Working lunches and snacks
 

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

Man they eat some weird shit in Spain.

I tend to generally skip lunch and drink a few pints of tea instead, I generally forget about being hungry most of the time. But when I'm really starved I usually go for a ham or chicken breast sandwich on wholemeal bread.

It probably helps that I have that protein shit with milk every morning.

On the subject of tea, been getting into some really interesting ones I got in a health food shop called 8th Day on Oxford Road. They’re made by Pukka and the ones I’ve tried so far are great and contain ingredients I've read plenty of good things about:

Detox: organic aniseed, fennel & cardamom. Does what it says on the tin, great for hangovers!

Morning Time: organic rooibos, honeybush & red gingseng. I’ve found this really gives me a well needed lift, dare I say it mild buzz, mid afternoon. Caffeine free too.

Tree Ginger: organic ginger, galangal & golden turmeric. Very soothing, prob good when feeling stressed at work. Also great for keeping illness at bay.

I used to be a bit skeptical about these herbal teas, but all these taste pretty good and I defo feel good after a dose.

Tetleys.
Nuff said.

Agreed.

1 of the new girls brought in some herbal tea today as a substitute for tetley's.

She has a lot to learn...

She can't be serious. Subbing da erb for da black

Her herbal tea enthusiasm was met by "what the fuck is this shit".


I might try that ginger tea in your earlier post, Nova. I could use a little kick of ginger at the desk.

I'm open to trying new things that are the same if not lower fat than salad cream.

The spicy coleslaw I get contains more fat per 30g but I only use a forkful to taste, so it's sort of balanced.

I had a 2 bottles of Rosè & 3 pints on Saturday night & on Sunday I was 4lb lighter. This happens every time I have a drink. Has it got something to do with dehydration or what the fuck?

I always put the damn lbs back on eating crappy hangover food anyways. Smart.

We don't have greggs over here. The closest thing we have is subway, with cookies.

No you fat fuck.

Fuck yeah. The caramel donut with the custard in is don.

For me though, the pasties are substandard when compared to Pound Bakery. That place even keeps them hot for you. Nice touch.

The REAL McCoy, nice!


That's probably because it's REAL food, not the chemically enhanced shit all the English fatties gourge on here at work.

@nova

I try to eat tactically to remove the need for snacks. Protein and fat aid satiety so for example today at breakfast I had a large steak with a fried egg on top, and a pile of steamed veg with a glob of butter on top of that. It was a large meal, roast dinner sized.

I find a mix of proteins in the one meal really helpful personally too. I know it sounds weird but you can achieve a similar effect with eggs, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms…etc.

If I am going to snack I always have a large jar of olives, plenty of goats cheese, some dried berries if I'm after a little sugar hit, pistachios…I sling a dessert spoon of each in a little tupperware box and cart that around with me to nibble while I'm working.

One thing I notice is that if I eat any grains (pasta, bread…etc), which is rare, it generally makes life harder and makes me crave snacks…probably 'cos it puts me on a blood sugar roller coaster.

I've started fresh cutting my salads too rather than chopping it all up in advance & throwing it into a big food container to do a few days.

I've noticed a huge difference. It's wayyy nicer.