Making Lunch

Although not on any particular diet, I am keeping an eye on my calorie intake. This doesn’t control what I eat, but informs after the fact, and steers me towards things that I like, but also seem to work well for my health. This is working well – since I have stopped worrying about what I eat on any particular day, but simply keep a note of it, I have been steadily losing a pound or two a week, since the beginning of the year.

Central to this is lunch. While my evening meals are generally pretty varied, for lunch I tend to find a formula and flog it to death until I start getting bored with it.

In the past that has been egg dishes, and will be again; at one point I was particularly fond of eggy mini-wraps, and more recently I was on a big omelette kick. Last month I had a couple of weeks with lunches based around Nissin Soba noodles, dressed with whatever I had in the fridge.

This is convenience, rather than obsession, because preparing slight variations of the same thing every lunch means you get pretty quick at making it, and also makes shopping easier – and sometimes cheaper with 2-for-1 deals. But more recently it is because having made something twice I get a good enough feel of the calories involved, and rather than having to add up individual ingredients, I can simply say “Burrito – under 400 kcals”. This makes tracking my meals much easier, and so more likely to keep up with. While it is a guesstimate, it is one I can happily live with.

So I am currently working through 2 packs of large wraps, a total of 12, which means 12 lunches, after which I’ll either buy another 12 or switch to something else. At the moment, I’ll think I’ll carry on, as I am enjoying myself.

Today’s was simple – a spoon of refried beans, a spoon of guacamole and a spoon of cooked rice, rolled in the wrap with sour cream and cheese. Microwaved for 2 minutes to heat it through and melt the cheese, then air-fried for 2 minutes to crisp it up without becoming crunchy. More protein than carb, so lasting satiation rather than carb high leading to bingeing.