Lunches

When you're at work, lunch is very important. It's the break in the middle of the day: it's what you look forward to, your time to take half an hour off and enjoy your midday meal. I heartily wish that it was more than a half-hour break, and that it was OK to take a full hour off for lunch as in time past. Imagine being able to confidently switch off the computer and pop over to the nearest cafe for a calm and replenishing hour, both physically and spiritually. Unfortunately with work the way it is, more and more of us are having to work through our lunch breaks, eating at our desks, probably pausing for no more than ten minutes or so before it's back to the grindstone. Oh that we enjoyed the Meditteranean office system of a 9am start, break at noon for up to three hours (and time for a nap at home, if you're in Spain) and then back to the office until sometimes 8pm. Dinner at ten or eleven in the late evening. What a lifestyle. Alas, that ain't gonna happen here anytime soon. So, seeing as we are all stuck in the office all day, we may as well pack ourselves some healthy, tasty, exciting lunches that we can look forward to. Going down the road for a burger or kebab every day is what burly construction workers do to replenish their calories after toiling all morning. Plus, they are greasy and make you fall asleep an hour later. Office workers need lighter, yet filling lunches that contain enough protein to keep you going, easy on the carbs and with lots of tasty vitamins. Another upside to healthy office lunches is that you don't feel so guilty about your sedentary worklife if you're not eating hot chips on a daily basis.
Anyway. When I'm stuck in the office and can't stop watching the clock until lunchtime comes around, here are some of the lunches that I like to bring to work. Mostly I prepare them in the mornings, but if it's a really early start, they keep fine in the fridge from the night before. Most of them don't need to be refrigerated- another bonus if you're going somewhere without a fridge.

Couscous with cucumber, mint and yoghurt
Prepare a small container of instant couscous, flavoured with some stock powder, chili, olive oil and crushed nuts or seeds if you like. Take a second container of chopped Lebanese cucumber sprinkled with salt and mixed with low-fat natural yoghurt. You can heat the couscous, or not, and eat them separately or mixed together. Doesn't need refrigeration.

Salade Nicoise- baby version
Make a salad of iceberg or cos lettuce, baby spinach leaves, pepper, whole cherry tomatoes, capers, olives and one or two quartered hard-boiled eggs. Squeeze some lemon juice over it and grate in the lemon peel, if you like. Take a little tin of tuna with you, and pour the tuna over the salad before eating. If you work in airconditioning, doesn't need refrigeration.

Classy French rustic lunch
Take a couple of slices of rough seeded bread, or some chewy sourdough, or any sort of wholemeal European bread. I like Sol Breads' walnut or olive bread, or the pain de campagne from French Twist at Melbourne or James Streets. In a separate container, take some pieces of goat's cheese, or a nice blue cheese, a handful of walnuts and a ripe pear. At lunchtime, slice the pear and make yourself some cute open sandwiches with walnuts on top.

Lentil Salad with lemon, sesame and chili
Boil some green lentils until just tender. Combine in a lunch container with toasted sesame seeds, olive oil, salt, lemon juice, chopped lemon peel, salt, seeded tomatoes and coriander.

Mini Vietnamese noodle salad
Prepare some rice noodles, either the vermicelli or the stick type, by pouring boiling water over and leaving for a few minutes. Drain and combine in a lunch container with chopped leftover chicken, sesame oil, mint, basil, coriander, sliced capsicum, grated carrot, or other salad vegetables. Make a quick dressing of sliced chili, white vinegar, palm sugar, fish sauce and lime juice. Tiny shred of garlic optional. Pour the dressing over: by the time lunch rolls around the sauce flavours will have combined properly.