[chrysostom]

I was bored over lunch, so thought I'd start up this thread.

I'm adapting to a new culture at work in which eating lunch at your desk counts for nothing in terms of hours - whereas previously I made up minutes for being late/leaving early by spending most of my lunch at my desk.

This got me thinking:

What are you having for lunch?
What are your lunching habits?
If you work, what do you do during your lunch break?

I've recently started making my own ciabatta sandwiches and I'm getting used to the routine - although in the mornings, walking around with a small ciabatta bun looks awkward to say the least. I used to buy lunch every day, and I must have spent a small fortune on it!

[Yudster]

I have lunch at my desk mostly, as I am not allowed to eat it at any other time. We are allowed an hour for lunch, but even if we work through (I mean actually work rather than sit at your desk and have a lunch break) we can only have a half hour back because we are not allowed to work all day without taking a half hour break and if we do its regarded as our own look out.

I usually make myself a salad and come in here to see what people are doing. Today I am having chicken, mixed leaves and mayonnaise. Nicer than it sounds.

[Nicola_Red]

I almost always make my own lunch, but occasionally I'll buy something from M&S on the way in. If I'm making my own it'll either be a salad or a big pile of fried or scrambled tofu with some sort of soy 'meat' and veggies. I make sandwiches occasionally, but I tend to find that bread gives me indigestion and makes me lethargic, so I try not to have them too often!

We have a big canteen which is also the 'green room' for casts and crews, so whilst it's quite entertaining to sit and eat your lunch opposite Willem Defoe (yes, that actually happened to me) it tends to be packed out and for reasons I've never quite figured out it's always like a hundred degrees in there, so I don't go in often. The only time really is if I've brought something that needs microwaving, and even then I sometimes cheat and use the baby milk microwave in the public cafe.

If the weather's decent enough I sit outside and read on my lunch - there are plenty of nice views over the quays to enjoy - or if it's not I usually sit at my desk. The problem with that is that people don't tend to realise I'm on lunch and will try to ask me work-related questions and put calls through to me. To counteract that, I often put my earphones in and transcribe a Tedious Link. It's a good way to get 'em done without taking up my evenings!

[flyingbadger]

I usually purchase a microwaveable meal from Farmfoods or Iceland, blitz for 10 mins. Job done.
Today I had a Young's Admiral Fish Pie. Was a'right for 75p.

I tend to sit through the back office whilst on lunch, playing on my iPod or phone. I never have lunch at my desk. Would never get the * thing eaten.
Also looks rather unprofessional.

If the weather's nice I tend to grab a Gregg's sausage roll and take a pervy stroll along the beachfront.

Boobs and bag straps are one of my favourite things of summer.

[neilt0]

Boobs is what they want.

[Yudster]

........lunch at my desk........Also looks rather unprofessional.

I completely agree which is why workplaces should, if they possibly can, provide somewhere for staff to eat their lunch and take any other breaks they are entitled to away from their desks. Unfortunately we simply don't have anywhere available.

[Boboff]

I do not envy you office wallers at all.

Keep up the good work people

Today I shall be gardening in the sun, doubt I will have lunch, but I have some rather nice home made Smoked Mackeral Pate, with fresh horseraddish from the garden, on melba toast with a spoon of lightly spiced home made coleslaw, followed with a portion of seasonal stewed rhubarb with brown sugar, cinnamon, blueberries and sultanas, should the need transpire.

Nom nom nom.......

[Yudster]

Oooh fresh horseradish is POKEY stuff. It grows wild around where I live and that will blow your head off.

[Topher]

I tend to not eat lunch these days - partly because I don't leave myself time to take it and partly because hopefully I can shed a bit of weight and still eat a nice meal at night (that's something for the weight loss thread, perhaps); but if I do eat lunch I eat it at my desk - we are a small place with basically just our deskspace and a small kitchen area with just about room for a kettle, microwave, fridge and sink.

I do tend to work my lunch, but then they are very flexible with me if I need to leave early, which can be relatively often when Cat's on her placements. But then if I'm on site a long way away (like when I went near Skegness, which is a bitch of a journey from here) I can be out the house at 6 and not back until 8 or later, so swings and roundabouts really.

[dimtimjim]

Yes indeed. This is a subject close to my heart since changing job and working back in Leicester. Lunch makes sense again now; Baps and Cobs. A bap is a soft white bread roll and a cob is a crust white bread roll. Simple, eh? But they don't have that system 'up north' it's all breadcakes, whatever the feck they are!!

One downside tho, my new lunch provider has a very large selection of cakes and donuts etc, they're very tempting...

[DevilsDuck]

A bap is a soft white bread roll and a cob is a crust white bread roll.

So as us southerners would call them...rolls!

You East Midlanders are almost as weird as those Northern Northerners

[chrysostom]

I just go with 'crusty roll', probably as that's what Tesco call them. Prosciutto, cheddar and rocket ciabatta today. omnomnom.

[DevilsDuck]

I always eat at my desk and then go for a wonder around the gardens at the office.

I am quite lucky as our office is attached to an old manor house (its has all our meeting rooms in it) so we have proper old manor house style gardens to wander around

[Yudster]

I have smoked mackeral today. Unfortunately I got the wrong one so its not quite as "friendly" to my current eating plan as it might be, but it should be ok. And its lovely......

[Misfit]

Microwave pizzas in bed, cos I still havent got up.

[flyingbadger]

I had a haggis pie for my lunch today -



I swear if I go take a piss right now, it'll come out tartan.

[Badger Mark]

Hmmmm. A lunch thread. Great idea as I normally spend part of my lunch time here on this website! My lunch fare ranges from some kind of sandwich, to some kind of microwavable meal or leftovers from a recent dinner. Always eat lunch at my desk as I work in a research lab and I can't eat at the lab bench (I work in biomedical research at the University of Wisconsin). Also lunch time gives me a chance to catch up on the current news of the day. Often I'm listening to Mayo's drive time show on R2 at the same time (like right now).

[Boboff]

Going Dutch!

[chrysostom]

Since I started my new job I've been spending a fortune on going out for lunch - probably negating any pay rise which I incurred! So I'm going to try and take a packed lunch every day this week - or at the very least buy a multipack of something from Tesco to prevent me incurring heavy one off expenses.

Today it was Cream cheese sandwiches and an Uncle Ben's rice pot

[Nicola_Red]

My lunch routine has been in complete disarray since we moved - I've been skipping lunch and just snacking all day, terrible habits like that. So two weeks ago Mr Red and I bought fancy salad tupperwares with ice packs and dressing pots and whatnot and we've been making a concerted effort to make salads pretty much every day. I just throw veggies and some sort of protein like fake meat or tofu in there and take some fat-free vinagrette. It's not a weight-loss thing or anything, just an attempt to get more veggies and get into a better routine. And it saves money too