Need help with office lunches

[RamboWanaBe]

My office has a fridge that acts like a black hole i.e. if you use it, you probably lose what you put in their

My office only has a microwave and a toaster press.

What is good to eat for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea?

I want to avoid using meal replacements or protein shakes.

I want to try to eat cheaply.

I have tried a piece of fruit, raw mixed nuts and green tea for morning and afternoon tea. And I have tried only eating a can of tuna and a piece of fruit for lunch and a green tea.

Recently I have tried veggie juice too.

I am trying to lose weight, but get sick of the same old tuna for lunch. Any ideas.

 

[Kyle Aaron]

Whatever you make for dinner, make extra and put it in a container for lunch tomorrow, chuck it in the fridge. If it's been thoroughly cooked then it's not going to turn bad in the 3-5 hours out of the fridge between your leaving home in the morning and having lunch.

The cheapest meals are those you make for yourself from fresh ingredients. If you can read, you can cook. In the supermarket you can find Woman's Day recipe books and similar - they're easy to use.

Yes, it does take some time to cook... but if you don't, you'll only end up buying junk food, then it's time for the treadmill, boring. Half an hour at the stove saves you an hour in the gym

 

[Christian]

First off what do u weigh how tall are you and what is your training like now..

Doesnt sound like much from what you are eating through the day (no offence intended)

 

[kingpin]

Yeh agree with Kyle.

Make enough dinner to take to lunch for the next day, I take it out first thing in the morn and keep it in the bag not the fridge and its ok. Just make sure to warm it up before eating, you can either split your veges and meats in two seperate containers and that way you dont have to warm your veges when you warm the meats. I take a shake for the arvo and take oats in for brekky, not the instant oats you can make on the run, I take em from home too.

 

[modo]

man if you leave it out of fridge for a working day (around 6 hours) you should be fine. i always do as people at my work take food too and never own up to it...

 

[PowerBuilder]

Mate, I've worked in an office situation for years & years & never had any problems. Mostly because I take in exactly what meals i need to (tin tuna (&/or grilled chicken) & salad). It all has to go by the end of the day. Any doubts about co-workers & label your lunch box. Generally people respect stuff that has their name on it.

Like i said, a tin of tuna with garden salad & almonds in a tupperware container is going to look pretty boring to most people, so fridge it, label it, then come back over the day for whatever meal it is. I pack 4 meals a day, everyone at work knows what i eat, so they wont touch it

 

[modo]

Mate, I've worked in an office situation for years & years & never had any problems. Mostly because I take in exactly what meals i need to (tin tuna (&/or grilled chicken) & salad). It all has to go by the end of the day. Any doubts about co-workers & label your lunch box. Generally people respect stuff that has their name on it.

Like i said, a tin of tuna with garden salad & almonds in a tupperware container is going to look pretty boring to most people, so fridge it, label it, then come back over the day for whatever meal it is. I pack 4 meals a day, everyone at work knows what i eat, so they wont touch it

man i agree with this slightly but it does depend on the workplace. I had lunches taken, as well as containers and i work in a place where ""professionalism" is not taken lightly, but apparently this doesnt apply to lunches. I eat similar to you, and it does get taken. its very devastating too when you spend the night before preparing your 3 to 4 meals and someone eats one or two and you are left to starve and suffer muscle catabolism.

 

[PowerBuilder]

Possibly if they dont need to be in the fridge, keep them in a back pack or draw ? Tin tuna & salad is fine. So are unbroken eggs!

 

[modo]

yeah i agree with power builder here. certain foods do not even need to be in the fridge. if they do, a small esky or temperature lined bag with an ice brick is the next best thing, keeps food cold all day long.

 

[Kyle Aaron]

Each morning when you put your food in the fridge, open the lid and say, "hey guys, check this out" while your tongue runs around in the food like Gene Simmons.

No-one will touch the meals

 

[PowerBuilder]

Each morning when you put your food in the fridge, open the lid and say, "hey guys, check this out" while your tongue runs around in the food like Gene Simmons.

No-one will touch the meals

Or just brag about your grilled chicken salad with extra spit & saliva lolz

 

[Christian]

My girlfriends family will leave cooked chicken out over night.. No one gets sick its just a wog thing. Apparently everyone is too delicate in regards to refrigeration. And somehting out of the fridge for a few hours isnt going to kill you.

 

[katie]

Whatever you make for dinner, make extra and put it in a container for lunch tomorrow, chuck it in the fridge. If it's been thoroughly cooked then it's not going to turn bad in the 3-5 hours out of the fridge between your leaving home in the morning and having lunch.

+1 to this. I do this too, not just for lunch but my 4pm meal, and have never gotten sick. If in doubt, you could always nuke it on a high heat in the microwave... but I think you'll find it's not necessary.

 

[Kyle Aaron]

I would always nuke it if I could, only to make it more pleasant to eat. Cold pasta and sauce, cold rice and curry

 

[RamboWanaBe]

if i cook extra at dinner, then I end up eating it. Not good.

So maybe the question I should ask is what people bring to eat to work.

 

[Kyle Aaron]

if i cook extra at dinner, then I end up eating it.

Harden up.

Sorry, but not much else to say to that. Have self-discipline, you'll achieve nothing in or out of the gym without it.

Otherwise, get up half an hour early and make your lunch.

So either resist temptation at dinner time, or sleep less. Up to you.

So maybe the question I should ask is what people bring to eat to work.

What I had for dinner the night before.

Vegie soup, pasta and vegie tomato sauce, tuna and rice, beef chilli, chicken schnitzel sandwich, roast vegie sandwich, yellow split pea curry, beef stroganoff... then fruit and yoghurt for dessert.

Seriously, buy a cookbook and learn to cook a dozen different dishes. There's no reason to torture yourself with tuna and cottage cheese. Eat real food with a taste to it.

To lose fat, I just cut out junk food and upped my exercise.

 

[grapemaster]

I make sandwiches for lunch for uni. Buy some thin ham on a sunday from the deli section of woolies to last you till wednesday then buy some more then. Buy the cheese that is pre cut, some cuccumbers, tomatoes and wholegrain bread.
It takes me about 10 mins in the morning to make 2 sandwiches from scratch. Sometimes i dont even pay attention when making them and suddenly 2 beautiful, scrumptious sandwiches are being packed into my lunchbox.
With that i take 2 muesli bars and sometimes a fruit or banana.
I dont know how physically or mentally challenging your work is but that keep me going for a 6 hour day plus 2 hours commuting.

 

[katie]

Good on you for doing that.

Personally I find that ham doesn't give me enough protein for a meal (although as a uni student I certainly had my fair share of ham and tomato sandwiches!) So if I were to take sandwiches, I'd probably supplement them with a handful of nuts or a boiled egg.

 

[modo]

ham is one of the worst forms of protein to be eating...

 

[LJK23]

I take the following to work everyday in two containers..

Grill my chicken up at night ,grab my container.. add the chikcen, diced spinach leaves and cottage cheese (low fat).. Mix together... morning snack done..

Other snack - 150 g of tuna in spring water & half a bag of Coles mixed spinach salad/stir fry ( has anyone seen these? They come in a bag for around $3.50 & taste amazing!, includes spinach, red onion, capsicum , spring onion & green beans, meant for a stir fry but I just eat raw)

The night before I open the salad packet & pour into container... In the morning i drizzle olive oil over the top.. Take to work..then at 3pm I just open the tuna can and pour over and mix in...

Two simple and very easy to make meals for work that have great protien content, healthy and taste awesome..

I also add fresh mushrooms to both snacks when I have them..

Hope those ideas help, the coles salad has saved me so much time but is somewhat hard to get..

I know this question was about lunch, either of the above could also be a lunch meal.. Perhaps adding come carbs as well if required.