Bored of Lunch

I am really fed up with weekday lunches.  Sometimes I take something in that I like such as noodle soup (this is becoming an obsession), chicken salad or leftovers from the night before but more often than not I don't have time or I forget.  This means I'm left to go in search of something reasonably priced and tasty in the vicinity of my office; a difficult job.

I'm sick of Boots Meal Deals which are great for price but possibly the blandest of lunch choices.  A friend tweeted yesterday regarding Boots sushi, 'Someone please remind me next time they are famous for being a pharmacy, not a Japanese eatery...'.  Forget Japanese eatery, even their carrot sticks are bland!

The usual suspects such as Pret, Eat and M&S are pretty expensive for what you get despite being tasty but the fat content in most of the former two's sandwiches (a tuna melt in Pret has over 700 calories-what?!) mean that most of the time I'd be better off going to McDonalds. This is something I would be happy to indulge in if:

1) It wasn't likely to lead to morbid obesity
2) People wouldn't judge me

So after much indecision I ended up going to Pret and having:

Crayfish and Avocado No Bread Sandwich

This looks lovely and it was really good but it did cost £3.25 for half an avocado, a few crayfish, some leaves and a bit of dressing.  There wasn't even any bread!  I think this just proves that laziness is a costly quality so if anyone knows of any quick tasty lunch ideas, please let me know.  Save me from lunch induced bankruptcy.

Yesterday I also ate:

M&S Egg Sandwich and Tall Skinny Latte

I couldn't face another canteen breakfast so I had this.  The sandwich is only £1 and M&S do make lovely sandwiches (my favourite is the Chicken and Salami one although this is in the £3+ mark-maybe I'm just a cheapskate...).  I have been slated for choosing Starbucks over local rivals but I don't care.  I like it milky!

Duck Breast, Sweet Potato Mash and Pak Choi

A good post shopping dinner.  Obviously this isn't the cheapest cut of meat you can get but I'd rather save my lunch money for nicer dinners.  Loving sweet potato mash at the mo.

Fru Cheesecake

This was ok.  I can't even remember what flavour this was (maybe passionfruit) but they're so small and so normal; I don't really get the fuss over them.

And as this blog was delayed due to making today's lunch and falling asleep in front of Charlie Brooker's show:

Dipping Egg and Soldiers

Old faithful...

Yawn

Boring day of food today so this will be short and sweet.

Bagel with Marmite

I hate our canteen.  I think this was stale.  The toast machine revived it but still...  I worry that other people have touched it/sneezed over it etc as they're just sitting out ready to be taken.   Why do I eat food from here?

Anzac Biscuits

These were bought into work to celebrate New Zealand's national day.  Very good biscuits.

I then had leftover chicken sandwich with piccalilli and a packet of cheese and onion Squares.  Pretty standard lunch and I was in a rush so forgot to take a picture.  You didn't miss much.

More melon (yawn)

Carbonara

I went to Deep Water Aerobics (What fun! Seriously!) so this was made for me when I got back.  Lovely!

Coconut

I didn't enjoy this.  I never really enjoy coconut.  It's lots of effort to crack it open and the only good bit is the juice inside (I didn't get any of this).  Coconut was meant to be covered in chocolate and served to me as a Bounty Bar.  

Due to this disappointment I had a Digestive biscuit.  I didn't have one yesterday so this was allowed.

It's big shop day tomorrow so hopefully going to get some interesting food to blog about (providing Sainsbury's has any of the stuff I want).  Apologies if you feel cheated today.

Filth

That's the only way to describe my consumption last night.  It started with a few Pringles and then:

Pizza Hut Super Supreme and Meat Machine

This was as greasy and disgusting as it looked.  I had two and a bit slices which was more than enough.  I really prefer Pizza Go Go but the last time I got it there was a suspect (curly black) hair in my stuffed crust. Understandably this put me off.  

After a few (!) drinks, a lot of Singstar and some dancing we were obviously famished so at 4am we made our way from the club to Chick Chicken:

Meal Deal Number 8

I was warned that this would be too much food and it was.  I ate the burger and chips and a little bit of the other chicken.  Why did I order all this food?! I realised that this was my second lot of dirty chicken in a fortnight; alcohol is bad.

I started today with a bacon sandwich but didn't take a photo.  All of my sandwich photos look the same though as all you can ever see is bread.  Perhaps I need to practise my food styling and take some better pictures.

Heinz Ravioli

We didn't have much in the house so popped to the shop to get something quick and easy.  This isn't bad for you calorie and fat wise but it's disgusting.  Seriously, why was this ever produced.  How can they even call it ravioli???

Roast Chicken Dinner

What more can you ask for on a Sunday?! I couldn't eat it all though so some of it is going in a sandwich for lunch tomorrow.  Look at all the vegetables! This is the start of some healthier eating this week.  Carrying on with this healthiness I then had:

Melon

What a good girl!  I'm off to get a biscuit to dip in my cuppa.

Man flu

It's not as bad as that yet, just a sore throat and runny nose, but it meant that yesterday my intake was pretty lame and I was too tired to blog.  I also ate my final meal pretty late so I have plenty of lame excuses as to why I didn't blog yesterday.  So I apologise to those few that were waiting in anticipation for it but here's what I ate yesterday:

Fruit and Fibre

Except it wasn't the proper one.  It's Sainsbury's own brand so it's probably called 'Fruit and Flakes' or 'Bran Fruit' or something. I really can't taste the difference between branded cereal and own brands and own brands are much cheaper.  Either they use the same product in different packaging or my palate is rather unrefined.  Let's go with the former...

Cheese, Tomato and Mustard Toastie

Except it wasn't a toastie because I don't have a toastie maker and although I have asked several times for some of those bags that you put in the toaster, I still haven't received any in my Christmas stocking (hint hint).  I have been warned that they catch fire by the way but if anyone knows of any good ones please feel free to recommend.  So this was actually cheese on toast with a lid of toast.  Enjoyed muchly!

Szechwan Prawn and Red Pepper Crackers

I went a bit mad in M&S yesterday and these were buy one get one free.  I don't like them.  They were really salty and tasted like sundried tomatoes.  Won't be buying these again.  Luckily the other pack I bought were standard prawn crackers.

Japanese Prawn Noodle Soup 

This is the same as the one I had the other day except this time I had nicer noodles (still not my preferred Amoy ones) and added these dim sum dumplings from M&S.  They are VERY good and I think low fat.     As it was Friday night I thought I'd make it seem more like a takeaway so I also bought:

Spring Rolls and Prawn Toast

They look naughty and bad for you but they weren't too bad and they were part of an offer with the dumplings (3 for £5) so it was well worth it.  Despite eating all that for dinner and buying a bottle of wine (although I didn't drink that in the end), this was all still cheaper than ordering from our usual takeaway.  It won't be a regular substitute but good for when I'm trying to be healthier or money's a little tight.

I'm out on the town tonight and although I will do my best to take pictures of all the filth I eat (there WILL be filth), I can guarantee I won't be in any fit state to update the blog so expect one late tomorrow afternoon.  To keep you going here's today's breakfast:

Bacon and Poached Egg on Toast

Standard weekend breakfast.

   

Red Red Wine...

...definitely went to my head last night and therefore it was impossible for me to update my blog.  That means I need to fit two whole days of my munchings into one blog.  Here goes:

Wednesday

Canteen Crumpets

Our canteen is now self service.  This means I have to toast and butter the crumpets myself.  Not much of a problem because I never trusted the half wits in there to be fully compliant with food hygiene legislation, but I have to pay more for the privilege. I bet they're only Value crumpets too.  My own stash of Marmite makes these edible.

Marks and Spencer's Lunch

The main reason for going here was because of a voucher in the Metro.  I think it cost me more than if I had just got my lunch somewhere else.  Sucked in.  Plus the crisps hinder my breathing.  I should probably not buy them again.  I will though.

Colins!

Probably the reason my lunch was expensive but well worth it.  I'd been craving these babies so just had to get them.  They're healthy though right?!  I shared them round the office anyway (I had little choice in the matter) so it's not as bad as it looks.

Wine.

Paprika Pork

I don't remember this vividly but I know I wasn't a fan.  The reason is that I hate pork and it doesn't matter how many different recipes I try, I just can't make myself like it.  It's bland and dry and if you undercook it there's a high chance you get worms that eat you alive from the inside out.  I do, however, love all pork products; bacon, ham, pork pie, sausage rolls etc.  Just not pork in it's purist form.  I might have to give up trying.

Today

Nutri Grain Bar

These are the horrible things I used to have when at school as I refused to eat breakfast.  I was starving and there was nothing edible where I was.  Desperation prevailed.  It was only after I'd payed for the damn thing that I noticed the croissants.  Major fail.

Pretzels

I was desperate for something to stop my stomach rumbling until lunch so got these.  I like them but they make my mouth feel like the bottom of a birdcage.  Only had about a handful.

Big Mac and Regular Fries

I am weak.  A combination of vouchers in the Metro (I'm such a cheapskate at the moment) and the previous night's red wine led me to dream of this lunch from about 8am.  It was really good although very messy (I looked more barbaric than usual with lettuce and sauce around my face) but for some reason I struggled to finish it all.  Burger success; defeated by fries.

Meatballs with Roasted Vegetable and Feta

This was a recipe from Good Food Magazine but we changed it a bit.  There was no lamb mince (Sainsbury's let's us down again) so we bought some pre-made beef meatballs. We also decided to add red pepper to make it a bit more colourful and a bit of oregano to make it more Mediterranean.  We were worried this was going to be dry and bland and I actually didn't want it anymore but in fact it was very tasty and easy to make.  Winner. Sod making the meatballs from scratch though.  Why reinvent the wheel?!

And The Winner Is...

I ate the fourth and final pack of Comic Relief crisps tonight and they were:

Jimmy Con Carne

I cannot believe that these actually taste of what they're supposed to and are nice!  They definitely win hands down and hopefully will be made into a real flavour.  I'm sure Jimmy Carr has had little/no input into the production of these but he should be proud that someone's clever wordplay meant that he was linked to them.  My final crisp order therefore is:

1) Jimmy Con Carne

2) Stephen Fry Up

3) Frank Skinner Roast Dinner

4) Steak and Al Pie 

A short and sweet blog today due to 'My Big Fat Gypsy Weddings' and two large glasses of red wine.  The rest of my consumption included:

Dipping Egg

Tuna, Kalamata Olive and Salt and Vinegar Squares Sandwich

I have returned to standard working from home lunch now I have bread.  

Digestive Biscuit

I was doing quite well until this point...I blame the afternoon slump.

Malaysian Lamb with Stir Fry

This was another Atul Kochar recipe from Delicious Magazine and it was pretty good.  Nothing like I imagined based on the picture.  It looked like it was going to taste like spare ribs but the ingredients didn't reflect this.  A lot fresher tasting and apart from preparing the marinade (which was quick but obviously had to be pre-meditated in the style of a vengeful murder) was very quick to make; it took 10 minutes all together including travelling from the living room to the kitchen and back.

Lindt Santa

We STILL have Christmas chocolate in the house!  I only ate the head and a small amount of his back so  it's not as bad is it looks.  Chocolate coins tomorrow...

Cake Fest

Oh my!  Birthdays at work mean stuffing one's face and today was one of those days.  TWO birthdays and THREE different cakes.  It's lovely-I love cake-but the sad thing is that I'm unable to have just one of the three.  In my office we have abandoned the tradition of buying cakes for everyone else when it's your birthday (Why am I buying gifts for everyone else on MY birthday? Surely it goes against the whole selfish point of birthdays...).  Instead one person has a list of everyone's birthdays and makes a cake for them (I make the one for her birthday-I have a much better deal).

So today we had:

-some special diabetic cupcakes for one colleague's birthday of which I had a quarter (although these were the healthy ones so I should have pigged out)
-chocolate fairy cakes with butter icing.  Lots of sugar in these-yum!

(looks awful in my picture but really pretty in real life)

-a small piece of chocolate and coconut brownie.  These were made by someone else for a dinner party (I gave her the recipe I use from Good Food Magazine) and were also delicious.

(this looks even worse due to it being far away and half eaten)

The moral of this story is that I should probably work from home on people's birthdays as my willpower is non-existent.

Further gluttonous behaviour included:

Canteen Porridge with (my own) Honey

Different shaped polystyrene box, same filth from the canteen.  There were hard black bits in this porridge.  I choose to believe these were burnt bits and I'm sticking to it.  I should point out that I don't make honey; I just keep a jar in my drawer at work.

Ancho Shredded Chicken Fajita Burrito from http://www.picantemexicangrill.co.uk/ 

This was massive and a bit expensive for an everyday lunch (£5.75) but it was soooo good.  The ingredients tasted nice and fresh and they asked how hot you wanted the sauce (I went for medium but think I needed hot).  The queues were out the door so not great if you're in a rush but it's well worth the wait if you have the time.  I'l be trying the quesadillas next! 

Boursin Stuffed Chicken Breast with Mash, Beans and Broccoli

Pretty simple dinner but I love it.  Good for a post 'Big Shop' meal.