What can I have for lunch?

[Foodquestion]

Hi there,

I have coeliac disease and IBS (dairy, sugar, potatoes, tomatoes, alcohol and caffeine all cause a flare up).

A new person at work has a severe nut and pulses allergy and we are therefore asked not to eat nuts or pulses on shift - or she can move into another room.

I eat houmous, rice cakes and salad for my lunch and obviously the houmous is now off limits. I would rather not bring something in that means my new colleague would have to go into another room because of me.

Does anyone have a recommendation of something I could take to eat which suits both my body and that of my new colleague?

Any sort of sandwich made with gluten free bread should be fine. Or a salad with chicken, fish, ham, cheese, egg. Gluten free pasta with nut free pesto, or tuna sweetcorn and dairy free mayo.

Thank you for your reply. I have realised I didn’t add to the list processed foods, which also don’t agree with me. So that means gf bread and pasta are out.

I am thinking brown rice and tinned or fresh mackerel is a good option. We have a microwave at work so maybe some frozen veg with it, or a salad in summer.

TBH I don't think it's fair for you and your colleagues to have to avoid the foods that your new colleague is allergic to. In your case it's more than simply inconvenient. It can't be easy for you to have managed to work out what you can safely eat. I think you should stick to it and not have to mess about with your diet.

Soup

Any kind of curry with meat/seafood/veg you are allowed. Use coconut milk to make the sauce and rice.

Soup with the meat/seafood/veg you can have.

Egg fried rice

Salad with melon and Parma ham

Egg muffins with meat/vegetables

Rice noodles with any combination of meat/veg/seafood and sauce - I love Laksa

Rice cakes are processed, if you don’t have an issue with them you could try rice flour and make wraps.

Cous cous salad

Cous Cous is wheat unfortunately

Quinoa or rice with chicken or fish and whatever safe veggies don’t trigger your IBS, and balsamic glaze?

is it dairy or just lactose that sets off the IBS?

🤦‍♀️missed the coeliac bit 🤐😖

Rice salad made of cold rice and salad or veg, with a suitable protein (such as chicken, seafood, eggs, fish, etc) and a nice dressing. Any other gluten free grain-based salad, such as quinoa might also be nice.

Any sandwich type filling with your rice cakes-shredded chicken with mayo is really nice, as is tuna or other shredded type proteins with mayo or another dressing you like. If eggs are a problem for you, then vegan mayo is really nice.

If you stick to your rice cakes then you can add any protein that isn't pulse/nut or dairy based, with a nice dressing and you can hopefully still enjoy your lunches.

Or how about having your lunch of rice cakes and hummus at breakfast time and having your breakfast for lunch, if that would work better for you?

Thanks everyone, lots to go on there. Yes I know rice cakes are processed, so this has given me some ideas to give my diet a bit of jazz and variety, as well as giving me some solutions to my current issue.