How do you feel about sandwiches? I’m a bit of a bread avoider so I rarely eat them but when I do, I feel like I want to curl up under my desk and nap for the rest of the day. It’s like they’re made of sleep. I went to a conference last week and for the whole three days, there was nothing for lunch but sandwiches. Which I totally understand, it’s the easiest way to feed a bunch of people but I just can’t eat stodgy lunches that many days in a row. Look, I love a cheeky sanga every now and then (especially ham, pickles and cheese) but I can only handle one sandwich a week max. Otherwise, I write off my whole afternoon in a carb-induced coma. I work from home but if I need to eat on the run I often pack my own lunch box.
Here are few sandwich-free lunch box ideas to get you out of your lunch rut…
1. Rice Paper Rolls
You can put almost anything in rice paper rolls – lettuce, avocado, tofu, chicken, carrot, vermicelli noodles. I particularly love this recipe from Minimalist Baker because it’s full of yummy quinoa which will leave you full for the afternoon and not chewing on the walls because you’re so damn hungry!
2. Mason Jar Salad
Again, you can put almost anything in a mason jar salad but this one from Rachel Cooks is a staple for my work lunches. I know I’m not supposed to used the dreaded ‘clean’ word but this salad is just super fresh and well… clean. I use buckwheat instead of farro because I have no idea where to find farro. I always dump my mason jar salads in a bowl because eating straight from a mason jar is really frustrating. You heard it here first.
3. Homemade Pot Noodles
I have a weird affinity with anything you can home-make that shouldn’t be homemade. Like pot noodles. I pinned this recipe about a year ago and didn’t make it until last week when I was feeling a bit under the weather but my lord is it a delicious little pot of goodness to take to work with you. You just add hot water when you want to eat them. It’s such a good way of packing soup for lunch without the worry of it spilling in your handbag.
4. Frittata
I feel like frittata often gets overlooked. It’s such a wholesome and healthy little pocket of food good – veggies and eggs. What’s not to love? You can make a batch of little frittatas at the beginning of the week and pack them in your lunch box with a yummy side salad. I’ve tried these from Free From Heaven and they’re really tasty. They also make all your workmates super jealous.
5. Chunky Soup
I have a little soup Thermos that I love and it’s totally leak proof. I carry it when I work from my co-working space several times a week, filled yummy soup and it keeps it hot all day, which is perfect if I’m out and about and won’t be near a microwave. I’ve tried a few vegetable and ‘detox’ soups but I find they just don’t fill me up enough, so I tried this one from Bbritnell and it’s amazing. Perfect for winter and way more satisfying than a sandwich.
I’m eating hardcore amounts of vegetables this week to try to keep winter colds at bay. Mr Smaggle has a scratchy throat so he’s banned from
What does a regular everyday work lunch look like to you? Do you prefer sandwich-free lunch boxes?
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