work also. Thanks

Pink.

Hi loryarr,

There are recipes for pasta salad on this thread:

pasta salad

and lots of cheap lunch ideas that should help here:

Lunch for work

I'll add your post to the second link later to keep the suggestions together.

Pink

Owain_Moneysaver

Yesterday's dinner left-overs reheated in the m/wave, inside a wrap or pitta bread. You can get ravioli or macaroni cheese etc, in tins for about 35-50p.

Apricot

one of my drawers in work is full of tins of soups and packets of couscous (just add hot water) - these are for emergencies. I get bored of the same thing every day so usually have Tuna, sweetcorn & mayo pasta,
Spicy chicken in pitta bread (I cook a batch of chicken with fajita spices and put in the freezer in portions),
sandwiches (obviously),
jacket potato with cheese (cooked the night before and warmed in microwave)
scrambled egg on toast (if you have access to a toaster)

lickylonglips

i've started taking a packed lunch to work with me and taking stuff for breakfast, too, cos i don't have time to eat before leaving the house. i have a tub of marge in the fridge at work and on a monday morning buy a loaf of bread on my way in. that does me for my breakfasts toasted with marge all week. there should be enough left over for a couple of lunches with toast or bread too during the week, such as beans on toast or a sandwich. if i buy a small packet of ham, that'll do me for a couple of days, too. a couple of days i'll have pasta (slightly undercooked) with pesto or a tomato-based sauce, just to microwave when i'm ready.

obviously, these do rely on you having access to a toaster and a microwave at work. we have two of each because loads of people have toast and stuff for their lunches.

what about buying half a dozen eggs and having scrambled eggs a couple of days? i stock up on tinned soups and tins of beans, spaghetti, macaroni cheese, etc. when i see them on offer.

all you need to then is take a yoghurt and a piece of fruit with you and you're set!

ubamother

If you have a freezer homemade soup is great for lunches. I make up big batches at the weekend and freeze in portion sizes. I don't have hundreds of storage boxes, so freeze the portions in the boxes then flip out into plastic bags. I just pop them back in boxes to take to work - they're usually still half frozen by lunchtime so not having a fridge isn't a problem. very warming and filling - and cheap.