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Where do you eat lunch?

J_Fabulous
J_Fabulous Posts: 63 Member
edited December 2024 in Food and Nutrition
For those working in an office, do you bring your lunch from home or do you go out every day for lunch? We have a cafeteria in our building which offers healthy and not healthy choices. I pretty much get the same thing every day so I can manage my calories. I am wondering if I am sabotaging myself by not preparing meals at home and bringing them in. Your thoughts?

Replies

  • lx1x
    lx1x Posts: 38,332 Member
    Buy lunch and take back to work.. only on occasion I bring lunch
  • sytchequeen
    sytchequeen Posts: 526 Member
    I bring lunch every day. I have a fridge in my training rooms, so I pop it in there and usually eat it at my desk. I would love to go out for a walk round, but once there are delegates on site I can't really leave them without a responsible adult :D
  • missysippy930
    missysippy930 Posts: 2,577 Member
    As long as you are logging what you are consuming, and are within your calorie deficit, it’s personal choice.
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    I think as long as you're meeting your goals with your estimates from lunch, there's no need to bring a lunch. Is it a free lunch at the cafeteria or do you pay? That could be the only major advantage I see to bringing a lunch. I would probably eat out more often if it didn't get so expensive, but I bring my lunch to work instead. I often purchase inexpensive frozen meals so I don't have to prep as often, but it's still cheaper than going out.
  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,989 Member
    My company provides free lunch for us every day, prepared by our in-house chefs.
    There are many options, including an awesome salad bar, so it's easy to make choices that fit in my calories.
    The downside is that since I did not prepare it myself, the calorie count is just a guess, but it has worked for me.

    So, it depends on your personal needs (and your budget) whether or not you bring food from home. You can get a more accurate calorie count on food you prepare yourself and control your portions more easily.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    I'm lucky enough to have a 2 mile commute with mild/moderate traffic so I go home for lunch 4 days a week. My husband works from home and cooks our meals.

    The other day I have a standing lunch date with my senior dad who lives nearby. We go to restaurants, a mix of nicer places like BBQ or Thai and fast food.

    Occasionally I bring my lunch to the office if I need to skip my lunch break...maybe once a month. I usually bring leftovers or an egg salad sandwich, string cheese, fruit, etc.
  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,256 Member
    I generally make my own lunch. Who knows what's in the 'healthy' options offered by others?

    Was this innocuous looking curry actually fried in a boatload of olive oil before the sauce was added - but it wasn't ghee so it's 'healthy'!

    How many 'healthy' and high-calorie seeds did they add to this salad?

    How much 'healthy' humous did they slather on this wrap before adding the veg?
  • LyndaBSS
    LyndaBSS Posts: 6,964 Member
    When I was working, I brought my homemade lunch in to work every day.
  • smolmaus
    smolmaus Posts: 442 Member
    The lunches I prep myself cost less than £5 a week. If I was eating out it would be closer to £5/day or an extra £1000/ year. Easy choice.
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
    I get lunch delivered every day from a food service. They usually have an option that is the "healthy" option. I do my best to estimate the calories based off of what is in the dish. Obviously that leaves a margin of error but it has worked well enough for me overall.
  • Terytha
    Terytha Posts: 2,097 Member
    I usually bring lunch. If I forget or run out of groceries, I go over to the coffee shop next door for a wrap or soup or something.

    I used to just not eat lunch, but that stopped being sustainable when I started going to the gym before dinner. =P
  • skelterhelter
    skelterhelter Posts: 803 Member
    I always bring lunch. It's always something simple like a sandwich, or leftovers from the night before. Once in a while I'll splurge and grab a slice of pizza if my lunch doesn't seem particularly appetizing that day lol.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    J_Fabulous wrote: »
    For those working in an office, do you bring your lunch from home or do you go out every day for lunch? We have a cafeteria in our building which offers healthy and not healthy choices. I pretty much get the same thing every day so I can manage my calories. I am wondering if I am sabotaging myself by not preparing meals at home and bringing them in. Your thoughts?

    How would eating at your cafeteria be sabotaging yourself if you're hitting your calorie targets?

    I usually bring my own lunch, but that's largely because I typically work through lunch and don't leave the office.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,055 Member
    When I worked in an office, I spent a few hours on Sundays making lunches and dinners for M-Th. On Fridays I had takeout for lunch, ate half, and had the rest for dinner.

    These days I work from home and make my lunches and dinner most days.
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,237 Member
    edited September 2019
    What are you sabotaging? You’re eating something that presumably you like enough to eat it regularly, and it fits your goals.

    When I worked in an office I usually brought my own food because it was a whole lot less expensive to do so. I was morbidly obese at the time.
  • traceyc83
    traceyc83 Posts: 72 Member
    I finish work around 1230 so I eat lunch at home
  • Squish815
    Squish815 Posts: 150 Member
    I bring in leftovers from home. Even though there are only 2 of us at home, I tend to cook enough for at least 3-4, so just freeze the leftovers and use them for my lunch at work throughout the week. Saves me a little but of money too!
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    I bring my lunch. I buy a huge bunch of kale ($.99) on Sunday, chop it up, and use it as a base for salad or hot lunch for the week. I either cook it with dehydrated veg, egg, soy, sesame oil, and Sriracha for Asian style, or just use leftovers from dinner the night before to add protein.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,396 Member
    I take my lunch in a lunch box every day except Wednesday

    We have reps come in to do a presentation every Wed and they provide lunch - what it is varies and I just estimate the calorie level for them.

    I have a frozen lean cuisine meal in freezer of staff room for the rare occasions when I forget to pack a lunch or the rep cancels.
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