Lunch ideas for work - no kitchen at work

[EmilyBrontesaurus]

As the title says really! We don't have a kitchen at work but I need to bring lunch with me to save time and money at lunchtimes.

Has anyone got any good ideas for lunches which don't need to be refrigerated or heated up?

I'm mainly eating nuts, fruit and babybels (which seem to stay quite cold due to the wax), but I'm getting bored

We bought dd a food flask so she can heat noodles or a ready meal or leftovers in the morning, put them in it and then its still warm a few hours later.

Following with interest!

Thanks @dementedpixie . I might do that.

Might be a bit pedestrian but what about a pesto pasta? Use homemade pesto and add some wilted spinach and it's pretty healthy and it fine not being refrigerated or heated.

Initial outlay for one of these -

www.amazon.co.uk/Thermos-Stainless-King-Food-Flask/dp/B00DGPPY20/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1MHOMXQXFCCSP&keywords=thermos&qid=1665502056&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI2LjI5IiwicXNhIjoiNS41MCIsInFzcCI6IjQuOTQifQ%3D%3D&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&sprefix=thermos%2Caps%2C81&sr=8-5&th=1

Depending on how much you usually pay for lunch, the cost can be covered by just a few day's worth of lunches

This will enable you to bring leftovers, batch cook soups/chilli's/curries/pasta etc

I’m possibly a bit old school here but surely a lunchbox with an ice pack would have the same effect as refrigerating? Especially since it’s not the height of summer atm

Veg pasta is fine not in fridge

Invest in a cooling type lunch bag and you put a chicken sandwich, chicken skewers, sausage rolls, pork pies, boiled eggs, salad, etc in and they'll be fine in there

Agree with the food flask - I’m getting one so I can have a hot meal if power cuts but expect to get lots of use for stews/soups/noodles/pasta etc for lunches at work too

I never bothered to put stuff in the fridge. Just put it in a desk drawer when I arrived and I never got sick.

Agree that an insulated lunch box/bag removes the need for a fridge. If you want it properly cold, add a small ice pack. Then have whatever you like that's cold from sandwiches, pork pies, sausage rolls, salads ec.

On the heated food side - I always like the idea of a food flask but aren't they awkward to eat from with a narrow neck? or do you transfer them into something else? Soup etc, fine. But a hot pasta or something? DS would love me to send him to school with warm pasta dishes in the winter, but I just have visions of him making a huge mess and/or constantly damaging the flasks in an attempt to eat out of the narrow neck? I want one that is less high but much wider.

DH takes his pack lunches to work in an insulated lunch bag with an ice pack inside.

That keeps his food cool till lunch time. So he’ll have sandwiches, salads, other picnic type stuff that you’d eat cold.

This

Dd has thermos one linked to above. She has managed to eat noodles and pasta out of it. I send her with a full sized fork although it comes with a folded up spoon

Thanks. Maybe I should try one and see. We did have a an insulated lunch box thing with special containers at one point. It worked quite well except that then EVERYTHING was hot so he had to have a separate lunch box for his fruit and yoghurt. And then the dog got into it and destroyed it. Sigh.

Thanks for these posts.

I'm going to have a look at some small thermos type bowl things like the ones mentioned on here. I'm also going to maybe look an insulated bag and ice packs. Definitely getting a coffee cup which keeps stuff hot for ages. I've got a short commute, but I hate the coffee at work, so I'm going to try and get one which keeps drinks hot till about 11 o'clock so I can get a coffee in then.

Maybe not saving money in the short run here 😄. But over the course of a year I think I will

I measured the thermos openeing and the diameter is about 7cm.

Thanks, I think that's the one I'm looking at. 10% off if you sign up for emails on the Thermos site which is quite good.

A hot meal is probably a good plan atm. May leave the cool bag idea till springtime.

I got ours in tesco. Think it was on a club card price offer

I don't have one myself, but the Sho food flasks seem to be good value at the moment. shoreusable.com/products/your-food-flask-by-sho

Agree with the above: get a thermos now, then a cool bag in the spring.
I've stopped with the ice pack now, and just put sandwiches in an insulated bag. Ice packs are used the the summer. Or you can UT a carton of juice in the freezer, and they work as ice packs too.

I bought one of the sho ones too but we haven't tried it yet. Its a bit bigger than the thermos and takes up more room

Thanks. That does look good value! But they aren't available to ship till mid November (I think) and I would ideally like it sooner than that

I only got our Sho a few weeks ago. Must be in demand!

Do you have a kettle? I have seen recipes for make your own pot noodle type things with veg and tasty sauces that you just add boiling water to.

You could also make a quiche and take some of that in.

Yeah, must be the colder weather and cost of living etc. More people bringing packed lunches and maybe using flasks at home to avoid reheating?

They do look good! Think I'll maybe go with a Thermos though with the 10% off.

Also saw one called Chilly's which looks really nice. Never heard of them though, so I'm leaning towards the Thermos one