Office Workers - What do you eat?

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

I make breakfast at home.

On the weekends, I usually cook something like slow cooker soup or chili that I can eat Everday for lunch. I also Pre cook steak chicken and/or pork chops, and then I can quickly throw them in the microwave and add veggies and done.

I live close to work so I go home for lunch. I need the break from the office to get through the day and I enjoy going home to see my kitties. I usually have a sandwich and/or salad while playing games on Facebook.

I was going to be a smart-aleck and say whatever I can find in the refrigerator at work but I'm not one of those people who does that. I only eat stuff I bring in myself. The people in my section were just talking yesterday about someone who took people's food in the refrigerator at the last place one of my co-workers worked so finally someone brought in cat food on bread to make it look like tuna salad to thwart the thief. I don't know if it worked. One of the person stealing the lunches didn't like tuna? Besides, isn't that what canned cat food is anyway, old tuna??

I usualy fall into the rut of having the same things everyday, but it makes it easier for me to plan. I usually have soup or a sandwich, and I am on a goldfish kick. They are delicious! I've been eating the new Lean Pocket Pretzel Bread pockets for dinner, but they would make a perfect lunch also. They're fast and easy!


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soup
baby carrots
yogurt
black coffee
banana with peanut butter
beef jerky
frozen blueberries

My breakfasts alternate between an english muffin with peanut butter and apple slices, a breakfast burrito or whole wheat pancakes. I prep the veggies for the burrito on the weekend and precook and freeze turkey sausage or bacon. I microwave the veggies and meat, stir in an egg and nuke it again and wrap it in a tortilla. I make the pancakes at home on the weekend and freeze them in individual servings and pop them in the toaster at work.

Lunches are normally left overs from the night before or a grilled chicken breast mixed with a box of green giant frozen vegetables. Even the ones with the sauce can be fairly low in calories.

For anyone that doesn't have access to a microwave, check out the desk-top Crock-pot. I have one and it is GREAT! It only reheats food - doesn't cook, but it is great for leftovers or soups. It has a screw on lid, so odors don't escape and bug your co-workers. I plug it in when I get to my desk and the food is hot at lunch time! The best $20 I've ever spent.