4 protein-rich lunches to take to work

Four lunches to pack for work: turkey rice bowls, a tofu wrap, a tempeh bowl and a lentil salad. Each comes from a published Nourishible recipe, and they differ on three things that matter at lunchtime: whether you need a microwave, how many lunches one batch makes, and whether the box contains rice. Cooked rice has a one-day fridge limit, so three of the four are lunches for tomorrow, not for Friday.

The packing suggestions below follow from how each recipe is built; none has been tried as a packed lunch.

The four at a glance

Each lunch is a main meal rather than a side, and each differs from the others in protein source or in how you eat it. That leaves out a second rice-and-meat bowl, since a batch of ten portions is a lot of containers to get through in a day.

Each figure is the creator's own, on the creator's own serving size and way of counting sauce, bread and rice, so compare within a row rather than down the column. Nourishible has not recalculated any of them. Understanding macros covers what a gram figure can and cannot tell you, and what to ask a GP or registered dietitian.

The NHS counts meat, fish, eggs, beans and pulses among its protein foods, and says pulses such as beans, peas and lentils are a good source of fibre and protein.

Honey garlic turkey bowls

The most familiar format: rice, vegetables and a sauced meat divided into containers. The recipe makes 5, with about 113 g of cooked rice in each, then the vegetables and turkey on top. The creator's page gives 10 minutes' prep and 25 minutes' cooking, with the rice already cooked. That is three skillet stages: onion, red pepper and courgette; green beans with garlic; then the turkey.

The turkey is 93% lean mince, and the NHS advice is to choose lean cuts of meat and mince. Press the turkey flat and leave it for a few minutes before breaking it up, so it browns rather than steams.

There is no raw salad or dressing in the box, only a little honey, stock, sriracha and soy sauce stirred through, so nothing wilts or turns soggy. Reheat until steaming hot throughout, and only once.

Shredded BBQ tofu wrap

The wrap is the one for a workplace with no microwave. Firm tofu is grated into large shreds and cooked for 4 to 5 minutes with garlic and smoked paprika, then 1 to 2 minutes more with barbecue sauce. Cooked rice, spinach, red cabbage, corn and spring onion go in the wrap with it.

Pack the sauce separately. The recipe serves its vegan mayonnaise and chipotle sauce alongside rather than inside, so carry them in a small pot and add them at your desk. The recipe's notes say that toasting the rolled wraps in a grill pan helps them hold together for a packed lunch; the toasting happens when you make them, so the wrap is eaten cold.

Pick Up Limes says the wraps are best eaten on the day they are made, so make them that morning if you can. Because of the rice, the evening before is the latest; chill them as soon as they have cooled.

Gochujang tempeh bowl with edamame salad

The biggest bowl, and the most work: the tempeh is cubed, baked for 16 to 18 minutes, coated in just over half the gochujang sauce and baked for another 7 to 9. The rice cooks alongside, and the edamame salad is chopping plus a sesame dressing. Pick Up Limes puts a serving, including the rice and salad, at 752 kcal and 35.7 g protein.

This is a dinner recipe, served straight away, so pack it in parts: tempeh and rice together, the edamame salad in its own container, and the remaining sauce in a small pot. Dressed cucumber and cabbage release water as they sit, which is why the salad travels separately.

Pick Up Limes keeps leftovers for up to 2 days. With rice in the box, the FSA's one day is the limit to follow.

Warm French lentil salad

The quickest, and the only one without rice. The lentils simmer for 18 to 20 minutes while you slice shallots and garlic, then everything is tossed with lemon, vinegar, pine nuts, arugula and herbs. The recipe's notes say the lentils, shallots and garlic can be prepared the day before. The bean and lentil weeknight dinners guide has more to do with lentils.

The recipe gives no quantity for the olive oil, garlic, herbs or chilli, and no protein figure, so how rich a portion is depends on what you add. It has no starch of its own; the recipe suggests crusty bread, so pack some. It is written as a warm salad, with the arugula and herbs folded in while the lentils are hot, so taste it cold at home once before you pack it for work, and pack the arugula separately so it is not left dressed for hours.

How long can you keep a batch?

Three of the four lunches contain cooked rice. For rice, the Food Standards Agency says to chill it as quickly as possible, ideally within one hour, to keep it in the fridge for no more than one day until reheating, and never to reheat it more than once. Five turkey containers are therefore not five days of lunches. Eat one or two the next day and freeze the rest the same evening, or cook a smaller batch. The FSA says you can freeze rice if you cool it quickly first, and that it should go into the freezer within an hour of cooking. Defrost in the fridge, use within 24 hours of fully defrosting, and reheat until steaming hot, once only. Can you reheat rice has the full rule.

The lentil salad is the exception. The FSA's general advice for cooked food is to cool it at room temperature and get it into the fridge within one to two hours, to keep the fridge between 0 and 5°C, and to eat leftovers within 48 hours or freeze them. So even the lentil salad is a two-day batch in the fridge, not a week's. If you want lunches on more than a day or two, cook on two or three evenings in the week rather than once on Sunday.

For the journey, the closest FSA guidance is its picnic advice, which is not written for work lunches. It says to put foods you would normally keep in the fridge, a list that includes "prepared salads and sandwiches" and "cooked dishes", in a cool bag: "Place these foods in a cool box or cool bag with ice or frozen gel packs." It adds that ice packs should be spread through the bag rather than all at the bottom, and the bag opened as little as possible. It also warns that after four hours or more at 8°C and above the risk from bacteria increases, and that in extremely hot weather food that has been out of the fridge should be used within 2 hours.

For breakfast, there is a guide to protein-rich breakfasts without protein powder.

Sources

• NHS: The Eatwell Guide
• Food Standards Agency: chilling, freezing and defrosting food
• Food Standards Agency: cooking your food
• Food Standards Agency: home food fact checker (rice)
• Food Standards Agency: keeping food safe on a picnic
• Protein and calorie figures are each creator's own: Josh Cortis, The Meal Prep Manual for the turkey bowls, and Pick Up Limes (wrap, tempeh bowl).