My Current Standard Weekday Meal

Since I moved job back in late September and got a bit more free time, I have paid extra attention to the amount of $$$ I spend on breakfast on the go and eating out at lunch. Not to mention - the extra calories intake as part of that.

After careful thought, planning and fine tuning - this is the current weekday breakfast & lunch pack that works for me:


Breakfast.

The Asian cereal drink costs just under $6 for 20 packs, which brings it to ~ 30 cents a meal. Just pour in a cup, add hot water, mix and sip. Quick, easy, nice and soothing brekky at work!
Calorie wise? Totally affordable at 140 calories! :) I can even have my Skinny Cappuccino (without chocolate topping) on the side. The combination of the two lasts me till lunch time.

Although I love oats (especially Honey flavoured ones); it is trickier to have them for weekdays (i.e. extra microwaving step and potential microwave cleaning due to oats over flooding from bowl!). Plus, the bowl required makes it more apparent that I'm having brekky at work. And, nope - I'm not going to wake up earlier to have my brekky at home! Consuming brekky before 9 means I get hungry earlier (most likely before lunch!).

Moving on to lunch.

After a few changes - I finally get the right lunch sandwich ingredients for me, i.e.:
Bread: The semi-thick leftover crust from Mr.'s 2-tuna-sandwich-lunch per small loaf of Bakers Delight Cape Seed Loaf. Cost: under $1.

Vegetable: 5-6 cherry tomatoes - refreshing and it lasts long in the fridge. Cost: 75 cents (a punnet costs about $2.95 depending on season and have ~ 25 cherry tomatoes)

Protein: One boiled egg - nice, easy and keep for a while in the fridge too (or so I think). Cost: 50 cents (free range! Why? Read a chatterbox's pensieve: Eggs - Cage or Free Range or Barn Laid?!)

Fat: Extra Tasty Mainland Crackers Cut Cheese (2-3 slices).
Delicious.
Full of flavour.
Long Lasting.
Cost: 65 cents (Pack of 20 slices cost $4.35 at Coles).
(Image sourced from Mainland website)

Dessert: Fuji Apples! Cost: 40 cents ($5.98 for a pack of ~ 15 apples)

So - lunch cost adds up to $3.30. Yes - I could probably cut it down by swapping some ingredients and doing a bit of more manual work, etc etc. But I love it as it is. The convenience means that I'm likely to have this more often. Taste wise? The combination of strong cheese flavour, refreshing cherry tomato and crunchy yummy bread makes me look forward to lunch. The egg works well in keeping me full till about 4 ish when I have my Jarrah ChocoLatte Frothy Classic. The apple leaves nice fresh sweet taste in my mouth. :P

Calorie wise? Not bad at all! Bread estimated at 200 calories, cherry tomato at 3 each, boiled egg at 70, the cheese slices at 25 each, and apple at 55 brings up to total of 313 calories. This means that I can have yummy decent dinner with Mr. ;)

Of course there are days where I head out and grab Blueberry Muffin from Baguette at South Yarra Station or Thick Buttered Raisin Toast from Cafe Alcaston or my most recent find, Cinnamon & Raisin Bagel with Cream Cheese from Treasury Cafe or Treasury Deli. But I reserve these brekky treats for those random days when I really feel like them or need them.

Same goes for lunch. I still eat out when I'm catching up with people over lunch, but not every day anymore. It really does taste better and feel more special when we do it less. :)

So, what works for you?

PS: I stumbled upon this recipe, Bakers Delight : Cape® Crouton Pies, while Google-ing Cape Seed Loaf. Something for me to try when I finally buy the Cape Seed Loaf for myself! :)