Not a problem for most of us at the minute. One of the advantages of this pandemic is more people are working from home; which should mean access to better quality readily available food.
That’s not always the case though, I’m working with a few people who barely get time to grab a snack since working from home. Their workload has increased as a result of not being in the office.
I’m working in a school one day per week and the teachers are grabbing their lunches at their desks when the kids have finished eating at their desks. It’s a subject for a whole other blog post but ideally the place where you eat and the place where you work should never be the same. Now we’re training children to do exactly that.
Back to food at work for busy people.
This isn’t going to be one of those standard social media swap this 400kcal snack for this 100kcal snack from the service station on the way to work type posts. Switching foods for lower calorie versions can be a good option when trying to lose weight; however, I think we need to look at other options.
Most of the people we work with haven’t got the time to spend hours each morning preparing food like a cover model. Some of the meal prep companies are pretty good and we have a couple of local deli places in Coventry that other great lunch services for calorie and protein counting type plans.
When Fran and I were working silly hours and starting our fertility journey, we wanted to eat really well to help with fertility. We would prepare everything from scratch at home and eat amazing meals packed with nutrients; then really struggle if we were working away for the day or were out and about with only a brief stop at home.
By chance I came across a solution and one that I’m sharing today. It revolutionised our working day when we were travelling around a lot.
The food flask, we’re going in to the right time of year to start using one.
We simply made more of the stuff we were eating in the evening and then heated a portion of it up when we had breakfast. Bish. Bash. Bosh. Really tasty food for lunch.
Obviously it works best for things like chilli, Bolognese,soups, stews and other pasta type dishes. I have been out with it full of porridge, tasty but a nightmare to clean after.
Having something warm over the winter months felt so much more satisfying too. As well as much more filling than a soggy sandwich grabbed from the shop.
The Thermos one I have, has a spoon in the top section and the lid works as a bowl so it saved carrying loads of bits around with me.
If your working from home the same concept still applies, make more of your main meal the night before and portion some of to be warmed up the next day. Just try to have separate working and eating areas.
Give it a go, saves time and beats a shop sandwich every time.
Darren “hot for 6 hours” Checkley
