Pimping Lunches at Work

LazyButHealthy

I have a history of spending too much money and not exerting enough nutrition control over what I eat for lunch.

I'm very lazy for prepping meals, so that in itself has been a big area of focus for me (pre-logging, pre-planning meals before shopping etc.). But Lunch is a big FAIL area where I have veg going off because I'm not using it enough for lunches, only for dinners.

This week, instead of just buying a full lunch from one of the many places outside my office, I've started to look at it from a new perspective. How about a compromise? Not entirely pre-made lunch as I won't stick at it, but not entirely pre-made by the overpriced sandwich & café chains either.

Some days I've just taken leftover dinners that might not be enough for lunch so added it with a little salad bowl from Sainsbuyr's.

But in an effort to better use the fresh veg in my fridge, the last 3 days I've repeated the following:

Night before - what's in my fridge that needs to be eaten soon?
Then, what would I need to supplement it with to make a reasonably filling and healthy lunch?

Yesterday, I brought in an avocado and 50 grams of baby tomatoes
In Sainsbury's I picked up Mozzarella and sunblush tomato salad bowl (£2.50, 164 calories)
and added it all together for a nice lunch of 380 calories.

Today, I had a whole avocado, a green bell pepper and about 50 grams of baby tomatoes.
I went to Sainsbury's and picked up:
Garden Salad bowl (£1.10, 29 calories)
Pack of smoked salmon (£3.15, 226 calories - today is pay day so I was looking forward to this!)

Now I have a superb lunch that is filling and well balanced at 500 calories (mainly from the salmon and avocado, and that's ok by me!)



Any other cheap and cheerful ways you 'pimp' your lunches?

zoeysasha37

This is a great idea!

janetennet

That's a great way to make a fun, different and exciting lunch each day.
I'm pretty boring and eat pretty much the same thing for each weekday lunch - a salad with some sort of different topping made up of either a carb or a protein.

You could also do an omelette for lunch (if you have access to a microwave) this could help use up some of your expiring veg too and you could buy something small to add into it or a salad to go with it.
Another option is to do a big couscous or rice salad, add in your veg and buy a protein to go with it (I'm thinking meatballs or chicken strips).

Bghere1

We do the same stuff in our house. We are notoriously bad at not eating the veggies soon enough. So now the fruits and veggies that are getting close either go to lunch or in the blender. cheers

LazyButHealthy

Nice.

I use my blender a lot for fruit and yoghurt smoothies, but always a bit reticent with vegetables.
I tried one once and found it a bit gross, so turned me off.

But I'm keeping it up with the lunches (when i remember to take it out of the fridge!)

CattOfTheGarage

Soup is a very good use for veg that's going off, you can use almost anything, even salad (thanks Jamie!)

I really like your idea of bringing the veg in to supplement your bought lunches - you're improving nutrition and saving money, as veg tends to be underrepresented and overcharged in supermarket lunch options.

usmcmp

Make a big pot of chili. You can use that to fill in days where you don't have left overs. I add that to lettuce with some cheese or a baked potato. Lots of ways to use it.

jenlaw71

That's me.....every night - open fridge to see what's still in there........helps reduce the amount of food we waste and I get a healthy quick lunch.

JenHuedy

After my weekly shopping trip, I've been taking 30 minutes or so to wash and cut all my veg and in the amounts I need for the week's meals. Any leftovers are portioned into individual servings to grab for lunches. I'm not that organized every week, but the weeks I am are so much less stressful - and less wasteful!