I'm going to start doing this to a) save money and to b) get a bit healthier.

I can't keep eating pre-made sandwiches from the shop next door to work, it's making me poor.

Anyone take their own lunch to work/college etc.? What do you have?


any ideas welcome

I do this. I tend to take in a boiled egg & salad sandwich.

I've had phases in the past of taking in cheese, mayo & onion sandwiches, and also salad (the kind you can buy in bags ready mixed) with a small container of dressing to drizzle on it.

If you have access to a fridge, you could buy up big multipacks of pots of yoghurt and take one in each day too. And if you have a good thermos flask, you could make a big vat of soup, heat some up every morning and take that in.

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Deux hommes font une promenade amicale. L'un des deux porte un parapluie à son bras.
Il se met à pleuvoir. L'homme n'ouvre pas son parapluie et l'autre lui demande pourquoi.
- Parce que ça ne servirait à rien, lui répond son ami. Il est plein de trous.
- Alors, pourquoi l'as-tu pris?
- Parce que je ne pensais pas qu'il pleuvrait.

my daughter doesn't dig on the school lunches so i try to do different things for her

here's one idea

multi grain crackers
sharp white cheddar cheese
celery sticks/cherry tomatoes/cucumber slices
100% fruit juice or bottled water

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Try to be organised and think ahead so you have a variety of things to make sandwiches and salads with (eggs, cheese, cooked meats, tuna, lettuce etc) otherwise you'll get tired of the same thing every day. On the other hand, don't be stupid like me and buy too much and end up throwing away packets of ham you never got round to eating!

Despite your best intentions, you'll have days when you haven't got time to prepare anything or you haven't been shopping. Therefore, always keep in stock: crackers/cheese/philadelphia-type spreadable stuff, soup, part-baked baguettes, yogurts, fruit and (when all else fails!) milk and cereal.

Sandwich shops like Pret are very nice, but resist the urge as much as possible. They aren't cheap!!!

if i'm like oohh fuck i spent all my money on cigarettes and booze, i usually take into work my dinner leftovers to reheat.

You can get premade sandwich stuff like hummus, egg salad, pimento cheese, etc at the grocery store. Add whatever you like, like veggies to the hummus, and take as a sandwich.

There are these things called uncrustables that I ate all through high school. They're little round frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. You take one to school/work, and by the time you eat it it's room temperature. It sounds strange but they are seriously really good peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They taste better than when I make them. They have about 200 calories each so you take two for a meal or, if you're being healthy, take one and some yogurt and fruit. I know it's a childish thing to eat but they're so good.

I have started making a basic "rabbit salad" (eg iceberg lettuce, carrot, capsicum) and a flax seed oil vinegarette (we have a dishwasher at work whcih is so handy), i take dinner leftovers (like pasta or dahl) as well so i have my salad with my leftovers (with a small portion of the leftovers). Plus in our work fridge I have margerine, vegemite, strawberry jam and bread in the freezer for snacks. plus i have ryvita biscuits, cheese sometimes. its just handy to make snacks this way.

I always bring lunch to work. I bring a sandwich and a cup of yogurt. I keep a case of bottled water in my car, and I also keep tons of snacks like chips and rice cakes in my car to snack on, so that I don't have to remember to bring those things with me every day.

I try to cook big batches of stuff at once so that I can eat it all week (or most of the week). Then I stick it in tupperware and bring it along if I can't make it home for lunch.

Because I like to get a lot of veggies in, and because I like 1 dish meals I rotate a few key recipes (chili, sweet potato and black bean soup, jambalaya, home-made pizza). If you're interested, PM me and I can send them.

i keep aiming to make huge batvjhes of soup sindce its autumn and perfect for dinner and also to take to work. this weekend i must do so, bring 5 containers on monday i can freeze in the tea room freezer (no one uses it) and that way i have lunch taken care of. annie i'd love those recipes

http://kittyradio.com/soapbox/showthread.php?t=2266
Recipes are posted.

thanks

you can take nearly anything, if you buy a few tupperware and a lunchbag that keeps things cool.

just wanted to subscribe

It really does add up. 5-7 bucks eating out everyday times 5, times 4.
And word on the bottled water. We have a vending machine for $1/bottle. I can get a case for around 4 and it will last me the month.

Get some of those tupperware sealable bowls and sandwich containers (They're cheap) and a hardbodied cooler bag and you're all set.

Our workplace has one of those water dispensers with the big plastic bottles that the company we rent it from come and replace. Sometimes i don't like it cause it gives the water that plastic taste, but a slice of lemon or a dorp of bottled lemon juice helps.

My other work area has the actual tap that comes out with filtered water. I get a 1140ml jug and fill it and take it back to my desk so i drink it all throughout the day.

If your company doesn't have a water dispenser, two suggestions:

A) rally your colleagues to put the suggestion to management to get one for your tea room/break out room

B) purchase a britta water jug and filters and use it yourself. You will save heaps more than buying crap bottled water made by some multinational who'd love to privatise water.

I also now keep small tins of baked beans, they make a great snack, you can make toasted sandwiches.

I take a hummus-with-roasted-vegetable sandwich with a yoghurt, or leftovers from the night before. It saves me £10 per week.
I am the only person at work who does this!

i take my lunch to work, i find it saves money and i hate eating out usually anyway

i make myself (normally) a baguette with chicken, baby spinach, mayo and cheese. i take a tub of low fat strawberry yogurt. some carrot and celery sticks. two peices of fruit. and i always keep a bag of mixed nuts in my drawer. occasionally i might throw in a museli bar type thing

I usually do. I make hummous and red pepper wraps or tuna sandwiches. In the summer i make salads when i can be bothered. Or sometimes i just bring bread and make toast - sometimes with beans.

i usually have a pitta bread with humous and salad, or sausage and salad.
i am making some kidney bean burgers tonight and i'm taking them in for lunch tomorrow they are going to be good.
if i have made a massive batch of dolmades, i'll bring those for lunch everyday for the whole week. people always look quite impressed when you have dolmades.
pizza
pasta/rice and tomato sauce

and i'll always bring a handful of mixed nuts and 2 pieces of fruit.