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Warm Lunch Ideas for Work
Warm lunches that travel and reheat, from curries and soups to flask meals for offices with no kitchen.
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The sources come in a useful order, so the list follows it. First, three recipes that MINAMADE says taste a tiny bit better warm: a sweet potato curry, a stuffed baked sweet potato and a warm potato and lentil salad. Then workarounds for offices with no kitchen, mostly a food flask you fill in the morning, plus one idea that needs only a kettle. Items 9 to 23 come from a forum thread on low-carb lunches, so check those against your own plan. You'll want a microwave, an oven, a flask or a kettle, and cold lunches are left out.
Why these items are on the list
- Sweet potato coconut curry with chickpeas. It freezes, and keeps in the fridge for several days. MINAMADE doubles the recipe to simplify things like dishwashing.
- Baked sweet potato, chickpea stuffing. MINAMADE packs the potato and chickpea mix separately, then reheats them together in the oven at work.
- Warm potato and lentil salad. MINAMADE uses mountain lentils because they stay firm after cooking, and packs the dressing separately.
- Soup in a food flask. Heat it in the morning; one Mumsnet member says it's still warm a few hours later.
- Noodles or pasta in a flask. One Mumsnet member measured their Thermos opening at about 7 cm, and sends a full-sized fork.
- Leftover stew, chilli or curry. Batch-cook, then flask a portion. One member says a few days' lunches can cover the flask's cost, depending on spend.
- Ready meal in a flask. Heat it at home in the morning, then put it in the flask.
- Homemade pot-noodle-style pot. Veg and a tasty sauce, then add boiling water at work if there's a kettle.
- Leftover soup, blended. Natalie1974's version: whatever's left in the fridge on Sunday evening, cooked down in one pot and blended.
- Winter squash and onion soup. A forum member's pick: add garlic and whatever you have, like leftover chicken or roast.
- Sweet potato and butternut soup. One member's version: a dash of cream and curry powder finishes it.
- Red pepper and chilli soup. A member credits the Newcastle diet sheet: simmer about 20 minutes, then blend. Another doubted it'd keep them full.
- Cream of celery soup. Hedonista's own recipe: boil celery in weak stock with garlic, blend, stir in cream, add lots of black pepper.
- Mushroom soup with bacon bits. One member's tip: crisp the bacon and add it at the last minute.
- Mock clam chowder. CollieBoy's own version: celeriac, leeks and fish stock with cockles and razor clams, thickened with a bit of cream.
- Curry without the rice. Leave the rice out, as one member does with a homemade veg curry.
- Warmed smoked mackerel. A forum member says you can warm it.
- Microwave scrambled egg and smoked salmon. Only if your colleagues don't mind, the forum member says.
- Warm sliced tomato salad. One member suggests beef tomato, olives, basil and maybe anchovies, with an olive-oil dressing warmed but not hot.
- Ready-chopped soup veg pack. Boil with stock and blend. One member warns Tesco's vegetable pack is heavy on root veg, so higher in carbs.
- Soup topped with stringy cheese. One member likes cheese on top of soup, especially when it's stringy.
- Soup blended with celeriac. One member skips flour and lentils and blends celeriac in instead of potato.
- Red wine or sherry in soup. One member says red wine or sherry can add a nice edge. Use homemade stock if you can.
Tick the ones you'd actually eat and the rest drop away, which leaves a short list to shop for on your phone.
When to use it
Useful once the weather turns cold and a cold lunch stops appealing, or any time you're bored of the same one.