7 no BS simple and quick lunch ideas
I'm currently staying in an AirBnB waiting to move into a new house so I'm pretty limited for cooking options as the oven doesn't work and so I've been using the microwave on grill for almost everything but it is more or less working. Here are some more easy lunch ideas, or if you don't have an oven, these microwave meals should keep you well fed. My top lunches so far have been:
1. Peanut butter and jam sandwich. This may not be for everyone but for me at least it satisfies my sweet tooth, is simple and quick to whip up and you can't really go wrong with any type of peanut butter or jam that I've found. Hartley's Best Strawberry Jam is on a deal for £1 at the moment which I'm eating too much of.
2. Jacket Potato with your choice of fillings. This is a great way to have a hot meal for cheap if you have a microwave at lunchtime, for me to cook the jacket at the moment I wash it and poke holes in it, then its around 10 minutes in the microwave, turning over halfway through and wiping it dry, less for a medium potato. This can be chucked in before you shower in the morning or done as a batch the night before. If you're lucky enough to have a proper oven, I generally do 1 hour at 200 degrees, washed, pricked and covered in oil and salt. Toppings can be taken in a small plastic pot, I like pretty basic tuna/mayo, I buy tuna any time its 4 tins of tuna for £3, sometimes with sweetcorn but you can do anything and it is much cheaper than buying a meal, and jacket potatoes cost around £4 in cafes!
3. Subway inspired Spicy Italian. I'm a bit of a pepperoni/salami fiend and so I've had some fun with those recently, my favourite has been layers of salami/ham/chorizo on one half of a sub roll with jalapenos on top and chilli powder in between, then some cheese on the other side of the bread, put in the grill for a few minutes, then some salad, mayo and if you're a freak like me, jam - it works, honest! I bought a 6 pack of jalapenos because I like bulk buying to save money.
4. Spicy Chicken Wraps. These really hit my KFC cravings, I like to buy frozen hot and spicy chicken fillets from Tesco £1.50 for 4 fillets, then cook them in the oven, slice them up and put them in a plastic box to bring to work. Tortilla wraps, chopped lettuce and mayo complete these for me (in all honesty I keep the mayo/wraps in my desk), and its a cheap easy fix for a delicious meal.
5. Easy Chicken Salad or Pasta. I would also use the hot and spicy chicken fillets but they also have southern fried ones that are great, match these with some fun salad, toast up your leftover bread for croutons and add a dressing of your choice for a somewhat healthy meal, or use pasta and cheese for a deliciously calorific and tasty lunch.
6. Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Bagels. These aren't the cheapest but they sure are delicious, layer on thinly sliced smoked salmon over a hearty helping of cream cheese and enjoy.
7. Whatever you ate last night. This is an honest one, I generally overcook when I'm making my evening meal so I like to just take it in the next day and eat it with bread or whatever, I made a massive amount of Mapo Tofu and Rice so I've got two gorgeous boxes of that to eat, usually I make it from kind of scratch but I used this sauce which was pretty good. This is so easy and hassle free, just cook a little extra and then box it and chuck it in the fridge
1. Peanut butter and jam sandwich. This may not be for everyone but for me at least it satisfies my sweet tooth, is simple and quick to whip up and you can't really go wrong with any type of peanut butter or jam that I've found. Hartley's Best Strawberry Jam is on a deal for £1 at the moment which I'm eating too much of.
2. Jacket Potato with your choice of fillings. This is a great way to have a hot meal for cheap if you have a microwave at lunchtime, for me to cook the jacket at the moment I wash it and poke holes in it, then its around 10 minutes in the microwave, turning over halfway through and wiping it dry, less for a medium potato. This can be chucked in before you shower in the morning or done as a batch the night before. If you're lucky enough to have a proper oven, I generally do 1 hour at 200 degrees, washed, pricked and covered in oil and salt. Toppings can be taken in a small plastic pot, I like pretty basic tuna/mayo, I buy tuna any time its 4 tins of tuna for £3, sometimes with sweetcorn but you can do anything and it is much cheaper than buying a meal, and jacket potatoes cost around £4 in cafes!
3. Subway inspired Spicy Italian. I'm a bit of a pepperoni/salami fiend and so I've had some fun with those recently, my favourite has been layers of salami/ham/chorizo on one half of a sub roll with jalapenos on top and chilli powder in between, then some cheese on the other side of the bread, put in the grill for a few minutes, then some salad, mayo and if you're a freak like me, jam - it works, honest! I bought a 6 pack of jalapenos because I like bulk buying to save money.
4. Spicy Chicken Wraps. These really hit my KFC cravings, I like to buy frozen hot and spicy chicken fillets from Tesco £1.50 for 4 fillets, then cook them in the oven, slice them up and put them in a plastic box to bring to work. Tortilla wraps, chopped lettuce and mayo complete these for me (in all honesty I keep the mayo/wraps in my desk), and its a cheap easy fix for a delicious meal.
5. Easy Chicken Salad or Pasta. I would also use the hot and spicy chicken fillets but they also have southern fried ones that are great, match these with some fun salad, toast up your leftover bread for croutons and add a dressing of your choice for a somewhat healthy meal, or use pasta and cheese for a deliciously calorific and tasty lunch.
6. Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Bagels. These aren't the cheapest but they sure are delicious, layer on thinly sliced smoked salmon over a hearty helping of cream cheese and enjoy.
7. Whatever you ate last night. This is an honest one, I generally overcook when I'm making my evening meal so I like to just take it in the next day and eat it with bread or whatever, I made a massive amount of Mapo Tofu and Rice so I've got two gorgeous boxes of that to eat, usually I make it from kind of scratch but I used this sauce which was pretty good. This is so easy and hassle free, just cook a little extra and then box it and chuck it in the fridge
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