Reasonably priced lunches for work

[MagicStarrz]

I usually buy myself lunch when I'm in the office but I've been going in twice a week so it doesn't add up so much. From next week, I'll be in four days a week, so I'd rather not spend circa £8 a time on lunch.

The thing is, I'm fussy, so I don't really like supermarket meal deal sandwiches and I tend not to take things in from home but I'm going to need to compromise somewhere. Any ideas?

In the past I used to buy M&S ready meals which cost £7 for 3 or something which is reasonable. I wouldn't mind making a bagel sometimes. I would consider a meal deal depending on what it is. I tend to go for veggie if it's prepacked.

I work in a city centre so there's plenty of choice.

I don't have a specific budget but I'm currently spending £7-9 and would like to reduce this.

What facilities do you have at work?
Kettle? Fridge? Microwave? Toaster?

What would you eat for lunch if you were at home and can you have something similar in the office?
What are you currently spending £8 on and can you make a homemade cheaper version of that?

Things like bought sandwiches are stupidly pricey now imo, so I'd be avoiding.

Is there a reason you don't take food with you? I've worked in offices all my life and never bought lunch, I dread to think how much it would have cost me over the year

Although I don't do it for cost reasons, I just prefer home made lunches but a quick calculation comes to easily £20000 saved

I agree with @SoapyDrama

Could you buy a bread roll, hummus, cold meats or Spanish tortilla to eat with it? Also buy fruit/ yogurt. If you have access to a fridge you could stock up for the week so only one shop needed and then lunch available when you need it.

Just take food in from home? Is there a reason you don't? You can get a food flask for hot food so you can mix up what you take. It doesn't have to be boring sandwiches every day these days.

Do you mind eating the same lunch for a few days in a row? Could you batch cook a boleganse or soup on one of your days off and eat that through the week?

alternatively do the same once a month and freeze.

I have facilities at my office but you could always buy a food flask/thermos

If you have a microwave and bowls at work then my cheaper option is a soup and bread roll. The tubs of soup from the fridge have 2 portions so you can leave it in the fridge and use the next day, just buy a new roll.

I normally just take leftovers though

As long as the soup doesn't smell especially if you work in an open plan office. There are so many inconsiderate people who don't care.

It's so easy to make your own lunch. I'd do grilled asparagus with cherry tomatoes, pesto and whole grain bread.

You can get good poke bowls from `Aldi and some of their sandwiches are very nice. They are substantially cheaper than other supermarkets for this sort of thing. I'd do a mixture of that and then leftovers from dinner the night before.

What are the lunches you gravitate towards when buying now? Something hot, or like a pret baguette/salad?

i quite like a subway salad when I’m in the office, comes in around the £5 mark

Can you take in meals like couscous or pasta salad and add a protein ?
Soup and a roll?
Leftovers from your evening meal?

When buying lunch I often go for a Sainsbury's meal deal and a bread roll - specifically a Greek yoghurt/granola 'main', a small carton of soup (snack), a drink, and a roll to go with the soup. Less than a fiver and enough to be filling.

If there's a Lidl their premade salad bowls (especially the smoky chicken one) are brilliant, really filling and again, under a fiver.

If I'm taking lunch I either make a scoopable salad (cheap ingredients - canned black beans and sweetcorn, chopped cucumber, shallot and pepper, crumbled feta or cottage cheese, garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper and it makes a huge batch) and some cheap tortilla chips or pitta to eat it with, or I do a large batch of pasta for dinner and take leftovers.

I work FT in the office, there's no way I could afford to buy lunch every day. I heat up homemade soup on the hob while I'm getting ready in the morning then pour it into my Thermos. It's still warm by lunchtime and I don't have to queue up in the kitchen with everyone else for the microwave.

Why can’t you take things from home? Don’t you have a fridge or cooking facilities at the office?
if not then the fresh soups from supermarkets have two servings in which you can have with bread and that will last a couple of days (heat at home and out in a thermos)
costco also have wide necked flasks which keep food hot - pasta and the like

In my work we can't leave anything in the fridge overnight as it gets binned (dont even ask...)

I just make more dinner and save a portion in the fridge for lunch. Dependent on if I’m in the office or somewhere else I either take it cold and heat it there or heat it in the morning and take it in a food thermos.

I usually either take leftovers from dinner and reheat in the microwave or take a sandwich and snacks in a traditional 'packed lunch' really.

Thanks for all the replies.

@redskydelight I but things like a salad bar salad where you pick your own and once a week I have a takeaway chilli chicken and rice. They both cost £8/9 but I didn't mind when it was just twice a week.

On days I work from home I have things like pasta, jacket potato, leftover bolognese or chilli if we've had that the night before... I could take those things in but I don't know why I just find it unappealing.

I have a bit of ND and OCD and I don't even like putting my food in the shared fridge or microwave which probably makes me sound batshit!

@SoapyDrama see above

@Blinkkisses I have no issue with eating the same thing

Exactly what I do, minimal effort and easy to eat at work

I rarely buy lunch - it's so expensive! My current go to lunches:

Cook and strip a chicken on a Sunday and take a handful of meat with salad / bread / avocado / egg each day

Crack a couple of eggs into a tupperware box and add cheese, a dash of milk and seasonings. Scramble it at work in the microwave and eat it with a bagel or Warburton protein thin.

I probably should find a way to take stuff in from home

I'm more likely to take in a sandwich so I don't need to put it in the fridge or microwave. In the past I think I've bought bagels and some cream cheese but I can't remember. It must have involved using the fridge. In a place I worked previously, there was a lunch thief who stole bits from people's lunches, as in they'd remove an egg or some tomatoes from someone else's salad, which and not helped! I don't work there any more...

A food thermos might work well for you then. Fill it with boiling water in the morning and leave it stand for five minutes so it gets good and hot, heat up your food to piping hot and that should stay nice and warm through till lunchtime.

If you like a salad pot, then why not just make up a salad at home? Use a mason jar put things like tomato on the bottom, then put your croutons or whatever on the top and have dressing in a separate tub, mix it and give it a good shake at lunchtime so that everything stays crispy and doesn’t go soggy.

I take sandwiches in from home and I don’t put them in the fridge, I use frozen bread though and by the time I’m ready for lunch, it’s defrosted.

Yes a good flask could work for me as could a salad. I hadn't thought of doing it that way. I still don't find it as appealing as buying something but I suppose there's a cost to that!

@PuppyMonkey I don't think I'd put mine in the fridge either so this is a possibility.