Work food Ideas

[Pingu18764]

Hello,

I am a nurse and I am in need of some work food ideas that have zero cheese in them. As in none. Also no creamy sauces. I don’t eat breakfast before work (terrible I know, but it’s just too early!) but could eat something on the train or when I arrive. I get two 30min breaks, one between 10am and midday and one between 3pm and 6pm. I’m not against eating when I get home at almost 9pm but starting to think it’s quite late to eat a full meal then and maybe I should eat at work.

At work I have access to a fridge, toaster, hot water and a microwave. At home I have everything, but don’t have set working days so find meal prepping can be hit or miss.

I can cope with milk in an omelette or something similar but that’s about it and I detest any of the alternative cheese and creams available.

also no fruit at all and no cashew nuts due to anaphylaxis.

i am getting a little fed up of the same food, so I don’t take anything and end up eating crap. I want to do much better so hoping to get some ideas. Also any recommendations for boxes and bags for work would be amazing.

Well, what do you take at the moment? What is it that you're now bored of?

I am a nurse but officed based and this week I have really enjoyed the lunches I have brought in. I usually eat crap or bring in soup.
I have cooked some salmon, made a big batch of potato salad and had some for lunch each day with some salad and salad dressing. I am thinking of making a batch of something like this every week, having the same for a few days, could be the way forward for me. You could take in a soup with a roll too? I usually take in a yoghurt and some nuts.
I only have to cover one meal as I work 9-5 but you could take in overnight oats for another meal or left overs to microwave? Couscous with some protein and veg?

Sorry noticed you said you had allergy to cashews and not keen on dairy, so nuts and yoghurt may not be a good suggestion

It’s not me that has the cashew allergy, it’s someone at work, but all other nuts are absolutely fine.

yoghurt, I may try some of the alternatives! Never actually tried them!

Umm usually a corned beef or peanut butter sandwich or just a bunch of snacks or toast! Quite literally it unless I buy something at work.

I get two 30min breaks, one between 10am and midday and one between 3pm and 6pm

Nothing at all wrong with eating within these two windows. This is effectively 16:8, which is considered to be a healthy way to eat. Have 2 decent meals at those times and then you can just have a snack/something quick if you want to after work. But only if you want to, as if you've had two decent meals, you won't need it.

As for what you have, I'd just batch cook things you like on a day off and take those. Soups, curries, chilli, stews, etc etc. Or prep a few salads, they'll be fine for 2/3 days in a sealed tub. Google jar salads, but I make mine in a plastic tub as I favour practicality over insta.

Unless you're taking seafood and leave it on the radiator, it will be absolutely fine, and pretty much what I do. Perhaps an ice pack and cool bag? Or freeze the meals and let them defrost each day at work.

I got a lovely coolbag from TK Maxx a few months ago, that came with a decent sized plastic tub that would be good for a prepped salad/bhudda bowl type meal.

I often do myself a bit of a spread - a bit of bread to toast, some hummous, a few olives, cherry tomatoes, sliced peppers/carrots, maybe a couple of falafel.
Doesn't require prep when you cba, just stick some stuff in a tub.

Roast veg salad is a favourite - cook some bulghar wheat or quinoa, roast a pile of veg - onions/peppers/courgette/butternut squash whatever you like.

both the veg and the grains sit happily in the fridge for a week, mix some in a tub every night and add whatever else you fancy. I usually add some kind of protein on top. Wedge of lemon or lime to squeeze over before eating.

Pasta salad.
Regular salad of whatever you fancy.
Soup (I buy par-baked rolls/baguettes and cook them at home for various lunch boxes in the morning. It's a nice alternative to a piece of regular bread).

One of my favourites when I wanted a "proper" hot meal at work was to take a fillet of hot smoked salmon and a portion of rice from one of those pouches and a little bit of vegetables that are easily steamed in the microwave. And basically just microwave a meal with salmon, rice and veg. I used to stir some creme fraiche through but for you maybe a bit of olive oil. It was annoyingly pricey though so it wasn't something I did often.

I make a big batch of soup at the weekend and freeze some and take some in for work, so I can take some out the freezer and it's mostly frozen by the time I get to microwave it. I also make bean stews or take in leftovers.

I find a soup with lots of pulses or lentils - like curried butternut squash and lentil or minestrone with beans - fills me up. Then I'll have a banana later or a yoghurt and some fruit.

But I also have breakfast - usually egg on toast so I get some protein then and I'm not starving by lunchtime.

In the summer it's usually a chopped salad - beetroot, lentils out of a packet, red peppers, cucumber and some chicken bits or salmon.

Ok, so you're bored of sandwiches with corned beef and peanut butter. Add something else. Dates with peanut butter are amazing.

Cook a pack of bacon till crisp and make yourself a BLT fresh each morning.
Scotch eggs
Mini pasties.
Salad with hard boiled egg and cooked grain
Cold cooked sausages and pasta salad
Quiche
Cold pizza slice or 2

For something sweet, wee pot of custard and fruit. Or jelly.

If you think of that first break as ‘brunch’ you could do
Frittata- potato and onion or mixed veg with salad or slaw
Shakshuka - make the tomato sauce at home to reheat (freeze potions if it helps) and then do the eggs fresh at work.
Quiche and salad/slaw and new potatoes
Breakfast burrito or bean burrito
Microwave scrambled egg with crumpets or potato cake
Mushrooms on toast
Tomatoes on toast
Beans on toast

How about a wide-mouth Thermos flask to take in hot food ? Could be last night's leftovers, chunky soup etc.
Heat it briefly with boiling water, empty, add hot food & it will stay hot for hours.

I was also going to suggest overnight oats. If you find a yoghurt you like leave it overnight with oats and whatever added extras you fancy. I take this to work occasionally and eat it on my morning break and it really fills me up. I take it in one of those glass jars with a latch lid that you can buy for like £1 (stole the idea from a colleague!)

Do you have a roast chicken at the weekend? I like mixing leftover chicken with couscous and salad and it's quick to prep a few portions.

I also take crackers to work sometimes and then some liver pate in a little tub and spread it on crackers, could also use hummus or soft cheese.

I never used to make lunch for work, but then I started doing this, and the routine works really well for me:

Once a fortnight or so, while I'm waiting for dinner to cook, I chop up loads of veg (e.g. some combination of mushrooms, peppers, carrots thinly sliced, aubergine, courgette, beetroot, asparagus, whatever). I bung it all in one tray with a block of tofu broken up and bit of olive oil and put it in the oven at 200 degrees for 40 mins. Then I squash it all into cubes in a couple of Nuk trays like this and freeze them.

I have a Sistema microwavable noodle bowl. In the bottom I put a low salt chicken stock cube, then a bundle of rice noodles, then three or four frozen cubes of veg. I take it to work like that, keep it in the fridge, then at lunchtime add some boiling water so the noodles are covered, stick it in the microwave for 3 mins and stir it up.

Very filling, healthy and easy.

I often make a salad with mixed leaves, new potatoes and/or beetroot, any salad-type veg lurking in the fridge, from the weekend) and then some smoked fish, or whatever other protein foods I've got to use up. Mixed seeds and dried fruit for a snack a few times a week, or some extra veg and a boiled egg, or something like that.

Pasta salad/rice salad
Rocket, mozzarella and tomato salad with balsamic
Spanish omlette
Leftover curry/chilli
Baked potato with favourite topping
Tuna salad with rocket, peppers, tomato and boiled eggs
Smoked salmon salad with new potatoes
Tortillas with some dips
Roasted veg salad
Fajita wraps