Office Workers - What do you eat?

KatherineStar

Morning All,

I'm looking for inspiration from fellow office workers on what you eat during the day...
i've been having porridge & a banana for breakfast, sushi & miso soup for lunch and then home cooking of an evening. i feel like im falling into eating the same thing every day because its easy and i dont need to think too deeply about it but sure it will get boring after a while. i def feel the need to eat HOT food as its so cold which rules out salads at the moment for me! what does everyone else do? x

AverageUkDude

Do you have a fridge and a microwave in your office? Invest in tupaware if so and make the night before and reheat at work.

elkeefo

+1 on the fridge and microwave. Also, make enough to do you 2 or 3 days and keep it in your fridge at home. It's more convenient than convenience food that so many people on here, including myself, used to rely on.

maryf78

During the day - I eat a salad but also open and heat a tin of soup - in the salad I alternate between salmon, egg and chicken. I do eat the same soup every day but its my favourite - you could easily try different flavours for variety. I also have different daytime snacks for variety - yogurt, fruit, seeds etc. Can't say that I will get bored with these foods - when I see the weight coming off - it'll be worth it :-)

melindanew

I bring my lunch daily. We do have a microwave.

I have 2 boiled eggs and about 50g of cheese for brekkie. I have a protein and a salad for lunch. Usually I bake chicken breasts on the weekends with some nice seasoning. I cut them in half and freeze them. I measure my salad dressing so I don't go over calories.

I don't snack. If I want to snack I chew gum.

It's really easy - the night before (if it's a gym morning) or in the morning, I grab the eggs, cut cheese and wrap it in saran wrap, pull half a chicken breast out of the freezer, grab a container, throw in a hand full of lettuce, cut up a tomato and maybe a cucumber, put on my salad dressing, throw that in my bag (I have a bright, fun Mexican oil cloth lunchbag), and off I go. Take 10 minutes to put together, tops.

About three days a week I try to make enough dinner for leftovers. So today instead of my chicken breast, I had some low-carb, low cal Chicken Parmesan I made extra of. When I do that, when I put it in the fridge I do it in portions. If I have to measure, I won't take it. That way I don't get sick of chicken breasts. Last week I did the same with Thai Beef Salad.


My NY resolution was to not buy lunch this year and take my lunch every single day except on the rare occasion I have a lunch meeting or a team lunch. That's maybe once a month. I was buying my lunch twice a week, just from the lazies.

My brekkie is always the same though. I need the protein, I need the fat, and I tend to low-carb because carbs just make me hungry. That gets me through till lunch without getting hungry in the middle.

Can_Change_Natalie

Hi this is normally a common problem for me when i have dieted before. im only two weeks in to my new healthy living and determined to make it a life change this time.

Over the last two weeks i having been having tuna pasta with sweetcorn, tomato based pasta sauce with mushrooms and veggies, different soups, chicken wraps, salads and sometimes some dinner from the night before, always followed by a low fat yoghurt or fruit.

So far this has worked really well for me but im always on the lookout for more exciting ideas to keep me from getting bored of the same foods.

chelseybennett1

I make 4 serving recipes out of a low cal recipe book and bring it in the next day. Then I'm stalked up for 4 meals.

lisaanne1704

a cucumber & tomato sandwich and a cup of coffee

KatherineStar

Thanks all, some great ideas. we do have a microwave somewhere in the building im sure - ill find it!
like the idea of making it the night before i was thinking i wouldnt have time to cook stuff in the morning and get it all ready so will give that a go. and cutting chicken in half sounds like a good plan too.

JacquiDawn

Poached egg on toast everyday for breakfast.

I take with me to work:

Some kind of soup
Two portions of fruit
A yoghurt
A breakfast bar

If I know I'm going to the gym later/will be burning extra calories I treat myself to two light chocolate digestives as a treat

I did nearly die of hunger yesterday - I went from meeting to meeting 8.30am-3.30pm and only survived on my breakfast and an apple.

tryclyn

I make "stoup" in the crock pot, portion it into ziploc bags and freeze. When I reheat at work I add at least a cup of water to turn it into a big bowl of soup.

KatherineStar

Poached egg on toast everyday for breakfast.

I take with me to work:

Some kind of soup
Two portions of fruit
A yoghurt
A breakfast bar

If I know I'm going to the gym later/will be burning extra calories I treat myself to two light chocolate digestives as a treat

I did nearly die of hunger yesterday - I went from meeting to meeting 8.30am-3.30pm and only survived on my breakfast and an apple.

haha the last bit made me smile. i do this a lot. im trying to avoid bread and pasta as it bloats me out so it does limit me a little. like the idea of healthy snack foods though. you're all giving me some great ideas x

SabineHansen

I plan my food for a week, so I dont know what I will be eating next week, but this week its:

7.00 Dairy product with high protein and some fiber rich cereal ( I think both things are european/danish foods so I dont know how to translate them)

10.00 100 - 200 grams of veggies this week its either broccoli, cauliflower or carrots.

11.35 A sandwich with cheese, ham, tomato and cucumber

14.00 An apple and a small handfull of nuts

JacquiDawn

Poached egg on toast everyday for breakfast.

I take with me to work:

Some kind of soup
Two portions of fruit
A yoghurt
A breakfast bar

If I know I'm going to the gym later/will be burning extra calories I treat myself to two light chocolate digestives as a treat

I did nearly die of hunger yesterday - I went from meeting to meeting 8.30am-3.30pm and only survived on my breakfast and an apple.

haha the last bit made me smile. i do this a lot. im trying to avoid bread and pasta as it bloats me out so it does limit me a little. like the idea of healthy snack foods though. you're all giving me some great ideas x

It's fine, as soon as I came out of my meetings then I just took myself off for half an hour and ate everything I had! My job is pretty tough emotionally (working in a rehab unit with people with brain injuries), so I need to make sure I don't do the whole emotional eating - that was definitely one of the factors to why I put on weight in the first place! I don't bring any money with me to work so I'm not tempted by the vending machines with chocolate and crisps.

I make sure my bread, pasta and rice is all brown to cut out the white processed stuff.

Best of luck!

IsoletJansen

Breakfast:
I alternate between a proteien shake (that I drink on my way to work) or some oats in the morning.

Lunch:
Most of the time I cook a little extra (not a full portion) at dinner, so that my husband and I have extra for lunch. As I dish our plates, I dish in the tupperware - I have found that if I leave it to dish later, it sometimes becomes a second helping, which does not help! In summer I top it up with a salad or in winter with some soup if the portion is too small. If we didn't eat at home the previous evening, I would make sandwiches with a proteien (cheese or chicken or boiled egg) and salad (tomato, cucumber, lettuce) on them.

Snacks:
I bought mini muffin pans, to cut down on the muffin calories. So I bake more muffins, but a little smaller. I freeze them. They are great for the kids' and our lunch boxes. We also each get a fruit, 100g of yoghurt (fat free!) and on the days that we train, I add some nuts and carrot sticks in a grab bag, so that we don't feel hungry and want to go for potato crisps or worse. Something else that works great is popcorn. I don't add any butter! But just a small bag helps especially if you are on the go a lot.

BerryH

I don't have a fridge or microwave at work, and I can't afford to buy lunch every day, so I bring in a Thermos flask of hot soup and some bread and butter or crispbread. On warmer days, I have an insulated sandwich bag with freezer packs.

Silvara_11

I keep 2 types of cereal / muesli at work that I eat for breakfast. If I've had a good yoga session in the morning I treat myself to an egg and mushroom muffin at 311cal.

I keep fresh fruit for sweet snacks and cherry tomatoes for salty

Lunch is usually a soup or M&S ready meal

Make my dinners on the weekend and re-heat at home or make up something quick.

Don't feel deprived and find it pretty easy to refuse office treats - it is a surprise for me!

Danni1585

I'm a bit of a nightmare at work, always rushing around. I need to have stuff ready in my drawer. I have a selection of low fat soups, protein shakes etc. Its not fab but it keeps me from snacking on other stuff and doesnt go off. I bring in a bag of fruit daily

kendrafallon

It used to be sandwiches of some sort most days, or a filled pitta bread. These days, it depends on what I fancy :bigsmile: since I have access to both a fridge and microwave at work. - the BBC Good Food website (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com) has some fab recipes you can make & take to work.

Edit: just to add, here's a direct link to the Healthy section: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/healthy

mich1902

Brekkie: 2 boiled eggs on toast
Snack 1 : small apple, 80g of grapes
Lunch: homemade veg and lentil soup
Dinner: Usually a low cal meal 300 cals
Snack 2: usually a treat for telly-mini choc fingers and monster munch

**if exercising then will have something extra

Skinny_minny_mo

i bring lunch in too - although i seldom heat anything up.

todays lunch - grilled chicken with butter lettuce, basil and rocket. yummy!

boiled eggs are also a good option

RaineyLaney

I take all kinds of stuff for my lunch at work. I like to have variety. We have a fridge, Microwave at work. Today (work 3rd shift). I didn't have time to make a lunch, so I grabbed a small round ziplock container (with screw lid) and filled it up with frozen broccoli/califlower/carrots while still frozen. screwed lid on,I then took 1/4c shreeded colby jack cheese that I put on my veggies after they were cooked. I have plastic containers that hold exactly 1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese. (My favorite is Kroger's brand). then I grabbed a can of alaskan salmon (tuna fish size can 5oz). that was my lunch. I also have to eat snacks too (diabetic and have to eat smaller meals with a few snacks). I grabbed 10 black pitted olives, 1 oz roasted peanuts and an apple for one snack. Then for my second snack at work, I had a naval orange. I work 3rd shift so for my so called breakfast before heading to work, I had a low carb wheat tortillia, put 1/8th c shredded colby jack cheese on it, and stuck in microwave for approx 15 sec's. Then I tried this for first time today (wasn't sure how it would taste). I buy immatation crab sticks for protien when I am really on the run and have no time to eat. I put 2 of these on my tortilla and added 2 tbls of low fat sour cream. rolled it up and ate it it. It tasted pretty good. I was surprised. (I didn't have time to make anything to eat before heading to work. I had this at 10pm.

Then at 1am I eat my first snack, My apple and my peanutes, and my black olives. Then I had my lunch as mentioned above at 3am and also added a yoplait light yogurt (strawberry) and a 4oz suger free jellow. This gives me the feeling of having desert, tasty and fulfilling. then at around 6am I will have my orange. I will eat my supper when I get home around 8am.

Sometimes my lunch is left over meat from dinner the night before added with my frozen veggies (I tri to take a container of frozen veggies every day for lunch. I mix it up with broccoli, carrots etc. I am not a big veggie eater and if I just don't care so much for the veggie, I will add just a little bit of frozen corn to it. It makes it a whole lot better. I sometimes take a nice salad to work (a meal in itself....letuch, some cabbage, 1/2 tomato, fresh mushrooms, 1/4 c shredded cheese, 1/8c sunflower seeds, 1-5oz can salmon or tuna,5 black pitted olives. and my favorite in my salads is sugar free sweetened dill spears (can only find these at Kroger's). I slice the pickle spears up (2) and throw in my salad. I have learned to put my cheese, tomatos, sunflower seeds, and salmon in snack bags and add to my salad as I make it at work. I take a cheapy gallon size bag and add all my stuff to it but the stuff in snack bags. I then leave air in bag and mix it all up good. I then take my salad dressing (low fat/cal etc) pour approx 2 tbls into a snack bag, add a little water and mix that good (make sure it is sealed good). This makes the dressing go a bit farther without more calories. I then put my dressing bag inside the salad bag. squeeze air out and put all in a plastic grocery bag (my lunch box, lol). This salad is heavy, filling etc. Along with it I take a yogurt and my jellow.

If you want to follow my food journal (if that is possible on this site...new here, feel free too. If you need to be added as a friend, send me the request. Then you can see just how much I variy my lunches at work.

rosettafaery

Breakfast - Yogurt with fresh berries and topped with granola

Lunch - Either: Homemade vegetable soup wiith some bread to dip OR Mixed green salad leaves, cherry tomatoes, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar OR a wholemeal bread sandwich with cream cheese and sweet bell peppers or hummus. Sometime I heat up leftovers from the night before.

Dinner - Something quick on week nights. I really love rice and pasta so anything involving them!

I also need snacks while at work - possibly because of boredom. I take a satsuma, banana and apple in to work and also take some mixed seeds to snack on. It's all a little healthier than crisps or chocolate and seem to fill me up.

DeTaart

I'm queen of the microwave, and pretty much eat all of my three meals at my desk. This doesn't have to mean ready meals!

Meals less than 300 cal I regularly eat:

- scrambled eggs in microwave, throw in some quick cooking veggies - mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach
- mixed veg stir fry (Doesn't need to be "stir fried", just pop in microwave for two mins), soy sauce and some cooked chicken or prawns
- poached fish - haddock, cod or any white fish, cover with milk and microwave for a couple of mins, I have this with boiled potatoes (microwave 6 minutes!)
- noodle soup - microwave mushrooms, peppers, beansprouts in a big bowl, add miso sachet and some ready cooked noodles
- savoury porridge - chicken stock, spring onions, mushrooms, green onions, soy sauce and two mins in microwave

You can pretty much do anything with a microwave, I've done poached eggs, sweet potato mash, rice (!), any kind of vegetable much to the amazement of my colleagues. The only think which doesn't work that well is meat...I buy pre-cooked chicken mostly.

Treadmillmom1st

An additional tip is to keep your drawer stocked with healthy snacks.

Offices are notorious for having unhealthy treats available and its too tempting when you're feeling pekish.

In my drawer I have Options Hot Chocolate 39 cals a cup, really works in keeping the chocolate craving away. Roasted Edamame (soya) beans, cracker bread, rice cakes, no sugar Whole Earth peanut butter (great on rice cakes), sultana's, satsuma's, banana's.

Oh and the ultimate 'bad office food avoidance' strategy, thumbnails of Jillian Micheals six pack around my PC to remind me of my goal.

tashmash2011

This has probably been suggested already but i didn't read through the whole thread, I try to make extra teas, and take the leftovers into work the next day. We have a mini oven at work, so say we have chilli or curry for tea i will take the left overs with me to work and pop it on a jacket potato and this fills me up until my evening meal!
I take other teas in as left overs that don't go on a jacket potato like.. stews/ broths / stirfry / meatballs / pasta etc its so easy i just pop it in a tub and in the fridge for the next day.
For snacks i take in low fat bagels/ low fat yoghurts / healthy snack bars / fruit / cup a soups.
I'm usually munching on something at my desk i find it helps rather than have nothing at all inbetween meals as this makes me over eat when it comes to my evening meal!
Hope you find something that helps!

nturner612

Bump

mike20603

This has been said here already, in different ways, but the common theme is planning. I also work in the city center, and irregular office/work/meeting hours usually means an unplanned, convienient quick lunch. Also adding to this is the prevailing social aspect of lunch at my office...the normal routine is to gather up 3 or 4 people and go find a spot.

The trouble is...last-minute, convenient, low(er) cost, healthy, trackable, and desirable lunches in this scenario are almost impossible.

So...plan. Some of the earlier posts have a ton of good ideas:

a. Make your lunch the night before and bring it in

b. Buy healthy stuff and nuke it at work.

c. If you want to go out, check out the menu online and find something healthy (or don't go there).

What I do (and your mileage may vary), is try to be boring and bring my lunch all week, and go out with my friends on Fridays. I still try to eat healthy, but it keeps me from going bonkers on the tuna/yogurt/banana train.

alschultz33

For breakfast, I eat pretty much the same thing every morning (hard boiled egg, yogurt, string cheese, clementine). I keep oatmeal at my cube for days when I need something warm (keep a mug or bowl on hand for when you need it).

For lunch, I try to change it up. If I have leftovers from dinner the night before, I'll bring that. If not, I make a turkey/cheese sandwich on Arnold's sandwich thins. Today, I brought Progresso soup (just threw half of the can in my Corningware container and I was good to go).

I also bring an apple every day to snack on and occasionally baby carrots

vicky1804

Last two weeks iv made a bog pain of soup and a homemade crustless quiche.
Last week was Vegetable soup and the quiche was a mix of vegetables
This week its Leek & Potato soup with Hawiian style quiche. (Ham,Mushrooms sweetcorn, Cottage Cheese with Pineapple and eggs. Its really nice.

Snack wise I always have a carrot and a varity of fruit and on gym days either a serving of nuts or peanut butter.

Slaci_Jo

I mostly just eat the leftovers from dinner the night before. I try to not spend money on things to pack (lunchmeats, etc.) because when I used to do that our leftovers would go bad before anyone ate them and when I used to buy lunchmeants to pack I got bored with sandwiches all the time. During the day I make sure I drink a lot of water so that I don't mindlessly eat out of the giant candy bowl my teamate keeps at her deck.