How to Add Variety to Your Office Lunches

A staggering 80% of employees skip their lunch break because they are too busy, even though they are entitled by law to have a break for lunch. Those that do stop for lunch often rely on junk food and strong coffee to get them through the day.

As well as being unhealthy and unhygienic to eat lunch at your desk, it’s also bad for your waistline. Of course, if you are trying to resolve a major problem, you probably don’t have time to go out for a nice, relaxing lunch at a nearby café or restaurant. Say, for example, a storage hard-drive went into meltdown and you’re waiting for Secure Data Recovery to retrieve all the valuable data that disappeared into the ether. In this instance, you will have no choice but to sit around and grab food on the go. But if you can, it makes sense to be a bit more creative with your office lunches. To help you get started, here are some great ideas.

image source

Mix & Match Salads

Salads can be rather bland. You know that salad is good for you, but the thought of eating lettuce leaves probably isn’t very appealing, especially when you’re ravenous. But, if you add lots of extra added ingredients to your lunchtime salad pot, it will be tasty as well as healthy.

Pasta is a good addition. Go for wholemeal pasta, as it’s better for you. Mix up cooked pasta with homemade tomato sauce and add a scoop to your salad pot. The extra carbs will give you extra energy and stop you digging into the biscuit barrel mid-afternoon.

Couscous and other grains are also a tasty addition to salad pots. Cook them up, add extra flavor in the form of spices, herbs, and sauces, and you are good to go.

Finally, cooked meat will give you a nice protein boost in your salad pot. Or, if you don’t enjoy eating meat, try cooked fish instead. Chicken goes very well with avocado, which is a super healthy fat we all should eat more of.

Baked Potato

Most workplaces have a microwave in the kitchen. This is excellent news, as you can cook a wide variety of dishes in a microwave. One lunch well worth trying is a baked potato. It typically takes around 7-8 minutes to cook a medium-sized potato in a microwave. Leave it for a few minutes once it’s cooked and then add your filling. Cottage cheese is a healthy topping, but you can also mix up chicken and mayo, or even tuna and coleslaw.

Add a salad to your plate and you have a super healthy meal for lunch. You will also have enough energy to hit the gym on the way home!

Soup

Tinned soups are full of sugar and additives, so are best avoided. Homemade soup, on the other hand, is filling and nutritious. Mix up a batch of homemade soup on a Sunday and take it in an insulated pot to work for your lunch.

All of these options are tasty, healthy and much better for your wallet than junk food or shop-bought sandwiches.