To ask if those of us who enjoy a sandwich for lunch are a dying breed

I rarely have sandwiches and we don't buy bread (hubby and i are both overweight-its lethal). But I have recently found myself craving one. I used to work in a food shop so I would often buy one there. Haven't had sandwich in ages mmm. In the winter I did used to have to take pasta, soup or some such as it used to be freezing cold and a hot meal was needed just to warm myself up.

I used to get soup & brown bread 3 days a week on my office days. We have a canteen.

But I got totally sick of that after 18mths so I bought a glass lunchbox & small matching glass container a few weeks back & I'll bring my own lunch now.

As I'm preparing dinner i sort out my lunch box & then I leave it in the fridge ready to grab in the morning.

Here's what I had this week, in every case we were eating this for dinner & I just made a bit extra.

Monday- lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, cooked Beetroot, chicken breast marinaded in extra virgin olive oil, fresh rosemary, lemon zest & juice cooked on the griddle. In the little tub I had couple of croutons, shaved parmesan & caesar salad dressing

Tuesday: lettuce, tomato, cucumber, Beetroot, red onion, radishes, sliced ham & in the small container a hard boiled egg & dressing

Wednesday: butter chicken curry with mixed peppers, red onion, peas & cauliflower rice & 1 spoon of jasmine rice. 1 small piece of coriander & garlic naan. In small container fresh coriander & chopped salted peanuts to add

Thursday: lettuce, tomato, cucumber, red onion, sliced new potato, steamed & tissed in evoo & salt, red & yellow peppers, radishes, black olives, chicken breast roasted with chilli flakes. Home made French dressing (separate)

Friday: glazed salmon, cold noodle salad with Asian type dressing with green peppers, raw sugar snaps & coriander. Cubes of roast squash on the side

When I work from home I often make homemade soup- roast carrot, spiced butternut squash, minestrone etc

Or we'll have a sandwich- often tinned red salmon, or egg salad, or BLT etc

Because the weather is nice now I'm happy to eat lots of salads but I'll also bring left over dinners like - beef bourguignon, lasagne, pasta etc

Your comment about the hunger.
When you have your snacks and meals at regular times everyday apparently your body trains itself to send you hunger signals around those times. If you have a large main meal and are full it still doesn't stop those hunger signals. It ensures you eat regular which in turn keeps blood sugar levels on an even keel rather than them spiking and dipping throughout the day.

I have no idea of the validity other than it was something I learnt from my diabetic dietician when I was first diagnosed with an eating disorder a few years back. It's also why one of the first things she had me work on was resetting those body signals by having 3 meals and 3 snacks as part of a balanced diet evenly spaced through my day.

Why not? What is 'heavier' about cooked meals?

I find it fascinating that some people seem to think cooked food is somehow 'too much' when there's nothing about it being hot or cooked that makes it too much/more/heavier than a sandwich and often it's not the case anyway.

Nearly all my lunches are leftover dinner I just make enough to have leftovers.

But I don't understand what you mean by 'too heavy' as a meal made from meat, fish, pulses, vegetables etc is far less stodgy, healthier and less energy dense than a sandwich.

But if you're eating cooked leftovers for lunch, what do you have as your evening meal? Two cooked meals a day is too heavy for a lot of people.

But if you're eating cooked leftovers for lunch, what do you have as your evening meal? Two cooked meals a day is too heavy for a lot of people.

I'm well aware of the CoL crisis, thank you. I feel that the people on this thread denouncing bread, which is a filling food eaten by most people in Europe, North Africa and much of Asia for millennia, are the ones not reading the room. Bread is cheap and filling. That matters for a lot of people. Yes, it would be good if mass manufactured bread didn't contain emulsifiers and so on. However, most people on a very tight budget are going to struggle to replace bread with other filling foods that are just as convenient and don't cost more.

This is the bread I mentioned, currently £1.60 on Ocado. I wouldn't count that as fancy bread. I can't justify spending a lot on sourdough and I'm not going to start making all our bread either. I have made bread in the past. It's gorgeous but I eat far more than I do of bought bread, so it's best for me not to make it often.

https://www.ocado.com/products/allinson-s-signature-seeded-361707011

I’m not a big fan on sandwiches and never have been. I mean I can eat one but it would be about my last choice.

I don’t know why you’re calling eating normally with cutlery (or at least a fork) “jabbing away” - or repeating this rather irritating phrase for something so normal in your update?

Leftovers is so much nicer than a sandwich as for a start it can be warm!

Yeah, I knew people ate them, I just guess it didn’t occur to me that it was an active choice, rather than just the easiest option. I hadn’t really given it much thought, just found myself surprised by the thread.