Sunday, July 25, 2010

Gluten free lunch options

I thought it might be helpful to share some g/f vegan options for lunch since this was one thing I was a little stuck with in the beginning. Generally we tend to make enough dinner so that we have leftovers for lunch for the following day. But when I have training at work or we eat out for dinner than lunch can be a bit more tricky since I can't just grab a sandwich. Here are a few options that I've come across and tried:

Lazuppa spinach and chickpea soup, it heats up in a can which is handy. All of the Lazuppa soups are g/f and most of the veg options appear to be vegan. This was ok, I like the protein addition of chickpeas, but I added more salt and pepper and served it with flavoured rice cakes. I think without rice cakes I would be left pretty hungry.

Rice spaghetti with tomato and basil sauce. I got this from Absolutely gluten free but they are actually made in Italy. I love this become you can just add hot water (or microwave) but the guy at the shop told me it's better when you add hot water. Also, it comes with a little fork and napkin which is great for training or holidays when you don't have microwave access. The noodles itself are quite nice and the sauce is a typical tomato based sauce, it's not amazing but it's tasty and convenient enough that I don't mind. If teamed with a muesli bar then I'm full.

Pattu Potato and Green Pea Curry with garlic papadums. This curry is way too spicy for me, but I enjoyed the garlic papadums. I know there are many varieties of these ready to serve Indian curries, so if you have tried some that are really mild, especially those with rice please let me know.

Other things that I have taken include rice paper rolls, g/f bread (with toaster bags) so I can make toast with g/f baked beans and rice cakes really are my best friend. I have eaten them with cheezly, aussie-mite, nooch, peanut butter and the flavoured ones just plain for breakfast, lunch and just as snacks.

If you have taken other g/f vegan lunch ideas for work I would love to hear about them.

5 comments:

  1. Yeah, those soups are pretty good - not as good as homemade of course, but then if I wasn't so lazy I wouldn't be able to complain! All natural ingredients too which makes me happy :)

    But I do feel bad about the excessively wasteful packaging on it :(

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  2. I didn't realise there was a spinach chickpea La Zuppa soup - I've had their pumpkin version and actually thought it was quite tasty.

    Would you ever consider something sweet-ish for lunch? You could try bircher muesli made with quinoa flakes and non dairy milk, thickened up with chia seeds? Or maybe that sounds too bizarre... :P

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  3. Nikki, your right about the packaging.

    Hannah, I tried the minestrone one today too which I thought was just as bland. The bircher muesli sounds interesting, Toby has been having gf bircher muesli for breaky recently and I think might be ok in warmer times

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  4. I just discovered LaZuppa too. I had the lentil one with some lemon juice, to try and recreate the dish I had in Turkey, but it was a little bland. This makes me suspect more that the lentil soup over there may have had meat stock in it. Sigh.
    The lazuppa ones are good though, because it is intensely frustrating to see so many veggie soups (like Campbell's pumpkin soup) with chicken stock in them. It's just... why? Why do you need to have meat stock in a veggie soup?

    Another instant supermarket meal I like is the Tastybite range - instant Indian meals. They are all vegetarian, but sadly only 2 or 3 are vegan. The Bombay potatoes with chickpeas is yummy. :D

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  5. Kate, I love the idea of adding lemon juice, so simple but I'm sure it adds some much needed flavour. I will keep an eye out for the tastybite range, thanks!

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