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.

my dad friend used to buy those urine sample pots in bulk and taking his dressing in those.there was no way those bad boys were allowed to leak!!

buy those sealble largefreezer bags so at the end youstick your Tupperware and bits in their.it take the fear of seepage out of it as they are usually pretty sealed.

dressing pots

I used to make weekly batches of this - onion and thin strips of carrot fried in a tiny bit of oil, added to bulgur or couscous with soy sauce. Also added homemade yogurt. Lots of variations to this!

I end up bringing in a sandwich on 5 grain or wholemeal bread - today it's ham, other days ham and cheese or roast chicken. I also take in falafel in pitta with salad and hummus. And a piece of fruit, today a lovely ripe pear, often it's tangerines as I love them!

We do have a microwave but I don't like using it. I am the most senior person in the organisation and have to admit I feel a bit funny about bringing in leftovers and heating them up - silly and ALL in my own head I know!!

I tend to eat at my desk and then use my time to go for a walk to try to fit in some exercise.

I started bringing in lunches to limit the calories at lunchtime as I was eating total shite and piling on the pounds! This way I control what I eat and also save some pounds (both types!) and my lovely dh makes my lunch for me each morning :>

I have some little pots like that, not Sistema - not sure I trust Sistema as it is their tub that has leaked. I'll use the pots I have and shove it all in a plastic bag, obviously the bloody lunch bag isn't water tight.

I had a leaky systema too!
But found some little tiny jars that were bought for me as drinks/shot jars (mason ones) with screw on lids which I put some dressing in today for my lunch.

Mummy . ....recipe for sausage plait please x

I take my own lunch every day.
I alternate overnight oats, soup and crackers, dahl and pitta, oatcakes and goats cheese and chicken or egg salad.
I avoid bread so don't eat sandwiches.

This is really useful. I am a perfectly competent organised person but god I hate spending every moment of time at home sorting out food, so doing a packed lunch falls off the list. I also often have to do lunch and tea at work - always better if I bring my own but one feels manageable, two feels like hard work.

Last week I boiled 6 eggs and had them variously as snacks, sandwiches, salads. Bit sick of eggs now though

We make our own lunches everyday, pretty similar to pp's suggestions but we also keep a few sandwiches in the freezer. That way on the morning that you're in a rush there's no temptation to think "sod it I'll just buy lunch today"

We do simple fillings and pretty much anything works (except salad): cheese & pickle, ham & mustard / gherkins, tuna mayo, corned beef etc. And it's even better when you don't have access to a fridge: the sandwich keeps itself cool all morning while it defrosts...

Great idea for a thread, and yes, I find it challenging to take a packed lunch too - it's so much easier to nip out and buy something but then I end up eating crap.

I had soup today - lentil & vegetable - with nice bread and a satsuma. It will probably be salad tomorrow with goats cheese and walnuts. Would love some more ideas!

I take a salad most days but for backup I have a couple of packets of cous-cous in the office. Just add boiling water.

The little screw top tub leaked today, so that's useless.

Lock n lock don't make the right size tub.

The thermos food flask if not recommended before is very good
Food hot for hours
DD complains sometimes that her lunch is too hot (after 4 hours in the flask)
I warm it with boiling water while I'm microwaving the food
470 ml perfect for a lunch portion

She had chick pea curry and rice today. She has roast meat, cut up Yorkshire pud, veg and gravy on a Monday
I've looked at other food flasks but t hey don't keep stuff hot as long

My laziest pack lunch is tinned soup with oat cakes and a bit of cheese and apple. I keep the first 2 in my work drawer and only have to remember to bring in the cheese and apple
My second laziest is leftovers from last nights dinner if ds1 hasn’t snacked on it. But agree you need access to a microwave oven
Having a sandwich toaster at work is a game changer the whole place now smells lovely at lunchtimes. Often I’d also have a sachet of cuppa soup with it. Really like the Ainsley Harriot ones
In summer I buy ready packs of salad leaves chuck in some more veg( raw and cooked) and add tuna/salmon or tinned pulses. I reuse those tiny screw lid jam jars you get in cafes for transporting dressing

I also remember reading a thread where someone transported a jacket potato in a wide neck thermos. You can also get thermos food pods if you don’t have access to a microwave.

On mat leave last year I realised that I don't need to eat "proper" meals for lunch - just throwing together some protein, a few carbs and some veges is completely fine.

So far this week-

• I poached some chicken and pre-soaked some

Vermicelli rice noodles. had it with cold chopped peppers, and a sweet chilli sauce- a nice cold "salad"

• oven baked some chicken and sweet potato in chipotle sauce, with a side of hummus

I just need a size to take a salad to work. Round doesn't work in my rucksack. I'll have another look but the only ones I've seen are too big or too small. I tend to use the slightly deeper take away containers, but they are nothing like leak proof and I got fed up of them looking so tatty. I though the Sistema ones were the answer, but they leak too.

lock and lock are great but I would never just chuck them in my backpack with curry in! I have a soft lunchbag to give extra protection.

I do have a soft lunchbag I put the tub in, but if the vinegar leaks it leaks through that too. I have the IKEA bags, which I also love, but I don't want to have to fish my lunch tub out of a bag full of vinegar and have it dripping in my lap.