Off back to work today after 6 months off. Sandwiches are the obvious solution for work lunches, especially since I bake a lot of bread. But what to put in them?
I’m not vegan, or even strictly vegetarian, but don’t want to start eating processed meat at lunchtime, and a cheese sandwich is a fine thing, but gets a bit boring day after day, even with different accompaniments.

Suggestions for other things to go in between two slices of bread that aren’t meat or cheese?

Today’s is cheddar and beetroot chutney due to lack of imagination.

Peanut Butter, chilli jam/chutney, rocket and a tangy cheese. (sorry I know you said not cheese).

Cold roast meat if you have leftovers from any other meals.

Wraps with falafel, houmous, salad etc. You can do similar with bhajis etc.

Grated carrot mixed with peanut butter, bit of chilli jam ( or anything with spice) squeeze of lime.

Best in a wrap but home made wraps are the dogs bolleaux so no issues there.

Well as you don’t want processed meat, if you have a roast during the weekend there’s nothing as good as a roast chicken, stuffing, tomato, lettuce, (English) mustard and mayo sarnie.

If you ever have roast beef, thin sliced beef (we have a meat slicer) and horseradish makes an awesome base for a sandwich filling.

Egg salad? Much maligned (one office I worked in had an unofficial ban on people eating this) but very nice. Just don’t add cress as its not the 1970’s any more.

I know its cheese but thin sliced Mozzarella you can add tomato, rocket and a little bit of olive oil…

Get some decent chutney, not the generic supermarket tasteless branstons knockoff stuff (eg apple and balsamic)

Or there’s always banana and jam 🙂

Buy proper meat then you can open your options up

Proper meat, tuna,…

Tuna and chili mayo.
Sliced tomatoes and mozzarella with black pepper (yes cheese but different).

Cream cheese and banana with black pepper. Yes cheese, but different.

Peanut butter and banana with chilli sauce.

Crisps. Why has nobody suggested crisp sandwiches?

Tin of tuna , red onion,peppers,cherry tomatoes,grated cheese(optional) .Bit of mayo and Greek yogurt. Couple of days worth….

Banana. Or fresh strawberries. Or sweet chilli sauce mixed with Dijon mustard.

Crisps. Why has nobody suggested crisp sandwiches?

Add some yes cheese, but different cheese to that and you’re onto a winner.

For the kids packed lunches I used to chop a couple of chicken breasts into small pieces or strips, then fry in a little oil with a seasoning of their choice. Cajun was the favourite, occasionally a bit of peri-peri or chipotle paste. Then put it in a wrap or sandwich with some lettuce and mayo. Lovely!

Egg mayo also a big winner, but don’t overboil the egg as you want the yoke to add a bit of colour to the mayo.

My kids get:
Falafel (packet mix version from asian supermarket are v cheap and tasty) & hummus (make your own)
Tuna salad (tuna mixed with a whole heap of finely chopped peppers, spring onion, gherkin, grated carrot, mustard, mayo)
Finely grated carrot and cumin seed – useful wet mix that goes with hummus, cheese, even on its own at a push

But the more cost effective and easily varied option for packed lunch is a food jar (ahem…STW sells some good ones!) with pasta or rice in. I batch cook various bolognaise, lentil, dhal, cheese sauce and bean chilli type mixes, freeze them in small containers, and then it’s easy to microwave them in the morning and pour over pasta or rice. Pasta and pesto for unprepared mornings. Seems like it’s easier to cheaply vary pasta than it is sandwich fillings.

Hope being back at work is OK!

Yep egg mayo is ace, especially if you have a fridge to keep it cold.

Avocado salad or avocado and mozzarella.

Hummus salad and lots of black pepper.

+1 to onion bhaji and mango chutney (on a sandwich or not) or falafel and chilli jam.

Make a quiche or tart or flatbread?

For lower fat, soft cheese or cottage cheese if you can drain it well, and cucumber. But it is a bit dull.

The cheese salad sandwich is the greatest sandwich in all sandwichdom, so any answers you may get that satisfy your criteria will, by definition, be sub-optimal.

Grated carrot and humous

Falafel you say? Humous? Carrot? Add rocket and mango chutney and you’re onto a winner.

Get better cheese?

I had some lovely home baked levain flat rolls with goats cheese, fig marmalade and ruccola.

Or brie and ruccola with some home made pesto and some nice fresh mushrooms.

I often buy a small chicken, roast it then pick it to the bones (with the scabby bits given to the dog and the bones bunged in the slow cooker to make stock as I hate waste). I then mix with mayo, curry powder, mango chutney and sultanas to make coronation chicken. I don’t have a recipe as such, I just bung it all in and adjust to taste.

For daily variety if you don’t have specific dietary requirements, there’s lots of optons in the Tesco meal deal for £3 with a Clubcard. Typically I’ll grab a sandwich, For Goodness Shakes “recovery” and an Eat Natural bar. It helps there’s a Tesco Express literally minutes from work and it’s one less thing to do before and carry to work.

Corned beef and ketchup… Nice thick slices.

Hummous… I do like a good Hummous sandwich.

Hummus and falafel wraps, bit of fried aubergine and chopped salad, chilli sauce. Yum

Egg mayo.

Tuna.

All get my vote.

Smoked Tofu in mayo.

Sounds weird, but actually tastes like egg mayo, but better (I’m not vegan, but egg mayo makes me gag).

Can be made more interesting with either different marinades on the Tofu, or different flavors in the mayo.

For Goodness Shakes “recovery”

50g of sugar!

The cheese salad sandwich is the greatest sandwich in all sandwichdom, so any answers you may get that satisfy your criteria will, by definition, be sub-optimal.

This though, just get creative with the choices of cheese. Brie and tomato chutney with a rocket salad, or stilton with spinach, wensleydale and caramelized onion.

The left overs from last nights tea makes a great lunch the next day, you can even put something like meatballs, lasagne, curry or sunday roast between two piece of bread.

Another thing I to try to do to keep things cheap and nutritious are buy the rice and grain bags from lidl or aldi. The french lentils and curried chickpeas are good.

Have you tried Pastrami? That’s great on a sandwich and doesn’t seem to have the same amount of additives as ham or other cooed meats.

Wensleydale with strawberry jam or marmalade.

Tuna mayo an cucumber and a drizzle of cheese.

I also make up extra spaghetti Bolognaise and use that as a filling.

If you have a fridge and store cupboard at work then buying a few ingredients and making your own lunch is much better than buying the single potion processed lunches from the likes of Tesco, Morrisons, Boots etc

I quite like a mini ploughman’s lunch. it only takes some oatcakes, cheese (the mini packs of castello are my favouite https://www.castellocheese.com/en-gb/our-cheeses/Castello-Mini-Cheeses-Variety-Pack-Mini-Selection). An apple, some chutney and maybe a mini pork and pickle pork pie. Add some mixed salad leaves and you have a very tasty lunch.

Another fan of left-overs here.

Spanish omelette/tortilla works well in a sanger – with salad and garlic mayo, obvs. Nut roast, sliced sprouts and cranberry sauce is also a winner. Bonus points for a few parsnips.

My kids take rice or pasta most days (in insulated food containers – like Hannah mentions above).

Decent tomato slices, olive oil, salt, with a bit of basil (if you’re feeling fancy). Simple and very, very nice.

Any cold meat – I’m not as fussy as you but still the more real the better – with some sliced tomato and coleslaw is one of my standards. I tend to pick up whatever deli leftovers are on offer in the local supermarket and use that for a few days until it either gets finished or goes a bit too green for my liking.

Pork in a mayo/bbq sauce mix, perhaps with a few pickled jalapeños, is something I had once in the USA and recreated at home.

What about cheese?

That makes me feel sick just looking at it.

Chips.

That makes me feel sick just looking at it.

It used to be called ‘shrimp’ and it made me feel sick. I hadn’t realised they now call it ‘prawn’ and I feel weirdly interested in trying it.

Roast Veg (Strips of Peppers, Red onion, Courgette, aubergine in a tray bit of oil till chared) with a bit of Green pesto or hummus

Two lockdown discoveries:

– Marmite Peanut Butter

– Cheddar, cucumber and Marmite sandwiches.

You do need to like Marmite.

That makes me feel sick just looking at it

I think I’ve just up-chucked a smidge. The P-word is banned in our house. 🤮

Tinned Mackrell, salt pepper bit of mayo and red onion on malted….