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A Meal Plan To Make Your Work Lunches Significantly Less Shit: Part 3

Stop killing yourself pre-cooking lunches at home. Here's what to buy on Monday to get yourself 4 different lunches you can make in your work kitchen

A Meal Plan To Make Your Work Lunches Significantly Less Shit: Part 3
by Isabel Collinson |
Published on

It’s back. Your brand new weekday work lunch meal planner with a lighter, summer twist.

Same rules apply: This meal plan will give you four different meals from one set of ingredients you buy on a Monday then stash in your work fridge to dip into the rest of the week.

None of these meals require any home prep, just a few store cupboard staples thrown into your bag to hide away in your desk draw. This means that rather than slaving away over a tray of sweaty roast veg, you can spend your Sunday evenings in the pub. Where they belong.

If these recipes aren’t your bag, have a look at these other meal planners that might be here and here.

Shopping list

OVERVIEW

Tin of green lentils (sounds weird but they are tasty and loads cheaper then pouches)

1 pack of rye bread or pumpernickel

1 pack of smoked mackerel (if you don’t like this smoked salmon slices will do)

1 tub of cream cheese

1 bag of watercress

1 bunch of parsley or basil (whichever you prefer)

1 apple

1 lemon

1 bag of nuts from the snack aisle (almonds or walnuts would work well)

To bring from home and stash in your desk draw

A plastic freezer or sandwich bag

1 clove of garlic

Oil

Pepper

Grainy mustard or horseradish from your Sunday roast

Monday - Kind of Waldorf Salad

  1. Drain half the tin of lentils and give them a little rinse saving half for later in the week. Sprinkle half over a big handful of the watercress on a plate and mix well.

  2. In a separate bowl, mix a third of the cream cheese with pepper, a small teaspoon of horseradish or mustard if you have it and the juice of quarter of the lemon. Stir well until till it goes liquidy then stir through the watercress till it is well covered.

  3. Chop half the apple into small chunks, saving the other half for Wednesday. Place on top of the dressed watercress and lentils.

  4. Lightly crush a third of the nuts with the flat of a knife (a normal table knife works fine - tested) and the heel of your hand then sprinkle over the top. Serve with a slice of rye bread on the side if you like.

Tuesday - Mackerel Smörgåsbord

  1. Toast a slice of rye bread (toasting rye really changes its texture making it chewy and delicious rather than dry and flakey. I like mine mega crispy round the edges but you may be less weird).

  2. While it is toasting, mix a third of the cream cheese in a bowl with pepper and half the parsley or basil snipped up using work scissors. Spear this mixture over the rye bread.

  3. Remove the skin from a fillet of mackerel then flake into chunks. Arrange the chunks on top of the bread alongside some watercress to make an open sandwich.

  4. Serve with quarter of the lemon and lots of pepper on top.

Wednesday - Pate and Dippers

  1. Take the skin off a fillet of mackerel and put in a bowl. Using two forks, flake the fish as you would pulled pork until it is really well shredded. This should take a few minutes. Take out any stray tiny bones you may spot.

  2. Mix the fish really well with the remaining cream cheese, the juice of quarter of the lemon, plenty of pepper and a dollop of the mustard or horseradish if you have it. Continue to mix till it becomes a smooth (ish) pate.

  3. Toast the rye and cut up into dippers.

  4. Serve with the pate alongside the other half of the apple cut up into slices.

Make sure you have got the oil, garlic clove and sandwich bag from home to use in tomorrow’s lunch!!

Thursday - Pesto and Lentil Salad

Ok, warning, today reaches peak weird work kitchen prep, but it’s Thursday, surely your colleagues will have got bored of saying “ooo, what are YOU having for lunch today?” by now...

  1. Peel the garlic clove you brought from home, cut it in half then place one half in the plastic freezer bag with the remaining nuts. Using something heavy stolen from the office, bash them up till it they have formed a paste (I found the base of a stapler to work particularly well). Short little taps works best, use a tea-towel to cover

your bashing implement if you are paranoid about noise.

  1. Tip the nut and garlic paste into a bowl then mix with some oil and the rest of the parsley or basil snipped up really finely using work scissors. Mix together to make an improvised chunky pesto and marvel at your amazingness.

  2. Mix the pesto with the remaining lentils then top with flakes of mackerel, the last quarter of the lemon and any left over watercress.

Friday

Eat the remaining pack of rye bread all in one go in homage to all things Nordic….or go for falafel.

Like this? Then you might also be interested in:

**A Meal Plan To Make Your Work Lunches Significantly Less Shit

A Meal Plan To Make Your Work Lunches Significantly Less Shit: Part 2

Here's How To Spend A Tenner And Take Five Lunches To Work For A Week**

Follow Izzy on Twitter @IsabelCollinson

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.

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