5 Easy Lunch Ideas
As mentioned in my Meal Planning Made Easy I generally don't plan out my lunches. However working from home due to lockdown has meant no popping to the supermarket around the corner from my office when I’m not sure what I want to eat. So today I thought I would share with you five of my go to lunch ideas which take under 15 minutes to make.
Leftovers
If I could share one idea it would be try to make extra of whatever you are cooking for dinner so you can have leftovers. Whether you eat them for lunch the next day or pop them in your freezer for an easy meal when you don’t don't feel like cooking (we all have those days), they always come in useful.
I would also recommend adding extra ingredients to your leftovers while warming them up to make the dish more fun. For example, while heating up my Sage and Spinach Tagliatelle from the previous night, I decided to fry off some asparagus tips and peas which I mixed into the warm pasta. This very simple addition made it feel like I wasn't eating the same thing twice and took less than 10 minutes to make.
Macaroni with Greens
I love any type of pasta, but I’ve found macaroni is great for lunch as it's so quick to cook. My favourite way of making it:
Bring a pan of water to a rolling boil.
Add approximately 60g macaroni, a large handful of kale or spinach and a shake of frozen peas to the pan. Leave to cook until the macaroni is soft (usually between 5-10 minutes).
Drain it all, put in a bowl, grate your cheese of choice over top (I use Lactofree Mature Cheddar) and a good drizzle of garlic or herb oil.
Mix together and eat warm.
Vegetable Rice
Using microwave rice for this cuts down on your cook time and delivers a satisfying lunch quickly. This could be adapted by using any vegetables available to you, you could use frozen vegetables if you don't have fresh, fresh rice if you don't have microwave pouches. You could also use stir fry oil, add soy sauce and a scrambled egg to make it into fried rice. To make:
Dice half a pepper and half onion.
Put into a frying pan over a medium t high heat with a shake of frozen peas and some oil. Cook until the vegetables are soft then add a large handful of spinach, stir until it has wilted.
While the vegetables are cooking put your rice in the microwave to warm.
Combine the rice and vegetables together in the frying pan and serve warm.
Soup with Cheese on Toast
Honestly one of my favourite things on a cold overcast day is to have soup for lunch with cheese on toast. There's just something very cosy about it.
You can use tinned or homemade soup. I tend to have portions of soup in my freezer which I can pick out easily. I have a recipe up for my favourite white bean and onion soup if you would like to take a look.
To make the cheese on toast, I preheat my oven while my bread is toasting in the toaster. I then add slices of Lactofree Cheese to the toast and place it in the oven until the cheese bubbles. If you are a marmite lover I would recommend trying it with cheese on toast, just add a some before you add the cheese. It comes out amazing.
Melted Cheese Wraps
My final go to are melted cheese wraps. They are so simple and great if you are not to hungry or you can make them more filling by adding leftover vegetables.
Basically all you want to do is take a tortilla wrap, add slices of cheese to the middle and wrap it up like a burrito.
Place it on a plate and microwave for 30 seconds to minute. Eat warm.
If you have leftover cooked vegetables you can add these in with the cheese.
I hope these ideas help and let me know what you think in the comments below!
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