How to build a better packed lunch for midwinter office days

As January drags on and many people return to the office, a Guardian food column advises preparing a thoughtful packed lunch to avoid insipid sandwiches, tepid heat‑lamp soups and soggy salads.

The piece recommends embracing a “primped” packed lunch and showcases punchy, textural winter salads such as Nigel Slater’s smoked mackerel and bean affair, Georgia Levy’s cold soba noodles with tahini and sesame dressing, and Rosie Birkett’s celeriac, apple and lentil salad brightened with lemony mayonnaise and dijon. Alternatives include Rukmini Iyer’s chapati omelette rolls, bento-style boxes (with a bento-building guide from Caroline Craig and Sophie Missing) and Peter Gordon’s bacon, pea and shallot muffins.

The writer also suggests practical options for hot or room-temperature meals: Tamal Ray’s veg-filled noodle pot if you have access to a kettle, and using an insulated flask to keep soups and rice dishes warm — examples given are Yotam Ottolenghi’s sour lentil soup, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s chicken and winter veg broth transferred from a Sunday roast, or Akwasi Brenya-Mensa’s plant-based dirty Cajun rice.

The column notes the first month of 2026 is almost done and argues there is every reason to make time for a lunch that soothes, coddles and surprises. If readers want the complete newsletter, the piece says they can subscribe to receive Feast in their inbox every Thursday.

Key Topics

Culture, Packed Lunch, Nigel Slater, Rukmini Iyer, Yotam Ottolenghi, Bento Box