Man lunch ideas!

danih

Looking for ideas for my husbands lunch.

We are both a bit overweight, him a little more so then me. We are trying for babies, so really need to sort our diet and lose a few stone.

Biggest problem for my husband is his lunch at work. He is a community psychiatric nurse, and drives to people's homes for work. He does spend part of each day in the office. His days vary a lot.

His habit is to run into the shop and grab snacks. A lot of chocolate bars, crisps, sausage rolls, sandwiches, full sugar coke, other hot food counter stuff that he can eat in the car with his hands. Some days, he hasn't eaten anything - just got by on high sugar drinks.

If I give him a lunch with cutlery, or that he can eat with his hands, he will eat it. So far, he will eat pasta and pesto, pasta and tuna (sweetcorn and peppers and tomatoes added to both), egg/ tuna and onion sandwiches. Also 2 pieces of fruit and yogurts and a bottle of water.

He is fussy, and no matter how handy or nice dinner is - he won't eat the leftovers for lunch.

Looking for new sandwich ideas, and other ideas for a hand-held, can eat in the car if necessary lunch, recipes perhaps based on stuff you can pick up from the hot food counter?

Health / diet wise, it just needs to be better then chocolate bars and crisps.

Spendless

Chicken drumsticks? With some kitchen roll to hold and wet wipes for fingers afterwards. Has he got a cool box to put the items in, using an ice block if need be.

Oatcakes, would he eat those dry? Or with some slices of cheese taken with him and wrapped in foil.

Quiche, homemade if you want to cut down on the pastry content. Scotch eggs, though they may be high in calories due to the sausagemeat content.

Homemade soup in a flask?

Is having a more substantial breakfast a possibility to cut down on how much he eats at lunch. Eggs or porridge are the 2 breakfasts that fill me the most.

danih

Breakfast is a no-no. I have tried many creative ideas for this one with no real success. Best has been a banana for him to eat while he is driving. He is a nocturnal being, and tends not to feel he needs fed until lunchtime. He starts work at 9am, and has a 45 minute drive to get there. Many conversations (and tests) have been had about a decent breakfast being of benefit, and the outcome has been bananas.

He won't eat my soup, doesn't do oatcakes, and quiche is "dinner", apparently.

Apologies for my negative response - He is a fussy fussy being!!!

However the drumsticks is an excellent idea!!! Will try that tomorrow!!

kboss2010

My fussy OH loved having a bento box on the seat next to him when he worked in the field and spent all day in a van!

I'm not talking about those tiny things you get in Chinese supermarkets, one like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/300857795691

You can make your own version by buying a large Tupperware tub and filling it with the little ones so you have compartments. That way he can pick at it whilst driving.

My OH used to have anything from snap peas, pitta soldiers and houmous dip, mini pork pies, bunches of grapes, HM cheese scones, tortilla wraps rolled up and filled with anything, a few cookies or a few mini chocolate bars, HM sweet potato wedges with minty yoghurt dip, HM falafel, cubes/slices of fruit, nuts, HM cooked chicken strips with BBQ dip... the list is endless!

arbrighton

OH is a bit of a fussy !!!!!! when it comes to taking lunch- doesn't really do leftovers and soup is too difficult to heat.

Chicken, pepper and sweet chilli sauce or chicken tikka with mango chutney and rocket in wraps were things he said he would like. ALso tuna mayo or cheese/ ham and pickle occasionally.

He also has crisps, choc bic, yoghurt and tangerine (day in day out which I would find boring but hey)

Occasionally a duck and hoi sin wrap from supermarket for him

CupOfChai

If he likes to pick at lots of nibbly snacky things like buying crisps and chocolate then kboss's suggestion is a great idea.

Will he eat pasta with a tomato and veg sauce mixed in, like the pesto one? Are there any other sandwich fillings he'll have, like sliced meat/cheese with salad? Or different kinds of sandwiches like ones made with normal sliced bread, or with bagels, or wraps. Pitta bread and veg sticks to dunk in hummous or salsa?

danih

Love the idea of a snack box with lots of bits in. He also likes wraps.

Pasta with any type of tomato based sauce is also "dinner". Even when its not leftovers, if he associates the food with a "dinner" food, he won't eat it for lunch

katiegizmo

what about some savoury scones? Like cheese & sweetcorn/ham/marmite etc which you could then fill with sandwich filling like ham, salad or whatever. Scones fill me up much more than bread. Or you could do them with dip.
Love Kboss's pick n mix idea too

danih

he does like scones too

RAS

Tortilla? Or is that dinner?

LameWolf

Fwiw, my DH's lunchbox usually consists of:

• Cheese sandwich with HM wholemeal bread
• Jam sandwich with same bread and HM jam
• Piece of HM cake (it's carrot'n'orange this week)
• 2 pieces of fruit, typically an apple and a banana

He's an IT professional, leaving for work at 07:30 and typically getting home just shy of 19:00.

He does have a breakfast - typically a slice of toast and Marmite and one of those cholesterol-lowering yogurt drinks, which he takes his blood pressure meds with.

HTH:o