9 recipes for a delicious and satisfying office lunch

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Simple salads, homemade shawarma and balanced hot dishes.

Contrary to the well-known proverb, lunch is no longer offered to be shared with a friend. With four meals a day, it should account for 40-50% of the total energy value received per day, with three meals a day - 45-50% Yu. P. Pivovarov. Guide to laboratory studies on hygiene and the basics of human ecology, 2001.. The balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates is also important. The World Health Organization recommends that fat should be no more than 30% Healthy eating. Newsletter No. 394. diet. Otherwise, there is a risk of gaining weight and getting concomitant diseases: diabetes, problems with the cardiovascular system and joints. WHO also recommends including fruits and vegetables in every meal, and eating less salt.

Unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity are major health risk factors worldwide.

World health organization

In catering establishments, where office workers usually dine, the recommendations of doctors are rarely followed. You can provide yourself with a healthy and healthy lunch if you take care of it in advance and prepare it at home. You can take several options for service - depending on whether the office has a microwave oven.

Salad

The good thing about this dish is that it can be eaten cold - useful for an office without a microwave oven. When preparing salads, it is not so difficult to maintain a balance of fat and protein. It is more difficult with carbohydrates, but their deficiency is easy to make up for with a piece of bread. Consider the following aspects.

• Take lean meat. Otherwise, the fat will solidify unappetizingly, which is difficult to get rid of without heat treatment.
• Ingredients can be replaced with similar ones. Replace chicken breast with turkey or beef fillets, nuts - with sunflower or pumpkin seeds, sunflower oil - with olive, pumpkin, grape seed oil.
• Feel free to add new components. If you are not sure about the taste, cut the new ingredient larger - you can get it.
• If the recipe does not imply that all the ingredients exchange smells and tastes, bring the dressing in a separate container and add immediately before meals.
• After adding salt, vegetables begin to secrete juice, so salt salad is also better in the office.
• Vegetable salad is not a very satisfying dish, although it is voluminous. Depending on your appetite, the portion can be increased 2-3 times.

Salad with meat and vegetables

Ingredients:

• 200 g chicken fillet (you can take turkey or beef);
• a quarter of a head of iceberg lettuce;
• 1 tomato;
• a pinch of sesame;
• 2 tablespoons canned corn
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil;
• 3 tablespoons of soy sauce.

Preparation

Cut the meat into 1–1.5 cm cubes, cover with two tablespoons of soy sauce, stir and leave for 1 hour. Pour a tablespoon of oil into the pan. Put the meat, fry until tender, cool. Tear the iceberg lettuce into small pieces with your hands, cut the tomatoes, put them in a container. Add corn, cold meats, sprinkle with sesame seeds. For dressing, combine a spoonful of oil and a spoonful of soy sauce.

Pasta salad

Ingredients:

• 50 g small pasta (penne, fusilli);
• 70 g mozzarella balls;
• 100 g cherry tomatoes;
• 3-4 basil leaves;
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Preparation

Boil the pasta until al dente (cook for a couple of minutes less than the time indicated on the package), cool. Cut the tomatoes in half and the mozzarella balls in half or quarters, depending on the size. Combine pasta, cheese, and tomatoes in a container. Basil leaves are usually placed whole - it's more beautiful. But it will be more convenient to eat salad if they are not very finely chopped. For dressing, combine oil and balsamic vinegar.

Poultry and radish salad

Ingredients:

• 200 g fillet of chicken, turkey or duck without skin;
• 6 quail eggs;
• 6 radishes;
• 1 cucumber;
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil;
• 1 tablespoon mild mustard

Preparation

Cut the meat into pieces and fry until golden brown in one tablespoon of oil. Boil eggs hard-boiled, cut in half. Cut the radish and cucumber into slices. For dressing, mix a spoonful of oil and mustard.

Shawarma, burrito, quesadilla

From childhood, we are taught that eating dry food is harmful. In fact, unless you have celiac disease or a doctor's prescribed diet, there is nothing wrong with topping bread. These dishes can be eaten hot and cold - also a great option if you don't have a microwave.

You can use homemade sausage as a filling, add vegetables and low-fat cheese.

The ingredients for these dishes can be prepared in the evening, and it is better to collect in the morning so that the juice and sauces do not soak the bread.

Homemade shawarma

Ingredients:

• 150 g chicken, turkey or beef;
• 1 cucumber;
• 1 tomato;
• 150 g of Chinese cabbage;
• ½ sheet of pita bread;
• 1 tablespoon sour cream;
• 1 tablespoon ketchup

Preparation

You can cook meat in two ways. Fry it whole on an electric grill or grill pan without oil, then chop. If this is not possible, add one tablespoon of vegetable oil to the list of ingredients and fry the chopped meat on it. Chop the cabbage, chop the cucumber and tomato into slices. Spread half a sheet of pita bread with sour cream, ketchup, evenly lay out all the ingredients. Roll the shawarma tightly.

Burrito

Ingredients:

• 150 g chicken, turkey, duck or beef;
• 1 tortilla
• ½ sweet pepper;
• 1 tomato;
• 2 sprigs of parsley;
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil;
• 100 g canned beans in tomato sauce.

Preparation

Cut the meat into small pieces and fry in oil. When it's almost done, add the diced pepper, and after 5 minutes add the chopped tomato. Open a can of beans and drain the sauce. Put meat roast, beans and chopped greens in a bowl, stir. Make sure that the filling is not too liquid, but you should not fanatically get rid of the sauce either - it tastes better with it. Spoon the mixture over the tortilla and wrap tightly.

Quesadilla

Ingredients:

• 1 tortilla
• 50 g of cheese that melts well;
• 100 g of boiled lean meat;
• 1 tablespoon canned corn
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• ½ bell pepper.

Preparation

Grease half of the flatbread with ketchup, put the chopped meat, pepper pieces, corn, sprinkle with grated cheese. Cover the filling with the other half of the tortilla. Fry on both sides in a skillet until the tortilla is golden brown and hardened and the cheese melts. You can take any vegetables as a side dish for the quesadilla.

Complex lunch

If the office is equipped with a microwave, the menu can be expanded almost infinitely. Any dish with a side dish is suitable for lunch. But it is better to know the nuances that will make your life easier and will not spoil your relationships with colleagues.

• Try to avoid strong-smelling foods. "Aromas" of fish, stewed cabbage, garlic will penetrate from the kitchen into all corners of the office. Colleagues won't appreciate it.
• Leave the soups at home. Tightly closing containers misfire, and catching a phone, a passport and house keys from a borscht is not the most pleasant experience.
• Choosing too high-calorie and hearty dishes is a dubious idea. After a hearty lunch, he will feel sleepy, and there will be at least 4 hours of work ahead.
• The ingredients are best cut. Of course, the mouth is happy with a large piece, but it will be more convenient in the office if you only need a fork for lunch - without a knife.

Fried chicken with vegetables

Ingredients:

• 200 g chicken breast (can be replaced with a skinless thigh or other meat);
• 100 g broccoli;
• 100 g zucchini;
• 100 g cherry tomatoes;
• 50 g dry rice;
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.

Preparation

Cut the meat into small pieces and fry in one tablespoon of oil. Add your favorite spices. Wash the pan, pour in the remaining oil. Disassemble the broccoli into inflorescences, cut the zucchini into large cubes, chop the cherry tomatoes in half. Roast the vegetables one at a time until tender. Boil rice in salted water. Put all the components of the lunch in a container.

Beans with meat

Ingredients:

• 200 g of chicken or turkey;
• 100 g beans;
• 70 ml chopped tomatoes, canned in their own juice;
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil;
• 1 cucumber.

Preparation

Cut the meat into pieces and fry until tender. Soak the beans in water for at least an hour, preferably overnight. Put it in a saucepan with a thick bottom, fill it with water so that the liquid is an inch higher than the beans. Cook until the beans are soft and the water is almost completely evaporated. Season the beans with hot red pepper, salt and top with the canned tomatoes with the liquid they were in. For this recipe, you need not pickled or pickled tomatoes, but canned in their own juice. They are usually sold in metal cans or cardboard boxes.

Put the beans and meat in the container, and take the cucumber with you.

Meatballs with salad

Ingredients:

• 200 g of minced chicken (can be replaced with other lean meat);
• 60 g dry rice;
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 150 g cabbage;
• 50 g carrots.

Preparation

Boil rice until half cooked, cool. Mix with minced meat, form into balls. Pour the oil into a tall skillet with a thick bottom. Fry meatballs on all sides until light golden brown. Gently pour water 1 cm from the bottom, simmer until tender. Chop the cabbage, grate the carrots on a coarse grater. Combine vegetables in a bowl, season with salt and squeeze vigorously with your hands several times. The cabbage will juice and you won't need a dressing.