For some (or most), the most exciting part of the workday is when lunchtime rolls around – it signals a well-deserved break and a chance to indulge in whatever delights you’ve packed for the day. The excitement levels can quickly plummet when you remember it’s another day of canned soup, tuna, or rice.
If your menu options are driven by saving for your next holiday, new home, new addition to your winter wardrobe, or simply staying on top of all the outgoings, creating a lunch that’s delicious, affordable, and good for you can be a challenge – but it’s not impossible. We’ve got seven tips to transform your lunch from mundane to mouth-watering.
1. Food for thought
Think about it. What are your favourite lunches to splash out and buy? Are they wraps, salads or stir-fries? Are they meals you could easily replicate from home in a more cost-efficient way? As the first step, create a list of loved (re-creatable) lunches and build a meal plan. This will give you a solid foundation for your weekly supermarket shop, enable you to prepare your lunches ahead and reduce the likelihood (and expense) of impulse eating out.
Handy hint: The keys to success here are planning and prepping. Dedicate some time on the weekend or a specific day to planning your lunches for the week, and prepare vital versatile ingredients ahead of time to be used throughout the week. For example, roast some chicken or vegetables for sandwiches, salads, or wraps, cook grains, and prewash and chop vegetables.
2. Go gourmet
With the rise of TikTok food content creators and the accessibility of the internet, lunch inspo is at your fingertips. Two of our favourites that tick the affordable, delicious, and good-for-you boxes are the salad jar craze and H2Pho. The salad in a jar is all about layering your choice of ingredients into a mason jar (dressing at the bottom, then robust ingredients like grains, protein or vegetables, followed by lettuce and herbs) so that your salad stays crisp and is ready to go. When it’s time to eat, flip the jar, gently shake it, and turn it into a bowl. Another fun and easy-to-do trend is H2Pho (just add water), known as Pho to Go. You layer your prepared veggies, noodles, protein and flavour base (more on that here) into a jar and store it in the fridge. When lunchtime rolls around, pour in the hot water, and sit back with your gourmet Pho.
Handy hint: It’s worth investing in fit-for-purpose, good-quality containers for the job at hand. If variety is the spice of your life, look at bento-style lunch boxes. If hot lunches are your thing, choose insulated containers or ones that are happy in the microwave. Most importantly, ensure they’re leakproof and easy to clean (preferably dishwasher safe).
3. Leverage leftovers
Make your home-cooked dinners work harder by giving them a second outing for lunch the following day. This is a bit of a no-brainer, but it is an often-forgotten tip for keeping costs down while saving time, too. If you’re not a fan of dinner for lunch, focus on an element from last night’s dinner that can be reinvented for lunch. For example, transform leftover plain pasta into an easy salad with canned chickpeas, feta, cherry tomatoes, and dressing that will last a few days, thinly slice last night’s steak into strips to add to a pita pocket or add mesclun and quinoa to excess roast vegetables for a filling salad. Get creative, and maximise your meals.
Handy hint: When using leftovers, consider food safety. This means being careful when reheating things like rice or chicken, ensuring meals are refrigerated, and being mindful of how long various foods can be kept before spoiling.
4. Seasonal switch up
A great way to avoid getting stuck in a lunch rut and to keep costs down is to utilise seasonal produce for your lunches. While we’re now used to seeing things like tomatoes and berries in the supermarket all year round (thanks to greenhouses, cool stores and imported produce), if you’ve got out-of-season items on regular rotation, you’ll notice they could cost you a small fortune. Get to know what’s in season, and not only will you be buying fresher produce, but they’re likely to be more nutrient-dense, flavourful, and kinder on your wallet. In winter, opt for brassicas like cauli and broccoli, root vegetables like carrots, potatoes and parsnips, and greens like silver beet, spinach, and spring onion. On the fruit front, reach for apples, avos, kiwifruit, citrus and pears.
Handy hint: Print out a visual guide to keep on your fridge like this one from Love Food Hate Waste NSW, and keep it handy when writing your food shopping list. Don’t forget to load up your homemade dressings with seasonal herbs, too.
5. Snack attack
The 3 p.m. slump is real, and often, at this time, the vending machine or café around the corner calls your name. Be prepared for the snack attack with an arsenal of homemade, healthy, and cost-efficient snacks. And you don’t have to be an expert baker to pull this off. A simple snack option is pre-chopped carrot, cucumber and celery sticks (you can even grow your own for extra freshness and frugality) with a portion of hummus for dipping or a handful of trail mix. If you’ve got a sweet tooth, make your own no-bake bliss balls, granola bars, chia pudding, healthy muffins or try your hand at these fantastic fruit roll-ups.
Handy hint: Once again, planning and prepping ahead is the best approach to avoid impulse purchases throughout the workday. Bake or make batches of muffins and bliss balls, fill jars for the week with chia pudding, and chop and portion your vegetable sticks ahead of time. This means they’ll be easy to grab in the morning, and you’ll be ready to ward off the afternoon sugar cravings.
6. Bento beauty
If you eat with your eyes or struggle to create a well-balanced lunch, take inspiration from the Japanese, and turn your attention to the bento box. It’s an easy way to create a meal that’s visually appealing and diverse, and thanks to its small compartments, it can take away a lot of the overwhelm felt by a cavernous, empty lunch box. It allows you to work with what you’ve got in the fridge, pantry, or fruit bowl, pulling together lots of smaller food items to create one filling and satisfying bento that can act as a stand-alone lunch or cover your snacks too. Bento boxes come in plenty of different sizes (colours!) and varying features – like built-in cutlery trays, small condiment containers and moveable dividers – so do your research, and you’re sure to find something that works for you.
Handy hint: If you want to up your bento game, jump online for a tonne of drool-worthy bento-style lunch inspiration.
7. Themes and cuisines
It’s easy for monotony to set in with bring-from-home lunches. You’ll often fall into the habit of finding something that ticks all the boxes and wheeling it out daily. To avoid this, make an effort to switch things up regularly before you overdose on salads in a jar. A fun way to break things up is to assign themes or cuisines to each workday, such as Mexican Monday, Wrap Wednesday, Thai Thursday, and Finger Food Friday. From here, you can explore different dishes based on the cuisines or themes, expand your cooking and cultural knowledge, and discover new favourite foods outside your usual repertoire.
Handy hint: Use these same themes for your dinners, too, and then, guess what? You’ll have leftovers for lunch! Find more theme inspiration with these 25 Weekly Theme Ideas.
Get creative and get planning
An affordable and delicious homemade lunch is entirely possible with a bit of creativity, a bit of thought and a little bit of preparation. And it’ll be entirely worth the effort when you see the savings, notice the health benefits, and you’re the envy of your workmates (who are settling in with their canned soup or overpriced café lunch). If you find your motivation waning, pull out the calculator and crunch the numbers – seeing the amount you’re saving on a homemade delicious Caesar salad versus a wilted café takeaway is a guaranteed mojo booster!
Our key takeaways for setting yourself up for bought-from-home lunch success are:
- Meal prep for the week ahead – it’s all in the planning.
- Don’t forget the snacks – this often sabotages our best-laid, healthy, and affordable plans.
- Keep hydrated – pack a water bottle and stay hydrated throughout the day. This also provides a good excuse to regularly step away from your computer.
- Treat yourself – this shouldn’t be a form of torture; add in a piece of dark chocolate or a homemade cookie.
Good, nutritious food boosts your body’s feel-good chemicals and overall happiness. If your current environment is stifling your joy and creativity in the kitchen, call your local First National Real Estate expert. They’ll help you find your dream home filled with inspiration – in the kitchen and beyond.
DISCLAIMER
The following advice is of a general nature only and intended as a broad guide. The advice should not be regarded as legal, financial, or real estate advice. You should make your own inquiries and obtain independent professional advice tailored to your specific circumstances before making any legal, financial, or real estate decisions. Click here for full Terms of Use.