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How To Prep and Pack Work Lunches
We get it! You want to eat something delicious and nutritious at work but don't know where to start. Or you're addicted to the convenience of a lunch bar near your office and it's draining your bank account.
Packing work lunches doesn’t have to be a chore, especially when you have delicious options like these! Start your week with a flavorful Korean Chicken and Rice Bowl—tender chicken marinated in a spicy-sweet sauce, served over fluffy rice with crunchy veggies. Midweek, treat yourself to a Quinoa Goat Cheese Harvest Salad—a hearty mix of quinoa, roasted sweet potato, dried cranberries, walnuts and pepitas, and creamy goat cheese, drizzled with a tangy vinaigrette. And for those busy days, nothing beats the convenience of DIY Instant Noodles In a Jar—just add hot water, and you’ve got a comforting, customisable noodle soup ready in minutes. These recipes are not only tasty but also easy to prepare, making your work lunches something to look forward to!
Some notes before you get started:
- Getting all your ingredients prepped is a great way to ensure success!
- We've created these recipes so that they can all be cooked in batches. You can scale the quantities up or down depending on how many people you are cooking for, or if you want to pack one of the recipes twice in a week!
- Snacks, snacks, snacks! For many people, lunch alone is not enough to get you through the day! If you are one of those people, it is very likely that your meal prep efforts will be foiled by your need for a mid-morning snack! Check out the Dinner Twist Marketplace for all your snack options!
Korean Chicken and Rice Bowl
serves 4
- 600g chicken thigh
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp gochujang
- 1 1/2 tsp honey
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/4 cup sesame oil
- 300g sushi rice
- 2 cucumbers
- 2 carrots
- kimchi to taste
- 40g sesame seeds
- To make the sauce/marinade; crush garlic and combine in a bowl with gochujang, honey, soy sauce and sesame oil. Mix to combine.
- Place chicken in a bowl with 2 tbsp marinade. Set aside.
Rinse sushi rice. Place in a saucepan with 650ml water. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat immediately to medium-low. Cook, semi-covered, for 20 minutes until rice is tender and water is absorbed. - Dice cucumbers and use a vegetable peeler or ribbon or julienne carrots.
Heat a frypan over medium-high heat with oil. Add chicken and cook for 8-10 minutes each side until cooked through. Remove chicken and reduce heat to medium. - Add remaining marinade to pan along with 1/4 cup water. Simmer for 5 minutes to make sauce, stirring, to make sauce.
- To pack; divide rice, prepared vegetables and kimchi among lunch boxes or containers. Add chicken and sprinkle over sesame seeds. Divide sauce among sealable jars. Drizzle sauce over chicken and rice to serve (warm chicken and rice if desired).
- Gochujang or red chilli paste is a delicious, savoury, sweet, and spicy fermented condiment popular in Korean cooking. You can buy gochujang and kimchi from most good Asian grocers.
- Keep the diced cucumber and julienned carrot fresh by placing them in an air-tight container with a piece of wet paper towel on top of the veggies.
Want to make this at home? We used Liberty Free-Range Boneless Chicken Thigh Fillets, Sushi Rice and Kikkoman Soy Sauce from the Dinner Twist Marketplace.
Quinoa Harvest Salad
serves 4
- 300g Sweet Potato
- 200g mixed quinoa
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 tsp mustard (dijon or Bavarian will work best for this recipe)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 50g walnuts
- 40g pepitas
- 40g cranberries
- 1 bunch radishes
- 2 avocados
- 150g goat cheese
- 120g rocket leaves
- Set oven to 220°C. Dice sweet potato. Toss on a lined oven tray with oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 20-25 minutes, or until tender and golden.
- Place quinoa in a saucepan and cover with plenty of water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until tender. Drain and rinse. Drain quinoa for a minimum of 5 minutes or press down in a sieve to squeeze out excess liquid.
- To make the dressing crush garlic and add to a sealable jar (or bowl) with mustard, olive oil, vinegar, 2 tbsp water, salt and pepper. Secure lid and shake to combine.
- Optional: heat a frypan over medium heat. Roughly chop walnuts, and add to a dry pan along with pepitas. Cook for 3-4 minutes until toasted. Remove from pan and mix with cranberries.
- Slice radishes, dice avocado and crumble goat cheese.
- To pack; spoon even amounts of dressing into the base of large jars or into small jars to add to serve, spoon in quinoa, roasted sweet potato, radish, avocado, goat cheese and rocket leaves. Top with walnuts, pepitas and cranberries.
- Make this salad plant-based by substituting goat cheese with your favourite plant-based cheese or scrambled tofu.
Want to make this at home? We used Sweet Potatoes, Beerenberg Bavarian Mustard and BRAGG Apple Cider Vinegar from the Dinner Twist Marketplace.
DIY Instant Noodles
serves 4
-
600g pork steaks
-
1 garlic clove
-
2 tsp soy sauce
-
200g shelled edamame beans
-
50g dried black fungus strips
-
1 bunch spring onions
-
1 red capsicum
-
1 corn cob
-
1/4 cup miso paste
-
2 garlic cloves, crushed
-
1/4 cup soy sauce
-
2 stock cubes of choice
-
chilli sauce, oil or dried flakes to taste
-
4 instant noodles cakes (or noodles of choice)
- For pork steaks coat with crushed garlic, soy sauce and pepper. Heat a large frypan over medium-high heat. Add pork and cook for 2-3 minutes each side until cooked through. Allow to rest for 3 minutes then slice.
- Prepare edamame beans according to packet instructions. Place black fungus strips in a bowl and cover with hot water, leave to sit for 10-15 minutes until hydrated, then drain. Thinly slice spring onions, dice capsicum and remove corn kernels from cob.
- To pack per serving; add 1 tbsp miso paste, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 clove crushed garlic, half a stock cube and chilli sauce/oil/flakes to taste. Top with noodles, prepared vegetables and slices of pork steak.
- To serve, boil the kettle. Cover ingredients with hot water and leave to sit for 2-5 minutes until noodles are tender. Mix to combine and enjoy.
- This recipe is a great base for using your favourite combination of ingredients or bits and pieces in your fridge! Use chicken, tuna, tofu, any colour of capsicum, frozen peas, or diced carrots!
- Tossing prepared edamame beans in sesame oil, salt and white pepper will add extra flavour.
- If you are using non-instant noodles, par-cook them first before packing. The noodles will finish cooking when you pour over the hot water.
Want to make this at home? We used Red Capsicum, Corn Cobs and Garlic from the Dinner Twist Marketplace.
