No more sad sandwiches and soggy salads: here's how to make a proper packed lunch

"Seasonal colds and lurgies abound. The weather is generally at its rain-lashed and blackly overcast worst. Well-intentioned attempts at self-improvement or abstemiousness are starting to creak in the face of a desire for whatever scraps of midwinter comfort we can find. Nowhere is this more apparent than when it comes to food and, more specifically, the daily puzzle of how to have something nourishing as a working lunch."

"Even as someone who effectively eats out for a living, there have been plenty of times when I have stood up from the desk of my chosen workspace (often one of the oversubscribed tables at the British Library) with no real plan and wandered aimlessly, only to end up forking out for some insipid sandwich, tepid heat-lamp soup or tray of indeterminate vegetable mulch that is both expensive and unsatisfying. The answer, for a healthier bank balance and general disposition, is to come prepared and embrace the primped packed lunch."

"This, of course, is where gutsy, smartly constructed winter salads come into play. Not a dismal punishment tub of undressed baby spinach and slimy sweet potato chunks. But, rather, punchy, textural riots such as Nigel Slater's smoked mackerel and bean affair, Georgia Levy's loose method for cold soba noodles and shaved, crunchy veg cloaked in a tahini and sesame dressing, or Rosie Birkett's celeriac, apple and lentil salad, brightened by lemony mayonnaise and an enlivening lick of dijon mustard."

Late January often feels like a confused slog: seasonal colds, rain-lashed overcast weather and waning willpower make daily routines trudging. Returning to offices after remote working reintroduces the challenge of finding nourishing working lunches. Impulse purchases often produce insipid sandwiches, tepid soups or unsatisfying vegetable trays that are expensive. A prepared packed lunch improves health, mood and finances. Gutsy, textural winter salads deliver satisfying midday meals: examples include smoked mackerel with beans, cold soba noodles with tahini-sesame dressing, and celeriac, apple and lentil salad brightened with lemon mayonnaise and dijon mustard.

Read at www.theguardian.com