Packed Lunch for work

dronid

Those are great. I've just had a real mental block with it all and it's costing me far too much money. I always make far more than I need and freeze it but it seems to metamorphose into chilli and bolognese while in the freezer! Ideally I need to do sauce/topping seperate from pasta/rice/potato otherwise it just ends up a mess after making sure it's hot.

Sadly I've never been very good at doing a salad in a box so hot food is what I gravitate too. Must check out freezable sandwiches to go with a soup too! All ideas are good. I did prebaked potato and beans but it wasn't great. I don't know if I should mix up some cheese in the potato to make it heat up more evenly.

marmiterulesok

My current favourite lunch is rice and lentil dhal.I batch cook and then take in portions for work.

Spicy/curried tofu and vegetables with rice works well too.For these I use the Slow Cokker a lot.

Lentil and veggie soups are cheap and nourishing.

If I make a big tomato pasta dish,I mix everything together at the end.It's eaier to freeze portions that way.

HTH.

Pink.

Hi dronid,

This thread may give you more ideas:

Packed Lunch for work

I'll add your thread to that one later to keep the suggestions together.

Pink

Seanymph

Do you have access to a kettle?

Yesterday Hugh Fearnly W was doing potted home made noodles.... he used the egg noodles (round, I think blue dragon - you get them in packets of six 'nests') - and added various things to a dry tub with a lid - took them into 'work' and added water and presto.

Now, what did he do? one had basil, chorizo cubed up, spring onion and he did small tub of 'sauce' tomato puree and worcester sauce from memory. He did one with 'curry' sauce and added some cooked meat to that. One was 'vegetarian' and had carrots really thin, mushroom and spring onion with a sauce made from worcester sauce and tobasco.

Really they just messed about with ingredients - but they looked fantastic, were easy to do, and cost very little.

Seanymph

http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/chefs/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall/chorizo-and-tomato-instant-noodles-recipe

found that one - the others are in the programme.

spike7451

I went to use the microwave at work but it was honkingly filthy so I didn't.I suggest getting one of these;

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/9270556.htm?CMPID=GS001&_$ja=tsid:11527%7Ccc:%7Cprd:9270556%7Ccat:sports+and+leisure+%2F+camping+%2F+coolboxes+and+vacuum+flasks+%2F

I got one & they are brill!!The neck is wide enough that you can get a spoon into it & the food was piping hot after 5 hours & even still warm when I got home.I cannot recommend it enough!Well worth the money!

I'd make a mince base with baked beans instead of kidney beans so you can either add spices & ready cooked rice for a chili or tomatoes & italian herbs & pasta.Or get a tin of Scotch Broth & add sliced sausages & fried,diced potatoes,maybe some fried onions.
I find that because most works' only give you 30min for lunch,by the time you've waited for someone before you to use the microwave & heated your food up,you have to wolf down the piping hot food as you've got only 5 minutes left!!

ubamother

couscous is really good as a base for a nearly instant hot lunch - in a lunchbox or similar microwavable holder, put couscous, then your favourite veg, finely sliced if necessary - so things like onions, sweetcorn, peas, shredded green beans, small bits of broccoli, mushrooms, powdered stock, chopped chilli etc. etc. Add boiling water to cover the couscous and a wee bit more (sorry, don't do precision), stir and leave for a few minutes. I find this great for using up bits of veg leftovers.

spike7451

ubamother wrote: »

couscous is really good as a base for a nearly instant hot lunch - in a lunchbox or similar microwavable holder, put couscous, then your favourite veg, finely sliced if necessary - so things like onions, sweetcorn, peas, shredded green beans, small bits of broccoli, mushrooms, powdered stock, chopped chilli etc. etc. Add boiling water to cover the couscous and a wee bit more (sorry, don't do precision), stir and leave for a few minutes. I find this great for using up bits of veg leftovers.

Ahh...a woman after my own heart!...bit of this,...dash of that...bish bash bosh job jobbed!!:D

dronid

Thanks, they're all great. Yes I'm not really a fixed recipe type person so the idea of the couscous is appealing. We don't have kettles here, just fixed hot water taps for tea but they should be hot enough. I actually have one of those flasks but have never quite got round to using it. And thanks Pink for linking this up with another thread. I did see that one but as it mainly seemed for no cooking lunches I didn't put it in there!

Crunchy_Nutter

Evening all,

I work shifts, often 12 hours at a time, and as such I'd like to be able to eat hot meals at work. I have access to microwave with grill, kettle and toaster. The easy option is of course microwave ready meals from Farmfoods / Iceland, at around £1.50 a time. However the portions are usually miniscule and so I end up having two... Also need to take into account that these meals are usually pretty bland and full of crap.

I've had a go at making curries / chilli, with microwave rice, and can usually get two or three days worth of meals out of a jar of stir-in sauce and portion of meat, bulked up with farmfoods frozen veg.

I've also taken sandwich ingredients and a loaf into work, again I get a few days out of a loaf and a packet or two of Aldi salami.

Trouble is I'm getting bored of the same few meal options... Has anyone got any suggestions of other food I can prepare in an evening and take to work to reheat? Or even stuff that can be prepared at work (the nature of my work means preparation time isn't really an issue except on really hectic days).

My budget is around £20 a week, to cover 6 days (sometimes 7). This has to include snacks (usually get a couple of days out of a pack of Rich Tea biccies...

Thanks in advance,
Crunchy