Lunch

Tusky

Howdy.

At the moment im spending far too much on lunch! On average I spend about 6-7 euro each day on my lunch break. Doesnt seem like much but it all adds up. Any ideas for food I can make in advance and bring to work ? There is a microwave and kitchen in work that we can use.

che81

Hi Tusky,

Couple of ideas that you could make in bulk then portion out and freeze. You could take out of freezer in morning and it would be defrosted by lunchtime.

Veggie Lasagne
Bean Chilli and Rice
Stew made with TVP pieces. (1 onion, 1 clove garlic, 1 red pepper (fry in oil), add 400g tvp pieces (or beans), 3 waxy potatoes, half tin tomatoes and half tin water. Cook for 30 mins)

Also now the hot weather is here for a little while you could make some salads for yourself.

Avocado, Tomato, Cucumber and Bulgar Wheat with olive oil and lemon
or
Sprouted beans, alfalfa sprouts and coriander with some dressing


My new favourite sandwich is one i invented recently out of necessity. i don't know if you eat tofu, but if you don't i think it would also work with a smokey cheese.

2 slices of bread (something nice like polish bread)
horseradish
smoked tofu sliced
sliced beetroot (or any other salad veg)

hope that helps a little.

Tusky

che81 wrote:

Hi Tusky,

Couple of ideas that you could make in bulk then portion out and freeze. You could take out of freezer in morning and it would be defrosted by lunchtime.

Veggie Lasagne
Bean Chilli and Rice
Stew made with TVP pieces. (1 onion, 1 clove garlic, 1 red pepper (fry in oil), add 400g tvp pieces (or beans), 3 waxy potatoes, half tin tomatoes and half tin water. Cook for 30 mins)

Also now the hot weather is here for a little while you could make some salads for yourself.

Avocado, Tomato, Cucumber and Bulgar Wheat with olive oil and lemon
or
Sprouted beans, alfalfa sprouts and coriander with some dressing


My new favourite sandwich is one i invented recently out of necessity. i don't know if you eat tofu, but if you don't i think it would also work with a smokey cheese.

2 slices of bread (something nice like polish bread)
horseradish
smoked tofu sliced
sliced beetroot (or any other salad veg)

hope that helps a little.

Some great ideas there, cheers. Do you have a recipe for Bean Chili ?

che81

sorry i meant to add that too. this is off the top of my head (and surely with some of my tweaks) from my madhur jaffrey world vegetarian book. it's actually a lentil chilli recipe, but i always call it bean chilli cos you can add kidney beans at the end.

1 onion finely diced
1 green pepper diced
1 chilli chopped
1/2 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1tsp paprika
180g puy lentils (they're called continental lentils in holland and barret)
2-3 tinned tomatoes, strained and chopped
1 ltr water
tin kidney beans
(optional - 2 tsp of polenta flour)

fry onion in oil, add pepper and chilli. add all the spices and stir a couple of times before adding the lentils. now add the tomatoes and water. cook for 45 minutes on a low-medium heat stirring occasionally. after 45 minutes add the kidney beans. if you have the polenta flour, mix it with 3 tbsp water and add to the chilli. this will slightly thicken the chilli and it adds a great dimension.

sorry i hope that's ok. i'll check the recipe tonight. it reheats a treat, although i find it hard not to gobble the whole thing in one go. i usually eat it rice, but i have also made some barley to go with it and it was lovely.

oh and you should definitely get the madhur jaffrey book. it's amazing.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Madhur-Jaffreys-World-Vegetarian-Cookbook/dp/0091863643/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4/026-3374050-7929232?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178192795&sr=8-4

che81

but a word of warning it doesn't have any pics. i for one prefer that because my dishes never look like the finished article.

Nature Boy

Another great one is soup. Make a big batch and bring it into work in a big tuberware container. My fav is carrot and coriander. Delia's recipie is really good http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/null,1863,RC.html. Easy to make vegan if you're that way inclined!

Salads either. Thinly sliced carrot, raisins, sweetcorn, cus cus, cherry tomatoes, potato salad, cucumber, beetroot etc etc. Again, make big batches