Tag Archives: pack your own lunch

Lunchtime solutions!

Last week I was hoping to show some progress on my Lunchtime struggles from a recent post but I never did for various reasons. Those reasons are mostly based on my disorganization and tendency to forget or lose things.

However, I have been improving the process this week and have made some small achievements, I think! On Monday evening I went to the Kaufmarkt across the street from the office and purchased: almonds, salad leaves, mushrooms, shredded carrot, sprouts, olives and goat’s cheese. I also found a tiny bottle of olive oil although I am still looking for a similar-sized balsamic.

Lunch ingredients
Lunch ingredients

I took these back to the hotel and assembled the team.

Lunch!
Lunch!

I’ve decided to ditch the grains as a part of the salad as it’s just too much mess and effort to organize. The sprouts are a good substitute, though.

Last week I was affected by my typical morning forgetfulness and left my salad in the hotel fridge instead of packing it for work. This week I prevented this omission by hanging a colourful tote bag on the fridge doorknob and a bright reminder not to forget again and it seemed to work!

Next week I might keep it all at work if possible which will hopefully prevent forgetful problems entirely. The issue here is that one day a week I am supposed to work in a different building across the river. This could perhaps be solved by making the salad after work and then transporting it to the hotel and then to the second office. I don’t love it, though. Perhaps on these days I should just suck it up and eat in the canteen.

I can see why none of my other consulting colleagues ever bother with this. It’s a pretty big hassle to buy and assemble the ingredients and you certainly aren’t saving any money. I’m going to try to stick with it, though: mostly because the canteen food is simply so dire and depressing.

Lunchtime struggles

Lunches at the moment are a bit of a struggle. The office I work in is located across the road from a sort of supermarket mall thing with lots of discount stores and terrible takeaway joints. The office of course has a canteen, but there is only ever one vegetarian option and it’s… well… it’s not very delicious.

So, the problem is, how do I cater for myself a healthy lunch while living in a hotel room? My plan for next week is to stock up on some of the following and throw a little lunch salad together each day. It might be the same boring thing day after day, but at least it won’t make me feel ill while I’m eating it and I will feel a little healthier.

Options:

  • bag of mixed salad leaves
  • bag of julienned carrots (I’ve seen these in the market across the street)
  • mushrooms (these don’t even have to be chopped! Just throw them in as is)
  • fetta, cubed if possible
  • nuts (I’ve always liked walnuts in a salad)
  • balsamic / olive oil (if I can find two small jars)
  • olives (the olives here are generally not great, but I’ll try a few sorts and see if I can find some nice ones)
  • pearl barley

I think the pearl barley might be might be a challenge as I can’t actually cook it in a hotel room, but I think that soaking it overnight might work. I have a backup options if it is inedible – couscous or bulgur wheat, both of which just need a soak to be ready to eat.

I’ll post an update later in the week discussing how well it is (or not) going.