Taking own lunch to work challenge

[Junebug123]

Is anyone doing this? How are you getting on? I'm trying to and managed every day so far. It's to try and be healthier and also save some money. I actually prefer my own lunch as got so tired of m and s sandwiches etc. Used to spend £3-4 a day so should make a difference.
I just need motivated to make it night before. Got a brilliant bento style lunch box. Would love some lunch ideas. Currently making big salad with avocado, cheese and crackers. Satsumas, apple, yoghurt, dark chocolate rice cakes. Thinking a back up lunch I can have left at work is a good idea like soup.

Are you vegetarian? Any restriction or allergies?

I try save a bit of the night before's tea and take that whenever, but this will only work if you have access to a microwave I guess

I buy Huel, anything else is too much hassle.

I've never bought lunch..can't afford to!
Most days I have a salad (fresh spinach, lettuce, toms, cucumber carrots, spring onions, cheese..I'm a creature of habit!)
Tuna pasta with sweetcorn and mayo is another favourite.
Some days I just take roast sweet potato wedges
Home made chunky veg soup..I do it on Sunday in bulk and freeze portions
I don't take puddings or anything much else.. sometimes an apple or carrots to crunch. Means I'm nicely hungry by home time :)

Make sausage plait.

Easy to do, and lasts for a few days or tea and lunch..

Love soup and roll.

I've just made a big pot of soup which I'll freeze in those plastic mug thingies

I also have rolls in the freezer

I take them out in the morning and they're ready to just heat up at lunchtime

I also do a mini portion of whatever
Dinner is to take in the next day. Gives a bit of variety

I have a thermos food flask so heat soup up in the morning and it is still hot at lunchtime. We have 1 microwave for 100 people so often a very long queue!!

My latest idea to try & avoid sandwiches/bread is to take a flask of soup. I heat it up in the morning, chuck in a handful of whatever veg and a handful of dried pasta. By lunchtime the veg & pasta has cooked- yummy, warm & filling.

What do you have at work? A toaster? A microwave anything else?
I work closely with public so I have to worry about oniony breath sadly or else I would probably have cheese and onion sandwiches every day

I usually have whatever is leftover from the night before, so curry, chilli, pasta etc. Or batch cooked soup.

Or hummus/falafel/salad.

Or my other favourite is to put fresh tortellini, grated courgette, stock powder and a spoon of pesto in a tub and then at lunchtime, put some boiling water from the water boiler at work in and microwave for two minutes. A pack of pasta does two lunches.

No diet restrictions at all
I sometimes have access to microwave but I'm out and about so it depends how my day pans out. I couldn't rely on it.

If you have a microwave you can take a couple of whole eggs, some grated cheese, chopped spring onions, peppers etc and make scrambled eggs. Just crack the eggs on top of the veg, stir and microwave in 30 second bursts till it's done.

No cooking facilities

• pasta salad
• overnight oats with stewed apples and cinnamon or red berries is lovely
• ploughman's lunch, thick whole grain bread with butter, slices of shape cheddar, pickle, pork pie, sliced apple
• hummus and pita bread

I always take my own food to work. I rotate:

Leftovers
Soup - homemade and canned
Salads
Crudites & houmous
Wraps
Homemade pot noodle type things

Sometimes I buy a bag of salad & a pack of chicken thighs or something and leave them in the work fridge. That does me 3 days.

Or sometimes take porridge in - soak it overnight, heat it up and add toppings at work. Sweet and savoury work fine. Or sometimes the pre made porridge pots if I'm feeling extra lazy.

Just remembered I have a soup flask somewhere so that's a good call.

Not keen on cold pasta.

i have three days a week where i work all day so i take a sandwich a packet of crisps and a cake of some sort yes not brilliant but keeps me going till i get my proper dinner at night

I'm going to do this to save time and money. I have quite low aspirations about lunch content though - will be mainly sandwich and crisps, but I will aim to always take fruit as well. In time I may step up to the dizzy heights of adding salad to my sandwich!

As well as leftovers from dinner I will buy a quiche from supermarket, quarter it ( on 1/2 if a small one). And take a quarter plus salad.

.. and I bring my own coffee every day in a flask. My colleagues go to Starbucks 3 times a day 😱😱.

Pinterest is great for packed lunch ideas. Some of my favourite ideas are:
Giant couscous with greek salad
Tabbouleh
Quinoa with raw broccoli (cut into tiny florets), peppers & leftover cold chicken, & fresh herbs
Oven roasted balsamic Mediterranean vegetables & either fish or chicken.

I cook a bit extra at night and take it the next day, if in doubt I take a couple sarnies.

I find doing only 3 or 4 days helps so it doesn't feel as though you are missing out.

My issue is with containers, I took a nice chicken and spinach with tomatoes last week and my Tupperware was stained, what do people use?

I always used to make 3 lots of lunch on Sunday, then on Wednesday evening I'd prepare lunches for the other 2 days. Stack them up in the fridge. It took a lot less time overall. Any lettuce leaves etc that would wilt, could be added in the morning or the previous night before work.

i wash out the butter tubs (lurpak spreadable) when they are empty and find i can use them as lunch boxes several times before they go dippy and then i send them to recycle and if they stain it dosent matter

I make a vat of something at the weekend and have a portion in a Thermos food flask every day.

Things like:
Katsu curry with quorn, potatoes, carrots and onion.
Pasta pesto with cheese and broccoli.
Lentil and tomato soup.
Porridge with fresh raspberries, All Bran, honey and oat milk. (Don't pre-make a vat of this!)

Tomatoes do stain plastic, especially if they are cooked or combined with oil. Or if you heat the food in a microwave. I always tried to make sure that any tomatoes / sauce were placed on top of a layer of something else. It didn't always work... I resigned myself to just using the same couple of containers for those lunches. They got very stained!