Joyful June 2013 - Take Your Lunch to Work Thread

joedenise

Another thing worth keeping in your drawer at work is the flavoured couscous sachets. I always kept a bowl at work because I used to have cereal when I got to the office for breakfast because I used to leave home too early (5.45am!). Put couscous in bowl, cover with boiling water and then put a folder or book on top to keep the steam in:rotfl:. Takes about 5 mins to steam and ready to eat.

Denise

Dramaqueen33

Hello All

Just seen your thread and would love to join.

Lunch can be such a big spend for me that I know I will be able to save money with your hints and tips.

I don't always buy lunch - but I don't always bring it in either! So having come back to the MSE boards after about a year I need all the help I can get!

So far this week I have;
Made soup on Sunday from left over veg so had that on Monday and bought the rest today I also bought 2 rolls in the supermarket on Sunday for said soup!
Yesterday I used some left over pasta mixed with chorizo, tomatoes, mozzarella and parsley - all of which I had in the fridge. Heated it up in the microwave at work and had a surprisingly nice lunch!

I'm out for dinner tonight so was just thinking if I ordered pizza and could bring myself not to scoff it all I could have that tomorrow. It's all about thinking ahead eh?!

Good luck with your money saving and enjoy those packed lunched

DQ

Shortie

:hello: Hello to the new posters, wether you plan to post daily or just the odd 'Ninja' post (haha... that's how I see myself anyway on some other threads - I watch and contribute infrequently) it's great ahving new suggestions added

Definately agree with dropping a brand where possible Scare Rule.. We do the same on most things. Mr Shortie won't drop on the coffee but that's fair enough. I never used to like the cheapest Mr T tea bags either, but have found that Sainsbobs super el cheapo tea is great so that's been a fab saving. At home they live in a PG Tips Jubilee celebration tin that we have and in my work drawer they live in a washed out butter tub - no one is any they wiser and no complaints from guests at home

Oh JoeDenise, I hadn't thought about couscous.. I've never been a fan of cuppa soups but a lot of people keep them for emergencies - cous cous i much more up my street - thanks for the idea there!

Dramaqueen33 - hope the soup goes down well at work. I've never really found a love of soups but I do love tomato soups, roasted pepper soups, and the chinese style chicken & sweetcorn soup. I'm currently waiting for the next roast (not this weekend as we're at bbq both days :shocked:) so I can make a batch of the chicken & sweetcorn soup. I was wondering how to make it more filling though and I wondered about adding a little bit of pasta to each portion, just to make it that bit more sustaining to get me from lunch through to dinner time?

Haha, last time we went out for pizza I did the same - instead of stuff myself I eat until i was content and then had the leftovers for lunch the next day - it was surprisingly yum... which then gave me the idea to do it with the left over hm pizza from Sunday night

FatVonD

Nearing the end of a 5 week month so I'm now well and truly back on the wagon. I had leftover pasta yesterday and Monday and for the rest of the week I have already made and frozen cheese in crusty rolls (yum!)

lushlifesaver

Afternoon all,

Todays lunch has been :
Cous cous (made up with a half a beef oxo cube added) with a couple of diced baby plum tomatoes, cucumber chunks and a sliver of cheddar cubed (just a teeny bit to add a different depth of flavour) which has been eaten with a half portion of spag bol (trying to eat up what I have stashed in our freezer!)
Followed by a pot of jelly - I makeup Hartleys sachets and divid between 6 little pots (the little pots I have from a brief spell spent nannying a bairn, they were baby dessert pots haha, their lid clicks on so they're perfect) and a little citrus easy peeler.
To drink - a carton of orange juice drink - the diluted concentrate stuff not a carton of 'proper' pure orange juice.

I had toast at home for breakfast (7.15 am) so brought one of bf's Go Ahead yogurt breaks (he won't notice he's in Poland!) to have around 10.30ish which I ate. And I brought some more squash from home as I have a bottle on my desk I fill with water each day to drink and best news is I've already finished it once so will aim to drink it through again this afternoon!

A kiwi and a second citrus easy peeler make up the mid afternoon snack to keep me going when I usually reach for chocolate or other junk!

Just a note on the cous cous, I don't usually bother with the flavoured stuff as I always add various veggies (carrot, cucumber, tomatoes, sweetcorn, beetroots etc) and other bits to it anyway so pay around 69p for a 200g bag at Sainsburys/the like which lasts ages.
I've taken to making it up actually in a lunch box as popping the lid on keeps the steam in. So I use a 80ml measuring cup and do one of them full of dry cous cous to approx 1.5 of boiling water which makes enough for two lunches (bearing in mind I add bits plus often have it with something (like today)). Making it with stock makes it slightly less bland/blah

Tomorrow is likely to be much the same 'main' although savoury mince not spag bol and I think I have enough of that for Friday too

joedenise

Shortie wrote: »

:hello: Oh JoeDenise, I hadn't thought about couscous.. I've never been a fan of cuppa soups but a lot of people keep them for emergencies - cous cous i much more up my street - thanks for the idea there! - you're welcome, I don't like cuppasoups either:D

...but I do love tomato soups,

Got a great recipe for tomato soup so quick and easy, no cooking involved other than "nuking" in the microwave. You'll need a blender or liquidiser too, although you could probably use one of those stick "thingy's".

Empty into the liquidiser: 1 tin of tomatoes - chopped or whole, doesn't matter, 2 tins of baked beans, 1 tin of carrots and 2 large pickled onions. Whizz everything together until it's at the smoothness you're happy with, then pour it into a plastic jug and microwave until hot.

This is a Slimming World recipe so good if you're on a low fat diet as well.

Denise

Shortie

Omg how easy does the tom soup recipe sound...? And I have in all bar the pickled onions so might give that a go if I get a chance over the weekend

Shortie

Oh and will give the couscous a try with a stock cube tonight too as I think I have a packet of plain stuff lurking in my pantry at home awaiting some inspriration

Shortie

Feeling inspired I made up the whole pack of cous cous with a beef stock cube and chopped in 2 spare sausages (okay not actually spare, I made the consious effort to eat much less at dinner - ie I had 1 sausage with dinner lol)

Mr Shortie also wanted onion and peas but forgot to sort that so just sausage it is! Hoping I've not totally fluffed this up...

So today's offerings are a banana for breakfast, cous cous for lunch and a nectarine for a snack

Oh! And me in a dress. I usually get the reaction 'blimey, you've got legs!' Lol I figure while I'm trying to lose weight why wait to wear summery stuff?

Dramaqueen33

So I'm going to try out a new concoction at lunch time today inspired by the fact I grabbed what ever I could find in the fridge as I ran out of the house this morning...

A strawberry jam sandwich with a layer of brie on the top all heated in the microwave...In theory I think this should be quite nice as I enjoy brie and cranberry for example and the jam is a good substitute and I'm going for a croquet monsieur effect...

I will let you know hoe it goes later...wish me luck