For all the usual reasons - plus a few less-usual ones - I started making my own lunch for work last summer.
Uninspringly this was typically some bagged salad, bought coleslaw and whatever meat (usually chicken) product I could score reduced or pull from the freezer - sliced up Kievs, bits of corned beef etc.
This did well but Salad sucked in the winter; while both the pre-packed salad and coleslaw are expensive, potentially temperimental and plastic-heavy.. so not an ideal solution but acceptable and probably no worse than buying a meal deal every day..
After months of bought sandwiches, crisps, chocolate and other horrors, at the back end of winter I had another stab at filling my Postman Pat lunchbox with something home-made.
The meat angle remains the same, but this time chucked in with some roasted veg for a more filling alternative to salad. This has become a load of onion, carrot, brussels and whole garlic cloves slow-roasted in olive oil with salt. Last week I freestyled it a bit with some Balsamic vinegar post-cook; which was nice. I currently have this week's batch, along with some Waitrose chicken schnitzel (seasoned with middle-eastern spices I don't understand but smell great) finishing off in the oven.
Ideally in future I'd like to source some plain chicken from the butchers (which, if owt like the other meats will be better quality and cheaper) and bulk-cook it myself, but that's a bridge too far currently.
So, for the purposes of both casual conversation and inspiration; what's in your lunchbox?
Uninspringly this was typically some bagged salad, bought coleslaw and whatever meat (usually chicken) product I could score reduced or pull from the freezer - sliced up Kievs, bits of corned beef etc.
This did well but Salad sucked in the winter; while both the pre-packed salad and coleslaw are expensive, potentially temperimental and plastic-heavy.. so not an ideal solution but acceptable and probably no worse than buying a meal deal every day..
After months of bought sandwiches, crisps, chocolate and other horrors, at the back end of winter I had another stab at filling my Postman Pat lunchbox with something home-made.
The meat angle remains the same, but this time chucked in with some roasted veg for a more filling alternative to salad. This has become a load of onion, carrot, brussels and whole garlic cloves slow-roasted in olive oil with salt. Last week I freestyled it a bit with some Balsamic vinegar post-cook; which was nice. I currently have this week's batch, along with some Waitrose chicken schnitzel (seasoned with middle-eastern spices I don't understand but smell great) finishing off in the oven.
Ideally in future I'd like to source some plain chicken from the butchers (which, if owt like the other meats will be better quality and cheaper) and bulk-cook it myself, but that's a bridge too far currently.
So, for the purposes of both casual conversation and inspiration; what's in your lunchbox?