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4 take-to-work lunches

Sick of the same old sandwiches? Try these fast and filling ideas

Eating the same thing day in day out can be tedious to say the least. But that's what happens to those of us who only have time to grab a sandwich at the corner café. For most people, lunch is just a way of refuelling for the afternoon's workload. It doesn't have to be that way. With a little planning a working lunch can be fun, nutritious and inexpensive.

Taking a salad is easy. Just wash and dry the lettuce leaves, put in a resealable bag and top the leaves with a damp paper towel. The dressing can be transported in a screw-top jar. Soups can be taken in thermos flasks and drunk from mugs. Buying in a stock of plastic cutlery and paper napkins will minimise any washing up.

Go straight to:

• Roasted Vegetable and Chicken Tortilla Wraps
• Salad Nicoise with Fresh French Baguette
• Meatloaf Sandwich with Onion Jam
• Parma Ham Ploughman's Lunch

Roasted Vegetable and Chicken Tortilla Wraps

The night before, quarter 1 red pepper and 1 red onion. Put them in a bowl and drizzle over some olive oil and balsamic vinegar, add salt and pepper and make sure the vegetables are well coated in the dressing. Transfer to a baking tray and roast in a hot oven until slightly charred. While the veg are cooking, grill a chicken breast. When cool, slice into strips. Mix the roasted veg with 1 tsp pesto. Take the roasted veg, the sliced chicken breast and 1 or 2 flour tortilla to work with you. To make the wrap, lay out the tortilla and fill with the roasted veg and the chicken, and salt and pepper to taste. Carefully fold in the sides and roll up. Add a mixed leaf salad if you like.

Salad Niçoise with Fresh French Baguette

Make up a quick Niçoise salad using a tin of tuna in olive oil. Drain off the oil and reserve for the dressing, then put the tuna into a bowl. Add some halved cherry tomatoes, snipped anchovies, pitted black olives and blanched French beans if you have them. Make a dressing with the reserved oil using lemon juice, salt and pepper. Pour over the fish then store in the fridge until ready to use. Serve with a fresh baguette.

Meatloaf Sandwich with Onion Jam

Don't make a meatloaf especially for this sandwich, but if you do happen to have some leftover I can't think of a better way of using it up. If you don't have any meatloaf, you can use any leftover meat: chicken, lamb, beef or pork. Buy a pot of onion jam (you can get it from a speciality food shop) and spread it thickly onto a sliced white cob loaf then top with the meatloaf or cold meat.

Parma Ham Ploughman's Lunch

Get the best Parma Ham you can, some sun-dried tomato chutney, a hunk of parmesan cheese, some sourdough bread and a pile of rocket leaves. Make it all look wonderful on a plate.

More:

• 5 speedy afterwork suppers
• 75 fast and healthy meal ideas

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