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

iwilldoitthistime

Morning everyone!

this week Ive managed to spend a grand total of £0 in lunches! Yay!

Ive taken sachets of porridge for brekkie and cup a soups, fruit and yogurts for lunch. Hopefully has helped my waistline as well as my pocket!

tatuZeddy

morning kittie and shortie and everyone else

thanks for the lovely welcome my darlings
i have mostly had brie and salad sarnies this week mmmm nom :T
but im gonna make pasta n pesto with chicken tonight so if i have any left......yep its going on a sarnie hahaha

think i should have been born a lump of dough or somet lmao but i do love bread and chocolate yummy xxxx

have a good day guys :A xxxxxx

Fruittea

Managed to get away with only spending £1.20 on lunches this week. And that was only a saqlad to go with home made pie - so I feel quite good about that. Even supplied coffee and biscuits for guests from home stock. So still on taget. Will try to keep it up next week.

One thing to note - if anyone is near a Morrisons that do a 'still fresh' section in one of the chillers and it often has things like humus and potato salad marked down to half price becuase they are on sell by dates. I picked up a couple of bargains this week. Plus half a red and white cabbage which made great colslaw.

kittiej

:A Shortie is an absolute angel, she has compiled a list of lunch and breakfast ideas which have now been added to the first post so please take a look. Thanks Shortie :A

Can I ask if anyone has new ideas to add that you highlight them in a different colour perhaps so they can be added to the first post, thanks.

Hello everyone, I've been a little busy so my apologies for neglecting you all :rotfl:

Welcome faithless :j hoping you enjoy this thread and thanks for the lunch ideas

Hiya Shortie :T well done on bagging the Scotch pancakes that was an excellent find and LTW is much easier than saying the full 'Take your lunch to work'

kittiej

Sorry this is over 2 posts, I'm having problems with my computer.

Cont'd from above

:T A big well done to Candlewick, skipsmum, Mineallmine, Kobrakai, iwilldoitthistime, and Fruittea :dance:

:T For the fantastic ideas and keeping it going a very well done to his missus, bargainbetty, FatVonD, Shortie, Betty Crumble, pavlovs_dog, and tatuZeddy :dance:

415SanFran I will have to have a go at that mix to see what it's like - thank you :j

On my own lunch, yesterday I had tomato soup from Sainsbugs which were £1.50 for 4 cans and it tastes just as good as Heinz. It's really thick and yummy.

It's Saturday night and it's curry night in our house so if there are any leftovers it's curry sarnies for me on Monday woo-hoo :rotfl:

Now lets have a big group hug because we've all done incredibly well and we must keep the momentum going for next week. We can do this! :grouphug: (the lunches that is not the dodgy hugging thing lol)

pavlovs_dog

kittiej wrote: »

Now lets have a big group hug because we've all done incredibly well and we must keep the momentum going for next week. We can do this! :grouphug: (the lunches that is not the dodgy hugging thing lol)

I'm game if everyone else is

mineallmine

Absolutely in again! :j

Used my new flask the other day for tea. Hubby used one to make up a pot noodle during the day.

Going to make a ritual of putting anything that's useful for a packed lunch into some ziplock bags and into a storage rack basket near/ in the fridge.

So for instance things like ryvita and some low fat cracked pepper cheese spread. Pot noodles. Hot choc sachets.

Determined to be better organized to continue making lots of savings :j

Edit:Thanks kittie/shortie for putting ideas on p1. We can then just copy and paste these onto the new thread, and add to them, each month :j

mineallmine

kittiej wrote: »

Hi Everyone

I did a search but couldn't find a take your lunch to work thread like there used to be so I hope no-one minds me starting it up again.

I really need to start saving some money and because I don't have the opportunity to do overtime the easiest way for me to earn money is to make some cutbacks.

I currently spend £2 per day in the canteen at work which isn't a vast amount but I could halve it if I make my own. Working 4 days a week would see me save £188 per year which over my five year plan will save me about £1000 and every little counts.

I have a restricted diet in that I won't be eating meat/fish so cheese is my best friend :rotfl:.

So if you want to join then please feel free to post up how much you currently spend, how much you want to save ie declare how many lunches you will not be buying, and most importantly of all what you will be making to take to work! I would love to hear about any strange but tasty lunch ideas

Everyone is welcome even if you only work 1 day a week or stay at home but would like to join. So, the doors are now open......

Recipe ideas for sandwich fillings

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/159329

Now everyone say a big thank you to Shortie for compiling this list of ideas for us.

:AThanks Shortie :A

*Cold foods*
Sandwich combos:
Stuffing
Tuna mayo/salad cream
Tuna and sweetcorn
Tuna and onion
Tuna and cucumber
Beetroot
Cheese & carmelised onion chutney
Cheese and chilli jam
grated cheese, mushed up egg, diced onion and mixed in with mayo
Peanut butter & marmite
Greek salad - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...3&postcount=38
Russian salad sandwich - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...3&postcount=38
Curry!
Bacon & banana
Cheese & pickle
Corned beef & lettuce
Ham & apple sauce
Coronation chicken
Fried egg baguette
Sausage & mustard / ketchup / mayo / pickle / onion relish
Scrambled egg (cooked in the microwave)
Chhese & piccalilli
Brie & grape
Cheese & tomato
Ham and coleslaw
Onion Baji & coleslaw wrap
Chicken and cranberry sauce
Chicken & bacon
Haslet and coleslaw
Peanutbutter, cream cheese & banana
Turkey/chicken & stuffing
Crisp butti
Chicken with pesto and mayo
Brie, crushed walnuts, feta &rocket wrap
Chorizo & goats cheese

Adding the following to salads:
Hard boiled egg in salad
Carrot salad: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...&postcount=110
Cold duck and spinnach, raddish, pepper & carrot
Cheese, ham & whatever salad is in the fridge
Chicken and cold bacon bits
Spice sensation cous cous with raisins, pumpkin seeds. little cubes of cheese (feta or cheddar) cheery toms halved,cuc, spring onions and a couple of dried apricots chopped up
Bulk making salads: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...&postcount=358

Rice cakes & hummus
Crackers / carrot sticks / pitta bread & taramaslata (or dip of choice)
Crustless quiche (good for GF diets) - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...3&postcount=38
Spanish potato fritata
Cous cous

*Warm foods*
Soups (with some bread?):
Jamie Oliver's Parsnip and Ginger Soup
Jamie Oliver's carrot soup: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...5&postcount=50
Mushroom risotto soup: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...1&postcount=64
Liquidised curry
Pasta
Macaroni cheese
Leftovers... pasta bakes, curry, spag bol, chilli..
Falafel
Onion bhajis
Samosas
Jacket potatoes
Cous cous (take dried and rehydrate from a kettle at work, add some fillings - meat, vegs, cheese, etc - once warm and hydrated)
Mash, veg, gravy and meat in a tuppawear box
Spaghetti/beans on toast or with butter bread
Falafel & chilli dip

*Snacks*
Cake
Fruit
Crisps (multibags can be better value)
Hot choc
Sausage rolls
Juice cartons
Cereal bars
Fruit salads (mix with a spoon or two of juice from tinned fruit to keep it from turning brown)
Biscuits

*Emergency stocks for a drawer*
Cereal
Porridge oats
Tinned macaroni cheese
Mug Shot pasta packs
Cup-a-Soup

*Other suggestions*
Thermos flash of tea or coffee
freeze sandwiches for the week or buy/make pasties, sausage rolls, and take them out in the morning.
Hard boiled eggs keep for a week in the fridge with the shells on
Wraps instead of sliced bread


*.... and sneaking in here.... Breakfasts!*
Greek yoghurt and granola on top of fruit salad
Toast wrapped in foil asap after cooking - should keep warm for a 10 min journey to the train station etc!)
Scrambled egg (cooked in the microwave) and toast
]

Look at all these brilliant ideas :j

kittiej

It's great isn't it MAM and everyone has contributed to this with their ideas so it's a real group effort. We are a LTW community

PS you naughty thing pavlovs that was very cheeky

lbnblbnb

I have been reading your ideas, really great. I have taken lunch to work 2/4 days this week, need to do better to help save money!
I am thinking of making a crustless quiche to take to work. When I was stood in the queue atvMorrison's earlier the person behind me had a packaged one in their shopping, it got me thinking.
I have a collection of lunch ideas here if anyone is interested:
http://pinterest.com/lbnblbnb/food-lunch-ideas/