Healthy work lunch struggling for ideas.

[Ihopeyourcakeisshit]

I've recently started a new job, have half an hour for lunch.
I don't want sandwiches every day ( trying to lower my crap carbs a bit) and we are not allowed a microwave.
I've ended up eating crap stuff like pasties all week just to have something warm and filling.
All ideas welcome.

I take the oats for breakfast when I get to work.

I like the sound of the pot noodle but haven't got time to wait 15 minutes. I wonder if you could use those straight to wok noodles?

Sometimes I treat myself to vegan sushi. Always feels very luxurious!

DD has a food flask that she takes to school. I warm it with boiling water first thing and she takes spag bol, chilli, stews, soup. If you have a kettle there's always instant noodles. I think the hairy bikers did some good supernoodle alternatives that you just need to add boiling water to.

If you get a food flask you can do chilli, casserole, pasta bake, porridge... it doesn't have to just be soup.

Make sure you heat the flask first by pouring boiling water in and letting it sit for 5-10 minutes. Then heat up whatever food your taking in till it's piping hot, put it in the flask and it will still be hot 4-5 hrs later.

Roast veg with feta is nice at room temp. Chuck some cashews in towards the end of roasting.

Those sachets of cooked lentils with halloumi, red onion, whatever else you can be bothered to put in. Obvs lentils are carbs but are low GI.

Both salads I suppose but wintery salads eh.

My problem is I have to put things in the flask at 6.30, so it's just luke warm at lunch time.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie warm your flask first, it should last much longer

I do. But 6.30 to 1 o' clock is a long time!

Chicken salad

I take Greek yoghurt topped with fruit, nuts & seeds. Oatcakes with baby bel & olives. Agree with overnight oats. No rules about what’s ‘breakfast’ and ‘lunch’ food. Who cares. Almost anything’s better than a pasty.

I recommend a Stanley food flask. I've had mine many years, it will keep food absolutely hot until lunchtime, I preheat for a couple of minutes with boiling water from kettle, then fill with piping hot soup. It's generally still hot enough that I need to blow on the spoon at lunchtime.

Favourite lunches are: soup or stew in the flask. I like a good minestrone soup with lots of chunky veg, potatoes, beans, herbs etc. Or a sausage & bean stew with root vegetables. Both excellent to make a batch & stick in the fridge/freezer.

Roasted vegetables (do extra at dinnertime) with some kind of protein, & a carb if you want - quinoa has protein in so quite filling & it's not quite so much of a crap carb. You could do salad instead of the roasted veg. Or wholemeal couscous instead of the quinoa. For cold lunches, I use an insulated cool bag with a freezer block underneath a plastic lunch box, rather than worrying about using a work fridge, it means you don't have to worry about it getting warm. It's still cold at midday.

This is cold but I just made a really easy tuna and bean salad - I use a tin of tuna, a tin of mixed beans and a tin of sweetcorn. Add lots of chopped parsley, black pepper and an olive oil and lemon juice dressing. Makes enough for at least a couple of days. To make it more varied I sometimes add cooked brown rice and/or green beans, or serve with grated carrot and cherry tomatoes.

Spanish omelette or crustless quiche is nice at room temp, I don't eat bread and often take that on days when I need lunch. I also have ryvita (the dark rye ones) with various toppings, or with pickles, cheese and ham etc. Mediterranean veg is nice, a grainy salad with a piece of salmon is really filling, stuff like bulger wheat or quinoa is nice as a salad.

Wraps and pittas can sometimes be better than bread depending which ones you buy.

I do Nigellas Supper Onion Tart.
Leave at room temp, not in a fridge.
With some crunchy veg.
Or soup in a food flask with a cheese scone

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

I take the oats for breakfast when I get to work.

I like the sound of the pot noodle but haven't got time to wait 15 minutes. I wonder if you could use those straight to wok noodles?

I nip into the kitchen earlier to boil the kettle then go back to work to wait (but then I'm right by the kitchen anyway and can supervise from there, so it's less dodgy than it sounds).

Could you take some boiling water in a flask, so all you'd have to do is pop that in then continue working til it was done?

Lunches are hard work in the winter if you dont have access to basic kitchen facilities. I work ad hoc so don't always know what is going to be available to me. And it's not helped by the fact I hate sandwiches! Quiche and a cup a soup. Make your own quiche or morrisons do individual sized ones (other supermarkets are available!). Learn to love soup!

Are any cup a soups actually edible?

@Q123R Thanks, but that would only work on one out of 5 days, unfortunately!

Second the boiling water in flask tip - once you've put the food in it wrap the flask in a double layer of foil (shiny side in). Helps to keep it hot and you can keep reusing the foil so its not too environmentally unfriendly.

This book has some nice ideas for salads that aren't too "samey"
www.amazon.co.uk/5-Minute-Salad-Lunchbox-healthy-minutes/dp/1925418979?tag=mumsnetforu03-21