Feb-YOU-ary 2013 - Take your lunch to work thread

Edwardia

SmarterNotHarder am pleased to help. Not sure I can do much about Parental Units or impulse shopping though !

There's a military saying.. Prior Planning and Preparation Prevents Poor Performance which is a long winded way of saying Attention to Detail Works. Soo..I would suggest that if the supermarket(s) your parents use have websites, you do a bit of homework ie have a browse and choose what you want, trying to work in special offers.

If you give them a list of what you want with name, weight price and section eg dairy, deli, veg all nice and organised, hopefully you'll get what you want.

I can see your point of view, as being like the Just in Time system used to make cars. Not too much, not too little, arriving just in time to be used.

My OH works on the plenty of options principle. He never wants to know on Monday what he will be eating on Friday and he doesn't want lunches sent with him every day, he wants to be creative and fix his own. That can be a PITA.

Only thing I can suggest there is sitting down with parents and receipts and making up a core list of stuff to always keep around that suits all of you. Then anything else is an extra and should be on a list for the shop or it doesn't get bought. How does that sound ? That's what I aim for.

Meat and cheese ? I would look at website OR call shop and ask for deli OR call customer services and ask whether the meats you want can be frozen. I freeze black pudding, smoked salmon bits and prosciutto all the time. Pate freezes too but I've never tried the ones on ceramic pots in case they break.

IF sliced meats from deli can be frozen they should be packaged with name on already and could go straight in freezer. When sliced meats are in a protective atmosphere (inert gas basically) depends what it is and you'd need to ask. But those will last a lot longer in fridge anyway.

Cheap but good.. under a pound, the ASDA Smartprice smoked salmon bits for shoving in sandwiches, in pasta and in freezer for emergencies. The prosciutto di Parma (Parma ham) with the gold crown in Lidl, 1.99 No additives,as good as the Marks & Spencer stuff but way cheaper. Haslet from Sainsbury's deli is cheap and tasty.

Hope those suggestions help ! x

babes21 well done :T

kittiej

Good morning everyone :j

Sorry I haven't been around for a while, I'm a bit busy with my OU courses - as one is coming to an end another one has begun so I am a bit overloaded atm I did go to a 4 hour day school yesterday which was good and met fellow students :T

Edwardia you are I believe an all seeing, all knowing oracle and your inputs are greatly appreciated, especially the cheese sarnies ideas :cheesy: thank you.

SNH we all need to get a bit of excitement at lunchtime just think of the savings though eh?

Well done babes :T and to everyone else keep it going because it is all of you who make this thread what it is and offer the inspiration to others to embark on their own LTW crusades.

On another note, though it could be related, I am exploring ways to be more environmentally friendly and as a result will be off researching and experimenting so I shall apologise in advance if I am not joining in as often as I should there is method in my madness, honest

Have a fantastic Sunday everyone :T

Edwardia

Er, no, kittiej definitely not an all seeing all knowing oracle
I'm a college-trained ex chef granted but I don't bake these days and OH has to make do with Higgidy and Riverford pies (they are good tho) so :T to mrsdee for baking. Am curious to know more about the environmentally friendly research !

I saw this recipe when my mother called me up and had me searching for boat-shaped moulds called barquettes. If you/mother/grandmother/aunt don't have a bun tin (used for jam tarts and rock cakes usually) try a boot fair or charity shop. The plastic cutters are cheap enough, 99p Stores should have them or Wilkinson, something like that. You want one that's a little bit bigger than the bun tin hole cos you'll be pushing the pastry down into the bottom. (apologies if you're all accomplished bakers )

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/r80321/Smoked-Salmon-and-Dill-Mini-Tartlets

You don't need to get fresh Parmesan, you could use the drum /sachet type or Italian grated hard cheese. Also when they come out of the oven (and they can be on dark side in the bottom the pastry will be hidden so don't worry too much about overcooking) when cool you could open freeze in a foil container then bag when frozen. Take out the night before and fill with what you want. (ASDA does Smartprice smoked salmon bits)

If that sounds too much bother (and as I'm not a baking fan I'm nodding my head here) instant way to make lunches more exciting... Iceland..noo, not chevalburgers, party food.

The nibbles all cook from frozen at the same temperature so can be cooked the night before, cooled and shoved in lunchbox in fridge. You just pick what you want from the bags/boxes to give yourself a mix.. you get 10, 12 or 15 for $1.

Garlic and herb prawns, Southern Fried goujons, chicken tikka bites, vegetable spring rolls, mini beef and vegetable pasties, duck spring rolls, filo prawns, and mini pink custard slices.

For $2 the choice includes mini pizzas, mini quiches, mini loaded potato skins, chicken tikka samosas and mini Belgian chocolate fudge cakes.:eek:

That seems a money saving exciting lunch idea to me and I think my OH will appreciate Belgian chocolate fudge cakes

I'm going to go cook lunch have a great day ! xx

kittiej

Hello all you LTWers out there :T:j

Hope you are all doing fantastically well . I have the week off work so did not need LTWs this week though both boys have taken LTS (lunch to school lol). I especially did not want them having school dinners since the recent scares

Edwardia, I can't say much about my recycling experiments atm except to say they are going really well sorry I know that isn't much use. Anyway I am hoping to get some interest from a high street retailer maybe, I have M&S in mind . Perhaps I could make a bargain with them in exchange for my 'experiments'. Food for LTW would be a pretty cool starting point :rotfl:

Keep on top of it and don't let it run away from you ev1 :T:T

kittiej

Oooo I've just realised it's March next week - when did that happen? :eek:

OK so do we want March-ing 2013 - TLW thread or March-ing and Munching 2013 - TLW thread?

Or option 3, I think it would be cool if anyone else has a title idea , this thread is what YOU good people make it :j

Have a think - all suggestions welcome

Candlewick

Evening :wave:

Well, I have to confess I bought lunch today because I was totally disorganised which stems back from Saturday and not feeling so good. I was behind with my housework and didn't do much in the way of preparing or cooking. I probably would have made do with weetabix but I was having a spend day anyway so there was no encouragement to make do from that. I do admit to feeling guilty buying it though!

I hope to make my paella this weekend.

Hope everyone is well and meeting their targets

CW

kittiej

Cw please don't feel guilty, especially if you don't feel so good atm

We all have times where we feel ill, rushing too much to prepare or like myself sometimes just can't be bothered!

It's OK to falter otherwise how would we know what success feels like?

Keep going, you will get over this small blip

Candlewick

kittiej wrote: »

Cw please don't feel guilty, especially if you don't feel so good atm

We all have times where we feel ill, rushing too much to prepare or like myself sometimes just can't be bothered!

It's OK to falter otherwise how would we know what success feels like?

Keep going, you will get over this small blip

Thanks Kittiej

I am feeling better now but was definitely under the weather on Saturday. I am also having to iron what I want to wear before I go to work as well and I hate doing that because it means I have to get up earlier than usual. I seem to be playing catch-up when I don't sort myself out at the weekends and it takes twice the effort during the week.

I have made my usual pasta for the rest of the week (thank goodness it only takes 20 mins or so) so will be ok for the rest of the week.

I now see buying lunch as a waste of money but I shall see it for what it was, a treat and it was yummy. :rotfl:

CW

Candlewick

Kittiej

March-ing and Munching 2013 - TLW - especially as it's Easter at the end of March

Gets my vote!

CW

mrsdee

I bought two sweet potatoes in lidl (on offer as pointed out by Edwardia!) and made a fantastically tasty and cheap sweet potato, lentil and coconut milk curry. I've been taking this to work with some basmati rice or naan bread and - in separate little pot - some yoghurt and mango chutney (much to the amusement of my colleagues!). So, gently warm up curry and rice in microwave, add yoghurt and mango chutney on the side and it is absolutely lovely!! Going to ring the changes tomorrow though with some couscous from storecupboard and grilled halloumi with some roast peppers (going to roast them later with some olive oil and a bit of balsamic vinegar and touch of garlic). nom nom....