Healthy work lunches and snacks

[Englishrose223]

I am fat and miserable. I feel so uncomfortable. I swore to myself I wouldn't have another fat summer feeling awful and here I am. I think work is a sticking point for me, often find myself not taking anything and ending up with a high calorie meal deal and unhealthy snacks. I do 8 or 10 hour shifts. Have a microwave at work. Help would be so appreciated please. Thank you

Spinach, onion and broccoli quiche. Make a large one,and freeze portions that you can take to work. Use bought shortcrust pastry to be quick.

M & S do lots of different salad pots.

Chicken and salad wrap.

Yes to salad. And soup (homemade is best but a tin will do). Do you have a toaster at work? If so, scrambled eggs on toast. Wraps. You could make a huge vegetable frittata and that would last several days. Leftovers from last night’s dinner (smaller portion).

One of my favourite quick and easy work lunches is to make a salad using a bag of rocket leaves, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, red onion, balsamic dressing and a handful of crushed nuts - ideally walnuts or almonds. You can also add ham or chicken for a bit of extra protein. Low carb, tasty and keeps your energy up on long shifts.

Another good one is to shred up some chicken, add gem lettuce and rocket leaves, natural yoghurt, spoon of mustard, bit of garlic and grate in some parmesan. Mix it all up.

What kind of foods do you like @Englishrose223 ?

Overnight soaked oats
Mason jar salads?

I subscribe to these:
www.preppedpots.com/
Mostly chicken and rice and less than 400 calories. Find I don't need another big meal in the evening.

Sorry I should have said I have a microwave and a toaster at work. I like salads, pasta, wraps, soup. I've only made my own soup once and it was a disaster though

Thank you. Are they nice?

What can you buy at or near work if you don't remember to take anything in?

Op if you're anything like me and doing long shifts you'll want something substantial enough that you don't eat half your super healthy lunch and then go out and buy a sandwich chocolate bar and crisps because you feel hungry and sad (ok could just be me!)

I find the following work for me-
Homemade chicken and avocado wrap (stuffed with chicken, to be filling) Measured amount of cheese or mayo.
Homemade chilli with 5% mince and a measured portion of rice
Pasta salad - cooked pasta, pesto, cherry toms, mozzarella, cooked chicken. Again, more chicken than you think, less pasta than you think.
In a pinch, a shop bought soup but adding ready cooked chicken to make it more filling
I also find a homemade chicken curry with lots of veg or pulses is lower calorie than you might think, as long as you avoid creamy sauces and watch the amount of rice.

Snacks - mini babybel lights, chopped apple and strawberries (surprisingly filling)
I love chocolate and always take a small amount of good quality chocolate as I find if I have none, I'm far more likely to go to the shop and buy a large bar, whereas if I have a couple of squares to hand it feels like enough.

Also I'd just add the reason for my choices is partly because most are things I can cook extra and have in the fridge for a day or two, which helps me be consistent. I'll only avoid the meal deals if I make the alternative more convenient

Every day for work I take a tin of soup, some bread, an apple and an orange. Oranges are my secret weight loss trick. I find I overeat because I inhale my food so quickly and get into a kind of feeding frenzy like a shark. Oranges take ages to peel and eat. By the time I've finished it my body has had chance to realise it's full.

I also struggle with meal prepping, but a few simple suggestions would be:

Burrito bowl
Chicken breast with pesto pasta salad
Chicken fajita wrap
Potato and egg salad
Jacket potato with toppings of your choice
Taco bowl

I wish I could do that but I have too many tangerines or satsumas, I get acid reflux.

I have some of the Birds Eye Southern Fried chicken breasts in the freezer, I cook one the night before and then make up a wrap or salad. Them I just grab and go in the morning.

Microwave omelette maker is your friend here. You could cut up the veg/fillings in advance and then add the eggs at work, whisk and microwave.

Tesco meal deal, subway or something from Lidl

Lidl sell amazing Poke bowls. The salmon one is so good.

They are really tasty.

www.nigella.com/recipes/crunchy-salad-with-hot-and-sour-dressing

I really like this. You can make a batch of it (without the dressing) and it can keep in a box in the fridge for 3 days and just add the dressing (also made in advance) on the day you eat it.

As it lots of veg it takes a while to eat (unlike a sandwich) so you get to feel full and as eating takes longer.

Really easy and tasty, plus you can vary the ingredients - even add in some chicken.

I don't know Lidl, only Aldi, but I'm thinking it would help to source a stash of things like almonds, cashew nuts, dried fruit, tinned mackerel, fruit in juice, sugar-free peanut butter & crisp breads that you keep at work for snacks?

I love stir frying up a load of veg (or roast if you prefer), toss in a small handful of pasta, and mix with pesto. Chuck it in the fridge for lunch tomorrow. It tastes lovely cold.

@Englishrose223 I like most of the ones I've tried, some more than others, but there is a good choice of meals. Cheaper and lower calorie than a meal deal

I take in bananas and low cal cereal bar to have at 10 then lunch boiled eggs have them on 400g wholemeal bread with LF mayo keeps me away from the lurpack loaded toast my colleague makes delicious but no wonder I was putting on weight. Start putting the money you were spending on meal deals in a money tin and treat yourself x

Make a stir-fry a day before or a poké bowl and take it to work. With salads, quiches and co. there’s a risk of overdoing the oily parts (sauces, cheese) and people end up eating “healthy” 1000 calories-worth meals.

I measure oil for my stir-fries with a spoon and one tablespoon is enough for a meal of 5-6 portions. I always prioritise vegetables and add many different ones, then protein and rice/noodles. There are tons of different noodles on the market and I love trying them all because I don’t eat gluten.

Have a lunch box/container for 350-400 grams of food. It’s a normal-sized portion. I have glass ones with plastic lids that take microwaving and freezing.

Snack only when hungry and recognise the time that you are most likely to be hungry. I find it difficult to survive without food between lunch and dinner, and this is quite normal - it’s normal to get hungry after a couple of hours when you’re active and it’s 7h or more between meals. Have a healthy snack - a large banana, a very small amount of nuts or a couple of rice balls (I make them home and wrap in seaweed sheets). If nothing else works have a protein bar or a nut/oat bar, as long as they are around 200 kcal.

Rice cooker has been the best investment in my household, I cook brown rice, long grain, jasmine, basmati, short grain, all pulses (soy, lentils, beans) and porridge in the rice cooker.