Working whilst a DFW??

tigzem

I'm due to start my new job on the 23rd, the main reason being so I can clear my debt quicker. This site has changed me and I now deal with the debt rather than not.

Anyway - I am planning on taking packed lunches to keep costs down, but would appreciate any other tips/advice to keep me on the straight & narrow.

Also, would appreciate any ideas for my lunches to keep them interesting and stop temptation creeping in from the local bakers!! I'll be working 3 days a week.

Thanks all x

sammy115

Hi Tigz - good to see you have a date to start work. Not sure about packed lunches, even though I work I am rubbish at stuff like that. well actually I don't like sandwiches. What I do tend to do is make big pots of soup. Chick pea, leek and potato or tomato are my favourites.

I also tend to make a bit more of the tea from the night before and take a bit of that with me to work. I have to do this as I work in the middle of nowhere. The sandwich man comes round but like I said I don't like sandwiches. Chocolate is my downfall.

A baked potato with cheese and beans is good too.

oops_a_daisy

Hi Tigzem - try to get into the habit of making up a flask of coffee/tea and taking that to work with you when you make a cup of coffee/tea in the morning. That is assuming that you drink coffee/tea there are a few threads over on old style with some good tips on packed lunches. You could maybe try to make up sandwiches or pasta pots up the night before and keep them in the fridge. Make up some muffins or cakes on a weekend and individually freeze them so they can be taken out the night before and will keep fresher. Re use a bottle for water and get it out of the tap for free :beer: if you have use of a microwave at work take tins in with you of soup or beans and some bread. If you have use of a kettle take cup a soups or dare I say it pot noodles :eek:. Make up little pots of raw veggies to snack on like carrot, pepper or cucumber batons.
If it sounds like I do any of this apart from the flask bit please believe me that I am really not that good

good luck with your new job :T

newleaf

I keep a tin or two of soup or beans in my desk at work (much to the amusement of colleagues who go rooting through mi drawers occasionally :rolleyes: ) but it's a handy fallback for the day when you forget/ are too lazy/ get up too late to pack your lunch. I just nip over to the bakers and buy a bread roll for 10p to go with it, but it's better than blowing £2+ on a sandwich.

onedayiwill

Hi Tigz,

Are you excited/nervous yet?

Packed lunches. What I take varies.

If I'm having rice or pasta for dinner, I cook extra and take the left over to work the next day. With rice, I throw some frozen peas into the box in the morning, then zap in the microwave at lunchtime and add soy sauce (from the bottle in my desk). For pasta, I chop up some salad stuff and mix it in the morning.

Sometimes I make sandwiches in the morning.

For days when no pasta or rice and I can't be bothered to make a sandwich in the morning - I keep a box or two of cup-a-soups (ASDA Smartprice Vegetable) in my desk. I can just grab a couple of slices of bread in the morning for dunking at lunch time.

If I've made soup at the weekend, I take that if there is any left (very rare!)

Plenty of fruit. Easy and quick.

Also in my desk I keep a 99p pack of cous cous from Lidls. A great filler when you're hungry, all you need is hot water. I normally season with salt and pepper (from the grinders in my office-mates desk!), or soy sauce. Not terribly exciting but its a good stand by.

So in my desk I have soup, cous cous & soy sauce. My office-mate has salt & pepper grinders. She opens her "deli" every lunchtime ... she keeps bread, sandwich fillings, margarine etc in the fridge at work and makes the mosst amazing sandwiches for herself. She also makes them for her office-mates when they have not brought their lunch

Really, just have fun with it. You can take whatever you want for lunch!

tigzem

Thanks all - will check out the facilities at work and get shopping!

Have got a flask already so soups sound a good idea.

OneDay - yes am nervous & excited, things can only get better now x

Mindy_2

Also try and have breakfast before you leave home, sounds like such a normal thing to do, but the odd day of getting up late and breakfast becomes a meal you can miss. But then the chances of getting hungry mid-morning become larger and before you know where you are its the choccy machine or a bacon sarnie from the canteen and then money trickling out of your pockets like no tomorrow!

I'm lucky as we get all our hot drinks provided for us complete with jars of tea, coffee and sugar, hot water and milk in the fridge.

I start work about 7.30 and have a box of Alpen in the cupboard there so use their milk for my cereal!

I also have a drawer with bits in - a soup bowl to use in the microwave, couple of tins of soup, some coffee bags (for the odd real mug of coffee). My colleague has crisps, a small tea pot and a proper cup and saucer!

We have a canteen downstairs and although a filled jacket seems cheap at £1.80, I would also have a piece of cake for 60p and my cheap lunch of £2.40 has turned into £9.60 (I work 4 days a week) and then £41.57 a month and £415.68 a year (less the approx 2 months of holiday I get). I can think of better things to spend my money on!

Two9A

I work on a contract far from home, so I have to MSE like anything in an attempt to keep the costs down. I'd definitely agree with the need to have breakfast; in my case, I'm up at 0500, so skipping breakfast would probably cause me to lose conciousness way before lunch.

I also take packed lunches; fortunately, my tastes don't run very expensive. Today (as for the last 8 weeks) I'll be eating smart-price wholemeal baps, with a cheese (and sometimes lettuce too!) filling. Does the job, no fuss, (almost) no cost.

Luckily, this place provides free tea, which I'm gonna go partake of right now, otherwise I dunno if I'd stay awake throughout the day