I need inspiration.
I have terrible eating habits on work days. I have coffee all morning, I eat cereal or cheese and crackers for lunch, and then I’m starving again by 3pm.
I’d love to be more organised and eat well planned meals.
For those of you that work from home, what do you do for lunch?
For those of you that are organised and take lunch to work, what do you take?
I’m kind of boring for lunch. I do work from home and have a simple ham and cheese sandwich or leftovers for lunch. A tip I can share is that I like having a protein drink like Primer Protein (check out the caramel with a splash of coffee) to get me through the afternoon.
That’s a brilliant tip! I don’t think we get that brand here, but I’m going to investigate options. Afternoons are my downfall for healthy eating.
Because our mornings are fairly busy getting the family where they need to be, we’ve taken to using MyProtein shakes. Partly inspired by Tim Ferriss’ research but it’s so easy to do, gives you the protein base you need (along with a good black coffee) and pretty much sets me up until lunch.
Lunch is normally a slow carb omelette - takes a little prep on day 1, but I make enough for 2 days and have it cold the next day. With a bit of hot sauce it’s fine. Typical omelette is half a carton of egg whites, one whole egg, chopped onions, peppers and any other veg going spare, half a can of beans (kidney usually) and i throw in a load of seasoning including paprika and white pepper. It’s actually pretty good but if I’m getting a little bored I’ll throw in some chorizo or bacon.
I tend to keep Friday a bit more ad hoc - if i fancy something else I’ll have it as long as I feel I’ve had a solid week of decent eating.
The other thing I do religiously is take a two litre water pitcher to my office morning and after lunch with some lemon in it and make sure I drink it. Obv great for hydration but also keeps hunger pangs a little lessened.
My routine has settled into porridge for breakfast (usually with some fruit) , this keeps me going until lunch time and then I either go out for a walk or run if I’ve not been to the gym in the morning, then have a large bowl of cereal. This usually keeps me going until late afternoon where I am happy to have a snack of nuts or flapjack or fruit. @Darren_Gough is right drinking definitely takes away hunger pangs at least for a while.
Then I blow it all on my dinner, drinks and snacks on a night.
I second the need for protein, especially when working from home where it’s easy to snack on things that just lead to more snacking. I also try to plan evening meals that will result in leftovers and then have some backups on hand. We are fortunate enough to live in a neighborhood with food options within walking distance, so sometimes it’s nice to get out and take a short walk and break to get food also.
Good days
Low salt Miso soup
Raw Carrots & houmus
Supermarket fancy salad
Gluten free oat cakes
.
Bad days
leftover curry or pasta microwaved.
I grabbed a protein shake at the gym yesterday so I’m going to give your tip a go today @Doug_Agee
I also realised that most of the reason I eat badly is because there aren’t good options that are easy to grab, so I got some baby carrots and tomatoes to eat instead of crackers.
That omelette idea is a good on @Darren_Gough
Nicely done. A little protein drink keeps the “hangry” at bay and helps power through the afternoon.
Protein shake with coffee consumed. Let’s see how long I can stay out of the kitchen.
I find protein fills you up and keeps you filled up. I can’t eat any grains at all, so I am pretty good at making sure I have easy to get protein - cottage cheese, chicken breast, bacon, boiled eggs (easy to do!), nuts - then I supplement with fruit and lots and lots of water and tea!
Oh boy I suck at this one! The one thing I do generally do better when I’m working from home is breakfast, I have more time to flourish a bit - avocados, eggs, etc etc… where I deteriorate is when I start to get to the point in time when I fancy a snack and end up reaching for the custard creams, or some toast and jam etc etc… never good. We generally have good options in the house, I’m just bad often at making the right choice when I’m at home!
That’s exactly my issue. I found that @Doug_Agee’s protein shake tip was fantastic. It helped with my sugar craving and kept me full for the afternoon.
If you can stick out the monotony, I eat the same thing all week. I make chicken tortilla soup, chili, or tikka masala on Sunday and just reheat for lunch. It’s boring, but keeps me from eating cheese and crackers for lunch …
Here’s the tikka recipe I recommend - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aarti-sequeira/chicken-in-creamy-tomato-curry-chicken-tikka-masala-recipe2.html
I have a good resource bookmarked here for clean, fast eats which might be useful.
I’m also a big advocate of the slow cooker - you can throw almost anything in it, including cheaper cuts of meat that it then tenderises amazingly. Benefit also is there’s always something hot on the go you can dip into mid afternoon if you need something to keep you going, dinner is already made and it usually provides leftovers for the next day. It’s just a great all rounder
Smoothie every am
Lowest possible sugar fruit & nut museli
Cut 50% with raw oats (to reduce sugar)
Half a frozen bannana
Live yogurt
Almond milk
A few berries
With espresso machiato soon after.
I’d love to do the smoothie thing – they look so wholesome – but I get starving again too quickly.
The protein shake/coffee combo is proving to be a winner for me still @Doug_Agee – consider me converted. I used to hate the flavour of them, but that was before salted caramel!
Second on the yogurt. I will force myself to eat it sometimes, at least one single-serve cup a day. Keeps the gut-pipes active. And another second on the miso soup; I like buying these packets when they go on sale.
String cheese; cottage cheese; sliced cheese; lots of cheese. In my world, Puttin’ on the Ritz means discerning fashion for classic cracker combos–and not only in Mr. Astaire’s classic, fancy foot work. I be like a dog, really, in that regard. A carefully folded packet of sharp Provolone or Parmesan is my only undoing, a probable cause for lost hours held mindfully unaccountable, and one Peaceful Village safe tonight. I may have been a fervid Green Bay Packers fan and Wisconsin native in a past life, Or French. I think French.
Oeufs en cocotte. (See? French. *grin*) When I cannot be arsed to break out the cast iron for charring some meat, I crack two eggs in an olive-oil Pam’d ramekin; garlic, salt, pepper; cheese; chopped vegetables–if I have them at the ready in th’ fridgy–perhaps a Canadian bacon slice pre egg drop, a few tablespoons milk post egg drop, topped with Pam’d croutons to replace toasted+buttered bread slices–
*deep breath*
…fifteen minutes later, the 350F preheated oven outputs this tasty and filling protein-bomb; my runny yolks go runneth over an appetizing albumen set nicely; all by little effort and sans formal mise en place from a few pre-cooked ingredients. I envy @Darren_Gough’s patience in making omelettes; this porcelain-delicate, patient folding skill can go for making a neatly loaded crêpe too (Perfect-win, rhetorical French humor aside…I do like them for their minimal buckwheat carbohydrates and a lotta healthy options in topping choices; sweet or savory).
I will also make my own freezer meals. That way I have zero excuse for not eating some kinda balanced diet despite my half-sedentary lifestyle. I have a microwave, thus I have a healthy meal not requiring me to interface with cardboard and impatiently prying it open with the nearest knife. Battle scars adorn my hands as proof when I kinda-sorta admit that sometimes the cardboard won. *sigh*
I also vary juices consumed; this based on the time of day. Orange juice for the morning to get my blood sugar up, then Juicy Juice (no high fructose corn syrup) and milk until the evening, into the night: cherry juice and pomegranate juice.
Meal habits in general? Proteins and fats stay for morning, for lunch, and for snacking hourly to keep metabolism up in the afternoon; leading to the carbohydrates for supper and snacking before snoozing. I have insomnia otherwise, and all this food pedantry does help keep the weight off too, with the occasional “stand up and walk a bit” for :20 before returning to the keyboard. Finally, I stay away from all carbonated drinks and anything with sugar syrup as a first ingredient.
(Aye. I like to cook. A lot. Also, thank you for putting up with my neurotic writing; it is appreciated.)
My smoothie is like a tall glass full of oats
It’s very filling and low GI
I did that this week! Pumpkin and bacon soup. Feeling righteous.
Your egg thing sounds like a winner. I’m going to give that a go tomorrow.
Reading your posts is like going on an adventure. 