Forget sandwiches – try these healthy and tasty packed lunches instead

Packed lunches are back. Last year 16-64 year-olds tucked into 1.1 billion packed lunches, a rise of 86 million on the year before, according to Kantar, a market research firm. It’s the first rise since the pandemic brought numbers crashing down. 

Sandwiches, pasties and sausage rolls are amongst the most popular items, according to a recent survey by meal delivery company Frive, who calculate the average office worker will get through 99 sandwiches, 88 chocolate bars, 67 pasties, 62 wraps, 61 pasta pots and 50 packets of sushi during their lunch breaks throughout the year.

But most of these items grabbed out of the supermarket chiller cabinet, are far from the healthiest options. Most will contain industrial ingredients like thickeners, emulsifiers, and preservatives which mark them out as an ultra-processed food, implicated in the rising rates of obesity and ill health. 

Not only that, but as with all highly refined carbs, the low fibre content and high glycemic indexes could cause a blood sugar crash. This – and I speak from experience – makes you so ravenous mid afternoon that a raid on the chocolate drawer feels like the only thing coming between you and a meltdown. 

Fortunately it’s perfectly possible to  rustle up a healthy homemade packed lunch, without obsessing over going low fat, low calorie or low carb. A good lunch is about getting more bang for your buck, so those carbs, fat and calories deliver decent nutritional benefits. So that means vegetables and lean protein of course, but also heart-healthy olive oil, omega-3 fats, and fibre-rich grains. 

Not only that, but these lunches are often bigger than the unhealthy alternatives, making them extra satisfying while delivering healthy ingredients without piling on the calories. So it’s time to pack a proper packed lunch. 

Swap: A sausage roll for spinach and ricotta rolls

Sausage rolls do contain some protein as well as niacin (vitamin B3), but it’s matched with loads of fat, much of it saturated, which most experts think we should be limiting in our diet. Not only that, the pastry is often made with ethically questionable palm oil, which puts them in the ultra-processed territory – plus you won’t find vegetables in there. 

Make a filo pastry roll instead, and stuff it with a classic mix of ricotta and spinach. Pastry is never going to be especially healthy, but it is a good way to make food portable so use thin filo to combine convenience and flavour without piling on the carbs and fat. Leafy greens provide lots of folic acid and fibre as well as vitamins A and C and calcium, while the cheese is there for more calcium, vitamin B12, protein and vitamin A. A handful of walnuts gives a superfood boost, with antioxidants, omega-3s and gut-boosting qualities. 

Spinach and ricotta rolls recipe

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 1 leek, sliced (about 200g )
• Salt and pepper
• 1tsp butter
• 450g frozen chopped spinach , defrosted.
• A good grating of nutmeg
• 100g walnuts, toasted
• 250g ricotta
• 125g soft goat’s cheese
• Grated zest of half a lemon
• 6 sheets filo pastry
• 2tbsp melted butter
• 1tsp Marmite or other yeast extract
• 1tbsp chopped thyme or 1tsp dried
• 1tsp poppy seeds or nigella seeds for sprinkling

Method

1. Heat the butter in a large pan and add the leek. Cook over a medium high heat, stirring , until softened. Drain the spinach in a sieve, squeezing out as much of the liquid as possible. Add to the pan, cooking until any remaining water has evaporated. Season with grated nutmeg, salt and pepper.
2. Toast the walnuts in an oven at 150C/130C fan/gas 2 for about 20 minutes, until lightly coloured. Allow to cool slightly, then crush them roughly in a pestle and mortar or chop them. Raise the oven temperature to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.
3. Drain any liquid off the two cheeses and mix them together. Stir in the lemon zest and season with salt and pepper.
4. Melt the butter and mix with the Marmite.
5. Unroll the filo pastry and lift off one sheet. Keep the rest covered with a plastic bag.
6. Lay the sheet with the long side close to you, like an open magazine. Brush the right hand half or “page” with melted butter and sprinkle with one sixth of the crushed walnuts and thyme. Fold the left hand “page” on top of the walnut covered pastry.
7. Spoon one sixth of the spinach mixture along the bottom end of the pastry, leaving a rim of 4cm at the edges. Top with a sixth of the cheese mixture. Brush a little more butter over the exposed pastry. Roll up loosely from the bottom to the top, folding in the sides as you go to make a spring roll shape (too tight and the rolls may burst, but even if they do they’ll still hold together once cooled). Lay on a baking sheet.
8. Repeat with the rest of the pastry, walnuts, thyme and filling. Brush the tops of the rolls with the last of the butter and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Bake for 35 minutes, until deep golden and crisp. Cool on a rack.

Swap: A ham and cheese sandwich for chicken, kale and sweet potato wholemeal pitta pockets 

A cheese and ham sandwich does pack in protein, but the ham is likely to be highly processed, the bread low in fibre, and where are the vegetables? Opting for a mix of chicken and roast vegetables gives you two of your five-a-day as well as a dose of fibre, and just as much protein. Kale makes a good lettuce alternative for a packed lunch, as rather than going limp and soggy in dressing it just gets more tender. 

Chicken, kale and sweet potato wholemeal pitta pockets recipe

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 300g cooked chicken, shredded
• 1 sweet potato (about 200g) scrubbed and cut into 2-3cm cubes
• 2 red peppers, seeded and cut into 2-3cm cubes
• 1tsp olive oil
• 150g whole kale leaves (not chopped kale)
• 4 pitta bread pockets

For the dressing

• 2tbsp olive oil
• 1tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 1tbsp rose harissa

Method

1. Heat the oven to 230C/210C fan/gas 8. Put the sweet potato and peppers in a roasting pan and drizzle over 1tsp olive oil and 1tsp pomegranate molasses, plus salt and pepper. Toss until coated.
2. Roast for 35 minutes, until golden and cooked through, turning half way through. Leave to cool.
3. Whisk the dressing ingredients together and season with salt.
4. Wash the kale and dry well. Rip the leaves from the stems into postage stamp sized pieces, and put them in a bowl. Add 1tbsp of the dressing and with your hands massage well until all the surfaces are glossy. Mix with the chicken, roast vegetables, and the rest of the dressing.
5. To assemble, toast a pita bread lightly and split it. Take a quarter of the salad mixture and stuff in the pitta.

Swap: White pasta salad for buckwheat noodles with a soy and sesame dressing

The good news is that cooking then chilling pasta lowers the glycemic index, so that it causes less of a glucose spike in your blood (although you do need to reheat it as well, to get the most effect). But most pasta salads are made with white pasta, so there’s precious little fibre. The Sainsbury’s tuna sweetcorn pasta salad I looked at had less than a single portion of veg in it, and the second ingredient was mayonnaise laced with thickener and cornflour. Instead, try an Asian-inspired noodle salad, packed with over two portions of crunchy veg per serving. I like to use 100 per cent buckwheat noodles, as they are delicious and higher in protein than wheat noodles, but either will work. Buckwheat noodles are gluten-free too. 

Buckwheat noodles with a soy and sesame dressing recipe

Serves: 2 

Dressing

• 20ml rice vinegar
• 1tbsp peeled and finely grated fresh ginger
• 1tsp honey
• 2tsp tamari soy sauce
• 1tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1tbsp olive oil (the oil from the mackerel tin is fine)
• Sliced chilli (optional)

Salad

• 125g tin of mackerel in olive oil
• 200g Tenderstem or Bellaverde broccoli
• 80g buckwheat noodles (such as Clearspring brand)
• 2 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 160g frozen edamame peas, defrosted
• 1tsp toasted sesame seeds
• Leaves from a small bunch of coriander

Method

1. Whisk the dressing ingredients together. Drain the mackerel and flake it.
2. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook the broccoli until bright green but still crisp. Scoop out and cool under the tap. Dry well and cut into 2-3cm lengths.
3. Boil the noodles for 3 minutes, stirring so they don’t stick. Drain and mix with the dressing. They will be undercooked, but soften in the dressing.
4. Add the spring onions, edamame peas, broccoli and mix well. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and add the coriander.

Swap: Couscous salad for mixed grains with feta and avocado 

Couscous salad or rice salad is an easy fall back but it tends to be low in fibre and does not deliver much protein either. Make an easy homemade version with a ready cooked pack of mixed grains, which will boost your diet diversity, great for gut health, as well as delivering slow release energy. Load it with vegetables, herbs and feta, and if you want more protein, just add more cheese and pumpkin seeds. 

Mixed grains, feta and avocado recipe

Serves: 3

Ingredients

• 1 small red onion, very thinly sliced (85g)
• Juice of half a lemon
• 250g pack cooked mixed grains, such as Merchant Gourmet Glorious grains
• 100g feta, cut into cubes
• 100g radishes, thinly sliced
• 100g sugar snap peas, halved on an angle
• 1 mini cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1 small avocado, sliced
• 3tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds
• 3tbsp olive oil
• Leaves from 4 sprigs of fresh mint, ripped

Method

1. In a small bowl, mix the onion, lemon juice and a fat pinch of salt. Put it to one side for 10 minutes.
2. Mix the grains, feta, beetroot, peas, cucumber and preserved lemon. Lift the onions out of the lemon juice and add them to the salad. Mix the avocado into the lemon juice left in the bowl, turning it so it is well coated. Add to the salad.
3. Stir the olive oil in and mint. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Swap: Tinned tomato soup and white roll for homemade minestrone with parmesan meatballs

I love a tin of tomato soup. Sweet, savoury, sour and salty all at once it’s an addictive treat. But what it isn’t is a proper lunch, especially not with a white roll. All the sugars (yes, plenty of them, nearly 20g in a can of Heinz) and the refined carbs in the bread will spike blood glucose making a tea time biscuit tin raid all but inevitable. 

A homemade minestrone always tastes better the next day, so it’s ideal for cooking at the weekend and freezing portions to take into work. Traditionally, it’s made with pancetta or bacon, but cured meat is best saved for occasional treats, so I’ve substituted meat balls and it’s more satisfying than ever. 

Bags of frozen mixed carrots, celery and onion – called soffritto in Waitrose and M&S, or vegetable base mix in Sainsbury’s and Asda – are a great quick fix but use 175g each of chopped carrots, celery and onion if you prefer. 

Homemade minestrone with parmesan meatballs recipe

Ingredients 

• 1tbsp olive oil
• 500g bag of frozen vegetable base mix
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 800ml light vegetable or chicken stock, or water
• 400g tin cannellini beans
• 60g dried wholemeal spaghetti or linguine
• Meatballs (see below)
• 150g outer cabbage leaves (save the rest for another dish)
• Basil pesto (optional)

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and add the carrots, celery and onion. Sprinkle with salt and cook gently for fifteen minutes or so, until tender and just beginning to brown.
2. Stir in the garlic and tomato puree, cook for another minute, then add the tomatoes, stock, cannellini beans, pasta and meat balls (see below).
3. Strip the tough stems out of the cabbage leaves and slice them into 1cm strips, then add them to the pan too.
4. Simmer for about fifteen minutes, until both the cabbage and pasta are soft (not al dente). Check the seasoning and serve with a dollop of pesto if you like.

Meatballs (makes about 50 tiny meatballs) 

• 200g pork mince
• 4tbsp dry bread crumbs
• 1tsp smoked paprika (optional)
• 1 egg
• 25g grated parmesan
• Half a bunch of chopped chives

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/180C fan/gas 5 (or use an airfryer on high).
2. Mix all the ingredients, season (you won’t need much salt, but plenty of pepper) and roll into Malteser-sized balls. Lay on a baking tray lined with non-stick paper and bake for 20 minutes, turning occasionally, until well bronzed.