Going to try and ditch the bread at lunchtimes and need some ideas as im a crap chef. Smoothies or shakes seem like a good swap for sandwiches at lunch. But i don't want to buy them as that will be too costly.
Any recipes you can share?
I chuck some skyr, apple juice and frozen fruit in a smoothie maker. Job jobbed.
Banana or soaked oats for bulk.
Banana, peanut butter, honey (or maple syrup), oats, oat milk
A smoothie is a really bad lunch, they're packed full of sugar which will lead to an insulin spike and feeling like crap in the afternoon.
A tin of soup is a much better easy alternative to sandwiches, I lost 2 stone in 2 years when I swapped my sandwiches for a tin of soup ( I was working for a tinned soup manufacturer)
I usually go Orange and Carrot or Apple and Kale, thumb of ginger, milk and a banana/oats.
Try to add 2/3rds veg and 1/3rd fruit to keep the sugar content down - I'd agree soup might be a better bet.
Gazpacho now that's be tasty. That's my lunches decided for the next day or two.
The hard thing with soup is not having a slice or two of bread with it to mop it up. OP have you thought about those 'complete nutrition' powdered shakes like Huel - works out at about £1.40 a day I think. I have never tried any of them so be interesting to hear other people's opinions.
Hmmm soup. Good idea that thanks
I think you need to decide whether you want smoothies to be tasty or healthy.
In my experimenting with trying to be more vegan I bought a Ninja blender smoothie maker thing and have whipped up all sorts, from tasty fruit things to disgusting greeny brown slop.
Overall lessons, the more you put in the worst it tastes. The better it tastes, the less healthy stuff you have put in.
I generally use them to hide pea or hemp protein powder.
When your bananas are going rank chop them up and freeze them for future smoothies.
Beetroot goes well with ginger.
Huel is the noise you make when you drink it.
Guy at work spent a "how much?" Amount of money on it lasted 3days.
At least vomit has colour and texture.
A smoothie is a really bad lunch, they’re packed full of sugar which will lead to an insulin spike and feeling like crap in the afternoon.
This is so true. Fruit or veg in whole form is very healthy food - the sugar included. But when it is broken down by a smoothie maker the sugar is much more immediately available, and worst of all is juicers where most of the healthy parts have been removed and binned, leaving mainly sugar and a few vitamins.
Blasted monkey* - granola, banana, double espresso, honey, yoghurt/milk and chocolate spread whizzed up in the blender.
*shamelessly stolen from the best Mexican restaurant in Bali.
Normally have banana, peanut butter and oat milk for breakfast. If I'm feeling adventurous I may add in some cacoa nibs or maybe even a bit of coffee. No need to add extra sugar/honey/maple syrup.
Our favourite growing up was the "Egg mixed up in a cup"
One of those Tupperware shaker things. 1 raw egg+milk+teaspoon of sugar - Shake vigorously..
Next door neighbour was techie and had ....A Blender 😯 his eggy milk was the same thing, but with a whole peeled banana added in. Sublime.
Way to much sugar in a smoothie. Co-op do a really good 3 bean spicy soup for 55p.
What cooking facilities do you have at work? Kettle? Microwave?
What do your evening meals look like as a 'crap chef'?
What’s wrong with bread? Is it an allergy thing or just fed up with butties?
I eat some combination of cooked chicken or fish, orzo pasta or giant cous cous with pesto-like flavouring with some sort of salad or roasted Mediterranean veg for my two lunches most days. I Prep up a few days worth and stick it in Tupperware. That way I can accurately measure out carbs/protein/fats to the desired quantity. Very tasty too.
I am also a fan of cold beef/turkey/veggie chilli and rice so often knock up a large batch at the weekend and portion up some for weekday lunches. I can never be arsed walking to the micro to warm it. Again makes for easy macro and portion control
It’s very easy to pack an excessive amount of calories into a “healthy” smoothie if you’re not careful and they often don’t give the same sense of fulllness as unprocessed foods.
What cooking facilities do you have at work? Kettle? Microwave?
Pretty much everything as i often work from home
What do your evening meals look like as a ‘crap chef’?
They are excellent and very healthy as my other half is an "awesome chef"
The bread thing is that i keep reading how cutting out carbs is a good way of losing weight. I eat a lot of bread so i'm just trying to find alternatives. I take the point about fruit being full of sugars so think the soup thing is a good starting point. Thanks
Cutting out carbs is just one way of reducing total calories consumed. It’s not necessary. Yes it is optimal to strike a balance in total carbs consumed per day in relation to fats and proteins but the most important thing is the total calorific consumption per day.
A balanced diet comprising a range of healthy foods that is consistent in its total calories every day (a slight deficit of you’re looking to reduce body weight) for a long period of time is the most important thing. Portion control and understanding your total daily consumption vs what you need is key.
Despite what many people will tell you reducing or removing entire food sources is generally not necessary.
And smoothies are typically also full of carbs, as are many soups.
Have you thought about wraps instead of sandwiches? Might help in terms of calories .
Pretty much everything as i often work from home
...
[evening meals] are excellent and very healthy as my other half is an “awesome chef”
There you go then, problem solved. Ask her to cook double the amount, stick portion 3 in the fridge for tomorrow's lunch and portion 4 in the freezer for a microwave meal in the future.
A freezerful of ready meals, she'll get nights off from cheffing occasionally too. Everyone's a winner.
Also,
If you're working from home, are you getting much exercise? Take an actual lunch hour, go out for a walk, maybe (heaven forbid!) get on your bike.
It's really easy to turn into a bit of a couch potato when WFH regularly. I'm lucky in that my metabolism keeps me trim (I actually have the opposite problem, I can't put weight on) but staring at the same wall for half the day, every day isn't great for your mental health either.
