Lunches For Work

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Snookums

Snookums

Soldato
Joined
27 Mar 2013
Posts
3,864
Location
Nottingham
Starting to get sick of the limited food i can make/have at work and I refuse having to go out the shop everyday to get food. So you guys got any recipes for me? Ideally I'm after things I can freeze so I can batch cook a few over the weekend, freeze and take them in over the next few weeks afterwards. Also means I can eat things a bit healthier too :D

So far my list has come to;

Pesto Pasta
Bacon and Pea Pasta (A Jamie oliver recipe that i love)
Chicken and Mushroom Risotto
Chow Mein/Stir Fry - Yet to find a nice recipe

Enchiladas come to mind to but the recipe i usually use at home has refried beans and they do not freeze well at all imo so any decent recipes without?

Pot Pies, I'd have to get recipes and small containers to make individual ones in but they sound great especially over winter :D

I've realised most decent meals that are freezable to to be quite heavy meals with lots of carbs too which doesn't bother me too much but I wouldn't mind some lighter meals in there too.

Anyone got any recommendations/anything you take for lunch?
 
I've taken home made red lentil dal for work lunch a few times. And leftover chinese curry (could home make something similar).

To be honest, though, I kind of prefer sandwiches for lunches so don't do alternatives often.
 
How about a nice can of Surströmming. Your colleagues will thank you for the delicious aroma alone!
 
The girlfriend and I have started cooking Jack Monroe's peach curry quite regularly as an easy midweek meal. I'm sure it'll translate well to batch cooking and to take in for lunches.

Two things on that recipe though; we just use a Pataks Balti paste. Much quicker and easier. And we just chuck the chickpeas straight in and cook them out in the sauce. No need to pre-boil. It's a really tasty recipe.

Otherwise my lunches for work are mostly leftover roast chicken, couscous/brown rice and a heap of salady bits. Easy.
 
What facilities do you have at work for reheating etc?
What do you eat in the evenings?

Cooking a little extra in the evening and serving it straight up into a lunchbox for the next day is a win as far as I'm concerned. Cooked a massive curry feast last night with dal, bombay aloo, chicken sag and aubergine curry which should last my wife and I all week (with chapatti, not rice)! It depends on how much variety you're after and how much tupperware you've got for storage.

Instead of using pasta, try "courgetti". Courgettes last for ages in the fridge and all you have to do is spiralise some into a tupperware and add your pasta sauce.

Chicken wraps or salads are great if you make a batch of cooked chicken at the start of the week. The salads are helped by the addition of something like couscous or quinoa and nice with some almonds and raisins thrown in.

Leftover roast meat or veg is great if you shove a load of fresh spinach in the lunchbox and then microwave it (cooks the spinach!), or even eat that cold.

The key is planning - online shopping has really helped us in this respect. Carb heavy meals don't actually have to be carb heavy... just don't put carbs in them! Replace pasta with vegetable equivalent, cauliflower rice is amazing with curries, or just use flatbreads. Have tortilla chips with chilli instead. You can't pack as many nachos into a container compared to rice. Instead of rice or potato have a bunch of spinach or broccoli.

I wouldn't bother cooking further in advance than weekly as it creates loads more work every 2 weeks and I would certainly get bored very quickly.

Finally (and I'm sorry!) - sandwiches are the devil when it comes to lunch. I love a good sandwich but packet sandwiches and meal deals are terrible!
 
Scam said:
The girlfriend and I have started cooking Jack Monroe's peach curry quite regularly as an easy midweek meal. I'm sure it'll translate well to batch cooking and to take in for lunches.

Two things on that recipe though; we just use a Pataks Balti paste. Much quicker and easier. And we just chuck the chickpeas straight in and cook them out in the sauce. No need to pre-boil. It's a really tasty recipe.

Otherwise my lunches for work are mostly leftover roast chicken, couscous/brown rice and a heap of salady bits. Easy.
Click to expand...

That looks nom nom nom.

Sunday lunch it is.
 
chroniclard said:
Curry.
Low carb, lowish fat.
Click to expand...

Not really :/

Well some can be but generally speaking anything with coconut milk or nut based will be calorific. Add in a naan ~400 calories, poppadoms are only 30-40 calories each. A pile of rice 300-800 calories.

Of course tomato based curry sauces will be much more forgiving. A 350g Jar of Massaman sauce I once laid eyes on was just shy of 800 calories :eek:

Edit: tom_nieto knows the numbers game :cool:
 
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