Preparing your own food for work has many advantages: it is cheaper than buying ready meals. It gives us full control over the ingredients and their quantity, and can also be fun, simple and fast.

You don’t believe? Below are some ideas for meals that we can prepare quickly at home. Or even in the office. Keep basic ingredients like a small packet of olive oil, vegetables, fruit, salt, pepper or other spices in your office. Thanks to this, we will be able to eat freshly prepared dishes at work. If we do not have such a possibility, nothing will happen if we prepare the food the previous evening. We simply store them in the home (and then office) fridge until lunch. Some of them will even gain flavor!

Lebanese Bean Salad

Components:

• canned red beans (rinse and dry)
• canned chickpeas (rinse and dry)
• 1 small red onion (diced)
• 1 ripe tomato (diced)
• 1 medium cucumber (slice, remove seeds, dice)
• celery stalk (chop)
• parsley
• fresh dill or mint
• olive oil
• lemon juice
• pinch of salt
• a small pinch of red pepper flakes

The advantage of this dish is not only its taste, but also the minimum amount of time needed to prepare it. We can rinse the beans and chickpeas at home and bring them in a plastic package. The rest of the ingredients can also be prepared at home or cut in the office. It will take a minute. Put the beans, chickpeas, onion, tomato, cucumber, celery, parsley, dill / mint in a bowl and mix. Then pour olive oil, lemon juice to taste, add salt and paprika flakes. We mix everything again. The author of the recipe suggests using garlic, but let’s have pity on our co-workers and skip it.

Salad with chicken and chickpeas

Components:

• Lettuce
• Chicken breast (tear into small pieces with your fingers)
• Canned chickpeas (rinse and dry)
• Canned corn (rinse and dry)
• Tomato or cherry tomatoes
• Crushed feta or goat cheese
• Avocados
• Coriander or parsley (chopped)
• Olive oil / lemon juice

The ingredients can be brought to the office in a medium-sized jar. Lay the heaviest products on the bottom: chickpeas, corn, chicken, cheese. Tomatoes, avocados and herbs should be chopped in the office before eating, then pour the olive oil and possibly sprinkle with lemon. If we do not have access to the bowl in the office, after adding all the ingredients, shake the jar hard to mix them. A delicious lunch can be ready faster than reheating the dish in the microwave.

Sweet chicken sandwich

Components:

• Chicken Breast
• 1/3 small plain or Greek yoghurt
• a teaspoon of mustard
• a few chopped dried apricots
• a few chopped almonds
• a few lettuce leaves
• optional: chives for sprinkling
• salt and pepper
• bread

After the chicken breast is cooked, mix the ingredients (except the lettuce). We bring it to the office in a plastic container, and put it on bread in the office. Our colleagues who eat a roll of cheese and ham will envy us!

Bento box

It may be a good idea to invest in a bento packaging. It comes from Japan, where smart moms have been preparing lunches in this type of packaging for years. They have compartments that can be individually adjusted so that the ingredients do not mix.