Good healthy picky food!

[the.fee.fairy]

I work in an office - a boring office.

I have a half hour break every day, which i split into two 15 minutes.

I need something for my lunch! We're not allowed to have anything that needs a fork to eat it, because we eat at our desks.

I'm a bit bored of sandwiches. Can someone suggest something healthy?
Also -healthy things to pick on. I've got seeds and dried fruit, and today i had sunflower sprouts, carrots and mushrooms. I get bored easily, and because i#m stuck behind a desk i tend to eat.

Ta

[Jandra]

Hi fee,

First of all, I'm apalled to hear your work conditions.

On a more practical note: how about wraps/pancakes with filling in stead of sandwiches. Or a thermos with a high vegetable/low fat soup. If you blend it, you can drink it from a mug, so you won't require a spoon. Don't know how to desribe them, but 'fallafel balls' could also be eaten as a savoury snack.
Cucumber, apple, tangerines, cherry tomatoes...

Good luck, Jandra

[the.fee.fairy]

oooh, good plan on the falafel balls!

Just got to work out how to make Falafel and it'll be good!

My work conditions aren't great, but its the legal minimum - 1/2 hour unpaid in 8 hours. So i'm technically at work for 8 1/2 hours...

I split it into 2 breaks to give me a rest from the computer and to go outside to the smoking hut. The company aren't bothered about treating you as a person, just as a worker.

Still, I'm waiting for my dad to get a new job, then wherever that is, i'll move with my parents and get a new job there. I can't afford to move out here, so i might as well go with them!

Back to the food: I'll have a look into some tortilla recipes and see if i can make my own. then i've just got to fill it with nice stuff.

I want some suggestions for boredom food. Something that i can sit and pick at without putting on a load of weight (i want to lose some in time for my surgery...).

Ta

[red]

celery and carrot sticks?

make little veg/fruit kebabs on cocktail sticks...

like cherry tomato, bit of goats cheese cherry tomato
or pineapple chunk apple chunk, tangerine segment.

[floraadora]

Wholemeal pitta, houmous and cucumber

Tortilla spread with refried beans and grated cheese, rolled up. I cut mine into pinwheels for the kids.

Houmous and pitta strips to dip in it.

Pasta salad, just cook extra pasta and mix with roasted veg and balsamic vinegar or add any salad ingredients you have.

[cobnuts]

You mentioned making your own tortillas to fill with falafel and such, but how about the Spanish omlette type of tortilla? Brilliant picnic food.

Spinach, potato and feta tortilla
8 eggs
5-6 cooked new potatoes, sliced
Good splash olive oil
5oz cooked, chopped spinach
1 chopped garlic clove
4oz crumbled feta

Beat the eggs with some salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the potatoes, frying gently until golden. Add spinach and garlic and heat through reduce heat, scatter over the feta then pour in eggs and cook until just setting on top, 12-15 minutes. Finish cooking under a medium grill.

[Annpan]

I have posted a felafal recipe seperatley as I know I have already posted it mid-thread elsewhere... enjoy

Canalonie (edit to say - I meant calzone...duh )was a OH fave for a while (do you have access to a microwave to heeat stuff up?)

If some one else prepared them I could eat carrot sticks, red pepper and cucumber all day... I could be a bit windy though

[mrsflibble]

I was going to say noodles... but then noticed you said you're not allowed a fork.
what about some kind of meatloaf thing (if you're not a veggie of course)? Or theres a scandinavian dish whoch is meatloaf type stuff wrapped up in savoy cabbage leaves then baked... but that's inmy scandinavian cookbook and I've packed it already
sorry!!

other than variations on sarnies I'm at a loss... been so long since I had to think about eating at a desk!! where i worked, although i had 1/2 hour break I was never left alone to have it, and could not get away from my desk to have it either. such are thr joys of a newsroom I suppose. many a tie i considered locking my door- but most people had the keynumber anyway so it wouldn't have helped lol!

[womble]

I'm not going to be much help as i eat lots of biscuits lol but what about homemade quiche, you could cut it into little chunks so you wouldn't need a fork, you could also add chunky salad etc.

Another one is homemade scotch eggs, you could make these bite sized, here's a recipe for vegetarian ones

Serves 4

Ingredients

350g/12oz Potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

75g/3oz grated Cheddar Cheese

Cayenne Pepper and Salt

Flour to coat

2 Eggs, beaten

Dried Breadcrumbs to coat

4 Hard Boiled Eggs, shelled

Vegetable Oil for deep frying

Instructions

1. Place the potatoes in a large pan of salted water, bring to the boil and cook for 15-20 minutes until soft. Drain well, return to the saucepan and mash well adding salt and cayenne pepper.

2. Add the cheese and sufficient egg to the potatoes to form a fairly smooth paste then divide into 4 and flatten out each portion roughly into a circle on a floured board.

3. Preheat the deep fat fryer to 180C, 350F. Lightly dust each hard boiled egg with flour then place one egg in the middle of each of the flattened potato rounds. Using floured hands, mould the potato around each egg.

4. Coat each egg with the remaining beaten egg, roll in the breadcrumbs and fry for 5-7 minutes or till golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper and cool before serving.

hth
xx

[Tigerhair]

How many hours do you work?

[blathanna]

You could take pots of yougart to work with you. have you tried potato cakes, they are very filling?

[the.fee.fairy]

Wow!! Brilliant!

Thankyou for all the suggestions!
I've got sandwiches today (jam), and some cereal bars, and some seeds and fruit.

I can't eat anything hot, or that might have a smell to it (they seem to make it more difficult every day for you to have a good diet in this place).

I work from 2:30-11pm, so i tend to have lunch and dinner here.

I've got 3 days off this weekend, so i'm going to have a go at making all this yummy sounding stuff that has been recommended. Hopefully, i'll have luxury, tasty lunches for next week.

Thanks for the help guys!

[Tigerhair]

The working time regulations http://www.dti.gov.uk/employment/employ ... index.html explain what you are entitled to.

However, them saying that you cannot eat anything with a fork.......!!!!!!! Is that in your contract? What job do you do? Sorry, I just think it's silly!

[Tigerhair]

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/employment/ ... g_10029451

Sorry, completely off topic again but this is really good....

[contadina]

Where do you work Fee (you can name and shame if you like but I just want an idea of your job)? Like everyone else who's posted I'm pretty shocked by your somewhat sweatshop conditions. I'm doubly shocked in that I thought that an 8-hour day entitled you to 2 15-minute tea breaks plus and hour for lunch. When I used to work in various magazine offices in London I used to make a point of leaving the building for lunch (despite sniffy looks from various publishers) as it's not good for your digestion to just grab a sarnie whilst still at your work station.

Down here in southern Italy the 3-hour work break is still the norm and long may it last.

As for the no fork rule - unless you signed a waiver prohibiting you from wielding one then start to enjoy many fork-fed treats in full view of your management. Should your employers threaten you with disciplinary action let them try, they wouldn't have a leg to stand on and as you intimated this is not a job for life.