Something I am trying to get a handle on at the moment is what I eat when at work. It's far too easy to eat shit as that's what's mainly available in the shops.

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon a few little ready meal/salad things in Tesco, tucked away at the back of the shop (with the BLTs and pasties at the front!).

A couple of these I've tried and liked, and am now trying to recreate these at home as they cost money. My current menu:

Option 1:
Cook up some pasta let it cool, throw in some tuna mayo, spinach fried in fresh garlic, grated carrot, cherry tomatoes

Option 2:
Cook up some cous cous, carrots, peppers, raisons, onions, garlic, tumeric, cinnamon into a Moroccan style salad.

Need to find some other options, but I have my eye on improving my general health with a high intake of healthy herbs, spices and vegetables.

hey Nova,

Not sure what sort of dieting ideas you've been following, but have a similar daily battle with ease versus health most lunch times.

just for clarity, the goal I am coming from (mostly) here, is weight loss, with a side of trying to set myself up some good habits going forward (even after I lose the weight).
I've been basing this strongly in the Harcombe diet my mum advised me to try, which is kinda like a part time atkins approach - basically, if you DO eat carbs, they should be at least a few hours away from fats. also a strong focus on avoiding sugar at all where possible.

Here's a couple of fairly easy go-toos that have been helping me a lot over the past year.

salad: ok, it sounds obvious, but a lot of lunchtimes I just pick up a sealed salad bowl from the tesco salad section (simple side salad I think they call it - lettuce, peppers, sweetcorn etc), and add something to give it some flavour:
- tinned mackerel in chilli oil [£2-£2.40 all in, sure you could make similar at home!]
- can of tuna (salad niciosse (sp?) )*
- tub of that sandwich filling stuff, chicken or prawn mayo etc* (not great for you but breaks up the monotony! I only look at the sugar content on these)
- king prawns* (pricey, but I frigging love prawns, and they're almost pure protien :P )

*these are things I typically dump a load of chilli flakes into as well, adjust to your own taste!

another thing that has been helping me avoid eating crap at work is soup.
tesco's health range, and heinz big soup both have some pretty good varieties. if it's a little bland, add a small helping of croutons to give it some texture

I wrote over half of this, then re-read your post and realised cost was a big part of the issue for you. Gonna post it anyway, as they are some pretty cheap options in either case, but also in the hope that even if I'm not helping you, someone will gain something from it, although it seems to me that you hold yourself to slightly higher standards of what you want to put in your body than I do!

If your workplace has a microwave you could get the Uncle Ben's wholegrain microwavable rice. Get yourself a ready to eat Tuna steak and some hot sauce and mix em all up. That's pretty much my staple meal for when I'm at work.

Chocolate cake, flapjacks, office sweets, sandwitches, crisps, pot noodle and amy random shit the girls bring in.

The occasional good meal; I conveniently forget we have george formans and stuff.

I need more healthier calorie intake than that because I'm still always hungry.

Stock up on frozen chicken fillets from Iceland & at the start of the week cook some of them & chop them up.

Cook pasta, throw in chopped spring onions, chopped lettuce, chopped peppers, salad cream & a forkful of the new fiery hot coleslaw from Tesco (it's really hot & one forkful will spice it up)

That's one meal I eat every day & when I get a new job it'll be a recipe I take to work every day. I don't cook the chicken at the start of the week now but for making lunch it'll be handy.

Yeah humous is a total winner on the health front, loaded with chickpeas, olive oil a lemon juice.

K, is that a Spanish dish with the capers? Like the sound of it.

I imagine capers to be what spunk tastes like.

My own or someone else's?

Doritos are good and snickers.

But if you can think of a better way to get a free Big Mac I'm all ears