FUCK YEAH DESK LUNCH

If you bothered, your desk lunch would be next level like ours. Pro tips & ideas to pimp your lunch fast, while on a budget.

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Leftover steak with a jar salad

HOW TO PACK FOR LUNCH:

At home - Bring a steak leftover from dinner. Throw some pickles, cucumber,pickled onion and sweet potato in a jar. 

At work - Empty jar salad onto a plate, add oilve oil and apple cider vinegar. Warm up steak and chop into strips and layer on top. 

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Back-up Dumps

Have some frozen dumplings handy for those days when you want something fast and tasty. 

This time we had Prawn Har Gow in the freezer at work, brought in choy sum and spring onions (for the dipping sauce). Prepare the dipping sauce and the boil/steam the added veg at work.

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Accidental vegetarian ideas

We're not vegetarian, but sometimes it's just easier.

Poached eggs with boiled sweet potato, green beans & avocado HOW TO PACK IT FOR LUNCH:

At home - The night before Poach or fry 2 eggs and put them in a paper towel lined container to absorb moisture. ALso bring any pre-cooked veggies you have eg. sweet potato.

At work - cut up avocado and toss it with some baby spinach or lettuce. Steep some green beans ior any other relatively fast cooking vegetable in a bowl of boiled water. Microwave for 2 mins.

Vegetable feast feat. sweet potato & co.

HOW TO PACK IT FOR LUNCH: 

At home - To make a simple vegetarian lentil mix sautee diced onion, garlic, celery, carrot till browned and softened. Add in a tin of lentils and warm through.  Pack lentils in a rectangular takeaway container with some boiled vegetables, we had sweet potato, brussel sprouts tossed in melted butter. Bring some parsley to make it even more delicious.

At work - chop the parsley and sprinkle over.

Asian cabbage and butter bean mash

HOW TO PACK IT FOR LUNCH: 

At home - Finely shred some cabbage and marinate in a mixture of lemon, olive oil, soy sauce and apple cider vinegar. Make extra and take a large container to large a few days.

Also pack a lemon, broccoli and a tin of butter beans.

At work - Boil or steam the broccoli and warm up the butter beans, add olive oil and apple cider vinegar.

Tomato and dill butter beans with pickled cabbage and found bread

HOW TO PACK IT FOR LUNCH: 

At home - Simmer a tin of tomatoes with onion and garlic. Add butter beans and warm through, finish with chopped dill, salt and pepper. Bring a jar of pickled cabbage (you can use it for subsequent lunches).

At work - toast and butter the bread.

[fuckyeahdesklunch]

Better than Chinese takeaway San Choy Bow

Simply pork mince pimped with some asian style additions. In a few extra minutes you can go beyond the same old mince without resorting to tacos or spaghetti!

I'll show you how easy it is to pack the leftovers to take into the office!

INGREDIENTS

NOTE: You could substitute pre-cooked mince in this recipe to save time or as a way to use up leftovers without resorting to spaghetti or tacos.

For the mince

500 grams good quality pork mince

1 medium onion, finely diced

2 cloves of garlic, finely diced

1 stick of celery, finely diced

250g tin of waterchesnuts, finely diced

250g tin bamboo shoots, finely diced

5 spring onions, finely sliced (w/ scissors if you're lazy)

Oyster sauce

Sesame oil

Delicious san choy bow toppings/extras (edit to your preferences)

Iceberg lettuce

Bean sprouts

Dried fried onion

Roasted peanuts, crushed or chopped (i'm lazy so i bought pre-chopped)

Fresh lime (nice, but bottled lime juice is accessible)

Coriander

Chilli (fresh or dried flakes)

METHOD

1. Put a bit of oil in a non-stick frypan and cook the onion for a few minutes or till translucent. Then add the celery, bamboo and chestnuts and fry for 5 mins or till slightly browned and softened. 2. Add 3 tbsp of oyster sauce, 1 tsp of sesame oil and simmer for 3 minutes to let the veggies take on the flavour of the sauce and soften. Then pour veggie mixture into a bowl and set aside.

3. Using the same pan put 2 tbsp oil in and fry the pork mince stirring quickly and regularly to up the mince break an stamp out any big chunks. Once it's fairly separated simmer till browned and almost cooked through. Roughly 10-15mins on medium-med high heat.

4. Once mince is close to cooked add the cooked veggies and oyster sauce back in and stir to combine. Saute on low heat till mince is cooked through. Throw in the sliced spring onions at the end and add extra oyster sauce plus salt and pepper to taste.

That's the asian-style mince done, you could stop there if you wanted. Or go for gold and turn this into san choy bow in a few minutes with some easy garnishes and extras...

5. Warm up mince mixture and spoon into iceberg lettuce leaves (3-5 should do for lunch). Top with bean sprouts, fried onion, peanuts, coriander, a sprinkle of chilli and a squeeze of lime juice and eat immediately!

HOW TO PACK THIS FOR LUNCH

It's not hard, it's just a bit of tetris (refer to picture below to get an idea).

I use a fairly big plastic rectangular container to house this entire healthy feast together. The mince goes in a smaller container (that fits within the biggest container) and the condiments/garnishes go in small tubs (i bought a pack of 6 round ones at the supermarket which are handy for storing dressings, condiments and garnishes for lunch) while the lettuce leaves, bamboo shoots and a cheek of lime fit on one side and free ball next to these containers. We decided to get away from our desk and have this lunch in the park, don't hate, this lunch deserved it!

Let us know how you went and what you thought of it!

[fuckyeahdesklunch]

Ooo you's a sushi bitch. A sushi bitch. Ooo you's a sushi bitch... DAMN GIRL.

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Gotta catch 'em all at lunch.