Ja-NEW-ary 2013 - Take your lunch to work thread

mineallmine

Shortie wrote: »

Oh in that case MAM, I'll give it a go on Monday (looking forward to my granola and natural yoghurt in work tomorrow) - thanks! Amd very true - it's just 2 slices of wasted bread (unless I slap peanut butter on it as I'd eat it regardless then :rotfl:)

MAM, I love the idea of having lunch ideas up front - KittieJ if you plan to do this next month, I don't mind helping out with keeping lunches updated on the foint page if things get hectic

Yes give it a go Shortie. Nothing to lose. If ever I did anything wrong it was too much better or putting the butter on when the toast was too hot. Depends if you prefer crusty or soggier toast. Blimey had no idea I was SO fussy about toast :j

That's a great idea Shortie about lunch ideas. I don't want to impose on KittieJ I'm selfishly looking to capture everyone's fab ideas to borrow, permanently

Shortie

dorajar wrote: »

I have taken soup to work with me for the last two days in my secret santa microwavable soup mug. It wasn't homemade:o but the covent garden stuff which was half price at Mr S so just over £1 for two days with an apple from the fruit bowl and a yogurt. I think it has probably cost me about £1 a day for my lunches this week:j

Oooh that was a really thoughtful Secret Santa pressie

My folks got me hard soled slippers, a shawl and a thermos flask (not yet in use as I have one I'm using already though it started making 'popping' noises whenever I put hot water in it earlier, hhmmm....) and some money to put towards getting out fireplace working again. I know it doesn't sound exciting but I was really glad to get practical stuff I'll use I wear the slippers all the time round the house - I was just walking around in socks before and faffing with shoes if I needed to go outside!

penelopedee_2

If its any help for wrap or sarnie fillings, I tend to steal ideas from the low carb diets such as:

basic mix of 1/2 sour cream/1/2 mayo

then add the taste bit, such as crumbled stilton for a blue cheese mix, or a bit of mustard, or chilli powder or curry powder etc ....

Then use this to liven up basic sliced meats, veg, salad, cheese.

Basic home-made coleslaw - carrots, onion, shredded cabbage and mayo. Home made mayo is even nicer - expect one of the old stylers can explain how its made (I have a stepmom who does mine).

All those odd sauces you purchase during the year and don't use up - cranberry jelly, redcurrent jelly, apple sauce, bbq relish, onion relish, mango chutney - all add a bit of taste.

Consider buying small joints of meat and cooking along side the Sunday roast and then slicing thinly and freezing. Much cheaper and probably more tasty than buying deli meats.

Duck left over from a Chinese take-away goes nicely with green leaves.

A bit of fruit in the sarnie, cheese ham and pineapple or pork and apple slices, cheese and grapes.


Cheese freezes, grate it up to make it easier to take out handfuls for sarnies etc.

Cooked bacon left over from weekend brekkies always adds a nice crunch. Eggs are easy and very filling. I have taken fried eggs in baguettes before when I need a treat day. Taste fine cold and are lovely and messy to eat.

Then something sweet if you need it. We are still going through loads of Chrimbo chocolates. I just pick 3 out of the box/tin that is open. One mince pie ..... a bit of the christmas cake ... cold cooked Christmas pudding. Some of the nut mixes left over.

Cup-a-soup - I know its healthier and cheaper to make your own - but a box can sit in a drawer or locker. Also easy to take in a couple of crackers or cheese bisuits or make up some cheese scones.

Really skint, brown bread and cheapo peanut butter is really filling. Swap peanut butter for sandwich paste. Value lettuce is only about 60p to add a bit of greens.

Twiggy_34

Another moneysaving lunch-box idea which is something I do sometimes & have posted before on another thread... I buy sugar free jelly sachets & once mixed with water divide the mix between 5 containers (depending on your lunchbox this could be anything from a silicon cake case or an old yoghurt pot). Once set & ready to go in the lunch-box, I pop it into a small sandwich bag (the flimsy kind where you get 100's on a roll for a £1 or less) so if it gets disturbed it doesn't end up everywhere.

Oh, and for those of you who can do this, I keep a few cup a soups in my desk at work for those days I forget to bring my lunch in (we've all done it, I'm sure!).

So far so good for this challenge, it's the last working day of the week for me tomorrow & my lunch is already packed. :j

Shortie

mineallmine wrote: »

Yes give it a go Shortie. Nothing to lose. If ever I did anything wrong it was too much better or putting the butter on when the toast was too hot. Depends if you prefer crusty or soggier toast. Blimey had no idea I was SO fussy about toast :j

That's a great idea Shortie about lunch ideas. I don't want to impose on KittieJ I'm selfishly looking to capture everyone's fab ideas to borrow, permanently

Random question alert ... do you live in S.Ireland? I'm trying to not sound like a stalker so I'm putting a really big place down as the question :rotfl: You sound JUST like my sister when when you say that and I've been known to chat away to her on another forum years ago, having no idea who she was (but she knew exactly who I was and was having a right chuckle at me for it, lol)

I'm fussy about toast too - hot dribbly butter and not aenemic (sorry for the spelling there) for me

Shortie

Right, I really need to get to sleep early tonight - tomorrow's lunch is either left over pasta bake again, or a cheese and pickle sarnie if I get up early enough. Breakfast is granola and natural yoghurt. Sank with be some sort of choloate mini log from the Chrimble leftovers

Night all!

Twiggy_34

penelopedee wrote: »

A bit of fruit in the sarnie, cheese ham and pineapple or pork and apple slices, cheese and grapes.

I quite often have banana sandwiches, love leaving them overnight so they're really soft the next day lol.

penelopedee wrote: »

Cheese freezes, grate it up to make it easier to take out handfuls for sarnies etc.

Thanks for this tip, it never even occurred to me & is the one thing that tends to result in my not sorting lunch the night before. Will defo be doing this as it must taste so much better than the pre-grated rubbish you can buy!

penelopedee wrote: »

Cup-a-soup - I know its healthier and cheaper to make your own - but a box can sit in a draw or locker.

Great minds - I posted the exact same suggestion within minutes of you!

mineallmine

Shortie wrote: »

Random question alert ... do you live in S.Ireland? I'm trying to not sound like a stalker so I'm putting a really big place down as the question :rotfl: You sound JUST like my sister when when you say that and I've been known to chat away to her on another forum years ago, having no idea who she was (but she knew exactly who I was and was having a right chuckle at me for it, lol)

I'm fussy about toast too - hot dribbly butter and not aenemic (sorry for the spelling there) for me

I am your father :rotfl:Sorry not from SI

Some more ideas:
A friend swears by Lidl's tinned fish. She likes things like pilchards (not the faint hearted) but perhaps useful store cupboard basics to have.

Another friend buys her rolls from Greggs and freezes them. And removes one from the freezer at night ready to make up in the morning.
I'm going to have a go at freezing some Kingsmill wholemeal bread in a ziplock bag. In fact I'd better do that now

AFK_Matrix

Shortie wrote: »

What kind of things do you like for breakfast ?

Ha lol well the ultimate sin is to go to the canteen and have their cooked breakfast which is soooo yummy but bad on the wallet and especially the waist line lol :eek:

So I can have a sausage roll, a cake, a chocolate bar and a packet of crisps etc. NOT all at once before anyone says anything lol. But if I get this lunch thing under control then I may well try getting some toast from the canteen instead as its like 37p for some toast!

AFK_Matrix

vics199 wrote: »

Wow, so many posts since i last posted! Well, 2 days left to work this week (I'm doing an overtime shift on Sunday). Work canteen is closed on Sundays which means I absolutely have to take lunch. Only thing is I won't have access to a microwave on Sunday so will have to make a sandwich or something. Don't want to go out and spend money on a sandwich filling when I usually eat homemade soup so think I will defrost and cook a piece of chicken and mix it with mayo. I have some bread in the freezer. But otherwise this week the parsnip and ginger soup is going ok. Getting a little bored of it having had it for 3 days so far but money is tight and the batch needs eating!

Just an idea and I haven't done it before but think others have. Why don't you buy a thermos flask and put your hot soup in there in the morning and then it should still be at least warm come lunch time? Only an idea and I don't know if the soup would still be warm/hot lol