• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

WFH Lunches

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Lucyr

Lucyr

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
I’m wanting to get into a routine of food and am looking to lose weight. My previous lunch would be something like a cheese or chicken salad + mayo wrap with crisps and coffee. Quick to eat at my laptop but I end up eating wraps every day because of living alone and having 6 in a pack.

Id prefer something lower calorie, quick to prepare/can make in advance so I can go for a walk after eating, that includes a vegetable, and say 20-40 carbs. I work from home so full kitchen at my disposal. Any ideas or what do you eat? So far my only thought is “a tin of soup”.
 
Hi @Lucyr. I currently have Huel 'Hot and Savoury' for my lunch most days. The only preparation needed is to weigh out the contents into a provided container, stir and mix in a specific amount of boiled water, then wait 5mins. I would say this isn't the 'cheapest' option if having more than once per day, however it is certainly very convenient and includes a good % of essential vitamins and minerals per serving.
 
Let me know if you do try this out, and I can send you a referral code to get a discount 🙂
 
I make a Rainbow Quinoa salad. It’s got a good amount of veg in (main one is kale). It serves 3 so I usually have it for one evening meal then for lunch the two following days. It’s vegan but you could add a side of chicken or salmon if you like. It’s quite lemony and I love the fresh taste. I also find it blood sugar friendly. It raises me less than bread etc of a similar carb amount.

It’s approx 30g carbs per serving.
 
Omelette for me (with a whole variety of fillings.... onion, mushrooms, courgette, aubergine, peppers, ham and cheese are the usual choices) served with a side salad and a large dollop of coleslaw, usually cheese coleslaw (Lidl do a good one)
If I was having this I would skip breakfast or have this for breakfast and skip lunch as it is easily filling enough to take me through to evening meal.
 
Lucyr said:
So far my only thought is “a tin of soup”.
Click to expand...
As an alternative, what I do is to make big batches of home made soup and freeze several portions. Bit of a chore on the day you make it, but after that easy and just a few minutes in the microwave. I make batches of different types so that it's not the same one each day.
There are lots of soup recipes on the forum, an if you type soup recipe into the search button at the top you will find some, or have a look in the Recipe section at the top of the 'Food /Carbs queries + Recipe' section.

​

 
Lucyr said:
I’m wanting to get into a routine of food and am looking to lose weight. My previous lunch would be something like a cheese or chicken salad + mayo wrap with crisps and coffee. Quick to eat at my laptop but I end up eating wraps every day because of living alone and having 6 in a pack.

Id prefer something lower calorie, quick to prepare/can make in advance so I can go for a walk after eating, that includes a vegetable, and say 20-40 carbs. I work from home so full kitchen at my disposal. Any ideas or what do you eat? So far my only thought is “a tin of soup”.
Click to expand...
I tend to stick to tried and tested. Either Boiled egg, slice of toast or aa4dines on toast and a mug of soup. Quick, easy and fills me up.
 
Cheese n bix is another quick fix. I have a bowl of homemade broccoli, watercress and spinach soup, batched up as @Toucan does, then 4 crackers at 2g carb each and 100 calories worth of brie...30g. Total calories 210 and keeps me feeling warm and full in this cold weather when I don't want to spend a fortune on heating all day. Like @rebrascora I also have a big omelette for breks.

It was sheer good luck that I got diagnosed in lockdown, ie WFH because I wouldn't have had a clue where to start if I'd been at work. It used to be bacon rolls and baguettes from Greggs or a fish n chip special at lunchtime. No wonder I piled the weight on. Trouble is, the nurses where I work are all complete gannets and always have some treat or other on the go!
 
That lunch sounds delicious.
 
I have breakfast and don't eat lunch - I just stocked up with stirfry - bags of frozen mixtures from Lidl. There are three types now so it must be popular, but I just stuck with the lower carb two, which I think are oriental and Italian, but I spend more time examining the back of the pack than the front. The third one is, maybe, Mexican, which is still under 10 percent carbs so I might give that a try sometime.
You can get low carb sausages, or packs of various meats to cook and eat alongside the stirfry.
Other first meals involve scrambled eggs and cheese, with a bit of salad or I add tomato and warm it up once the eggs are cooked. Just tip it on top and cover for a minute or so for the warmth to percolate.
If you want to have wraps, try cheese waffles. They are easy to make, - look for 'chaffle' recipes.
 
Didn’t have time to make soup this weekend (and I’m not that great at cooking) so bought some Covent Garden mushroom soups (£1 in sainsburys, 15 carbs and 170 cal in the whole thing though they say half is a portion) for a few lunches this week. I’ll have some leftover chicken/veg for tomorrow’s, which just leaves one this week. I definitely like the cheese and cracker idea, one of my favourite foods.
 
Inka said:
I make a Rainbow Quinoa salad. It’s got a good amount of veg in (main one is kale). It serves 3 so I usually have it for one evening meal then for lunch the two following days. It’s vegan but you could add a side of chicken or salmon if you like. It’s quite lemony and I love the fresh taste. I also find it blood sugar friendly. It raises me less than bread etc of a similar carb amount.

It’s approx 30g carbs per serving.
Click to expand...
I’ve never had quinoa but I think that’s one to try too. I’ve heard it’s very filling.
 
I had egg fried rice for lunch today which I prepared this morning. It only took me about 20 minutes to make and—because I was so hungry—five minutes to eat!

Great thing about egg fried rice is you can use up any vegetables at the bottom of your fridge, anything goes. I use brown basmati rice for all my rice meals (36g of carbs per 190g portion of cooked rice), so it was still quite a low-carb meal too.
 
I did enjoy the Covent Garden mushroom soup a couple of times, as well as cheese and oatcakes. But since my fridge broke on Monday I’ve been having carbier lunches, as toast or a sandwich are okay stored at room temperature, whilst can’t store leftovers at room temperature. Egg fried rice sounds good for using up leftovers though.
 
If your fridge is goosed, get a storage box and put your food in that outside your back door until you get a new one. The temp outside at the moment is pretty close to fridge temp. Things like eggs don't need to be in the fridge anyway.
 
How about creating one of those ‘salad boxes‘ you might be tempted with in M&S or whatever? Chopped boiled egg... baby leaves... cherry toms... feta... olives... maybe even some croutons? I would imagine you could buy some ingredients and spread them over 2-3 days mixing them up in different combinations?

fling it all in a bowl with a drizzle of dressing?
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top