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Roast root vegetables are lovely hot or cold, make a great addition to lunchtime salads at this time of year and are easily cooked in large batches. Chop them into bite-sized chunks, then toss with olive oil, salt, pepper and any spices you like before roasting at 180ºC/360°F until tender (about 20 minutes). Carrots, halved lengthways and roasted with cumin look and taste great. Serve with pomegranate seeds, feta and some rocket leaves. Beetroot, parsnips or butternut squash are all great alternatives too.
Don’t spoil your salad by adding the dressing before you set off to work – everything will go soggy and the leaves will wilt. Use a tiny jar that fits in your lunchbox so you can drizzle it on just before you eat. Small jam jars or Tupperware work well.
Sometimes a salad, however hearty, just won't cut it on a cold day. If you want something warming for lunch and your office doesn’t have a microwave, it might be a good idea to invest in a wide-mouth vacuum flask. That way you can enjoy piping hot soups, stews and pasta dishes. There are plenty of good ones out there but Thermos is probably the best-known brand and Zojirushi comes highly recommended for heat retention properties.
Once you’ve got your flask, what are you going to put in it? The easiest soup in the world involves cooking chopped vegetables in stock then blending until smooth. Pack a crusty roll or flatbread for dipping if you’re feeling particularly hungry.
One of the best ideas for budget lunches is to return to those old student favourites, instant noodles. But we have a few ideas to add a grown-up spin on them. Put the noodles in a jar with a spoonful of miso paste or a vegetable stock cube and some finely sliced veg and even a boiled egg. When it’s lunchtime, just add boiling water from the office kettle, stir and leave to soften for a few minutes before slurping down.
For a truly satisfying lunch, texture is as important as flavour. Croutons are a great addition to soups and salads as well as being a tasty way to use up old bread (toss cubes or roughly torn bite-sized pieces with a little oil, salt and pepper and bake in a 180ºC/360°F oven for a few minutes until golden brown and crunchy). Toasted nuts and seeds are another good idea for textural variation, as are the crispy shallots you can get in the Asian aisle of supermarkets. Keep them separate in a twist of foil so they don't go soggy.
Whatever you take, you'll need something to put it in. Maybe you’ve seen pictures of layered salads in mason jars? They look nice but, if you think about it, are heavy and impractical. Tupperware, Lock&Lock or any of the numerous other lunchboxes out there might not be quite so chic but they'll keep your lunch safe and not cause backache on the journey to work.
If you’ve got a muffin tin, you can make yourself some mini frittatas which are tasty, protein-packed and portable – a great addition to any lunchbox. Lightly oil the wells of a muffin tin tray, then whisk one egg per well with a splash of milk and pour it in. Add whatever you like here – cooked vegetables, cheese, ham, cooked bacon or whatever is in the fridge. A particularly great combination is peas with feta and mint. Bake in an oven pre-heated to 180ºC/360°F until set – about 10 to 15 minutes.
A pot of dip and some flatbread or crudités makes a lovely light lunch. Add interest to a shop-bought dip by stirring through a spoonful of chilli sauce or pesto. If you want to really impress your colleagues bring a handful of herbs or pomegranate seeds in a separate pot to scatter on before you dig in. Any kind of bean blitzes up well into hummus if you’d like to try making your own.
We can't really talk about lunch without mentioning sandwiches but just because it's in bread, doesn't mean it has to be boring. With a little bit of thought, a sandwich can be a work of art. Try a Vietnamese bánh mì baguette which combines savoury pork (or tofu) with pickled carrots, hot chilli sauce and fresh coriander. It's savoury, crunchy and spicy all at once.
If you want a bigger filling-to-carbs ratio than is generally offered by the humble sandwich, consider a tortilla-style wrap. Pretty much anything is good in these and they have the added bonus that the filling won’t fall out in transit. If you’re eating at your desk or on the go – and it happens to the best of us – a wrap can be a neater, more convenient option than a sandwich.
Ready-made puff pastry is great for creating quick, tasty tarts. Just unroll and top with whatever filling you feel like, leaving a 2cm (1 inch) border. Brush the exposed pastry with beaten egg and bake for 20 minutes in a 200ºC/428ºF oven. Favourite easy fillings include thinly sliced tomatoes scattered with fresh basil or grated courgette mixed with pesto. Eat cold or reheat in the office microwave.
For pure carb comfort, there’s nothing nicer on a cold day than a baked potato but cooking one at work is a fool’s errand. Even if you could hog the office microwave for the necessary time, your potato would emerge sad, pallid and tough. Instead bake them at home (rub the skin with a little olive oil and salt then give them an hour or so in a hot oven) for a soft inside and crispy skin that will reheat in minutes when you’re ready for it.
Often the simplest lunch is just what’s left of last night’s dinner but it also doesn’t take much to repurpose your leftovers into something new and exciting. Roast chicken makes a fabulous sandwich or wrap. Stock and a spin in the blender turns any leftover veg into a simple soup. Or add stock and a tin of mixed beans to pasta with a tomato sauce to make quick minestrone.
Pitta bread is another alternative to sliced. Stuff with your filling of choice for a pleasingly self-contained lunch.
Pack pudding to satisfy a sweet tooth after lunch. A yogurt pot cake is as easy as 1,2,3. Empty a standard 125ml (4.4oz) pot of yogurt into a bowl (plain, low fat or any flavour will work) then use the pot to measure out the rest of the ingredients to add to the yogurt: one of oil, two of sugar and three of self-raising flour. Then add an egg and some fruit, nuts or chocolate chips, mix well and pour into a lined loaf tin. Bake in a preheated 170°C/340°F oven for 45 to 55 minutes.
This recipe is so quick and easy. It'll take no time at all in the morning to pop all the dry ingredients in a little bag then break the egg into a small jar and add the oil and milk. When a sugar craving hits, mix the contents of both in a mug and pop it in the microwave for a couple of minutes. Hey presto – cake!
Get the recipe for microwave mug cake here
