No more sad sandwiches and soggy salads: here’s how to make a proper packed lunch
Even if you have no truck with Blue Monday, Quitter’s Day or any of the other new-year wheezes concocted by enterprising marketeers, the last weeks of January can feel like a bit of a confused slog,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.
These can feel like lean days in more ways than one – characterised by tax payments or a painfully slow creep towards the first payday of 2026.And that’s only more apparent now that, after the remote working and pyjama-clad Zoom calls of the post-pandemic era, lots of us have returned to the office for at least the bulk of the week.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.Elsewhere, Rukmini Iyer’s chapati omelette rolls are a simple, hugely satisfying alternative to a sandwich, seemingly built for the age of healthful protein-maxxing.Bento boxes also often feature delectable, soy sauce-enriched folds of egg – and are like dopamine-boosting activity centres for adults.Caroline Craig and Sophie Missing’s approachable bento-building guide deftly simplifies what can feel like a fiddly process.
Through a different cultural lens, Peter Gordon’s bacon, pea and shallot muffins make a similar case for hearty cooked items that are just as enjoyable at room temperature, having been entombed in a lunchbox for a few hours.Have access to a kettle? Well, you could do worse than construct Tamal Ray’s veg-filled, rainbow-hued riff on everyone’s favourite additive-stuffed hangover salve: the noodle pot.These days, it is possible to have something hot for an office lunch without having to subject the rest of the kitchenette to the powerful scent of microwaved mulligatawny.Invest in an insulated flask, as I have, and you can slip off to a quiet spot for a private moment with something warming.Yotam Ottolenghi’s sour lentil soup, a version of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s chicken and winter veg broth rolled over from a Sunday roast, or a rice dish – Akwasi Brenya-Mensa’s plant-based dirty Cajun rice, maybe – that will retain its heat and hold your interest to the last, scraped spoonful.
The first month of 2026 is almost done, and it may well be that the promised equine momentum of the Year of the Horse is yet to fully materialise for you.All the more reason to make time for a lunch that soothes, coddles and surprises.Graphic gastronomy | A melding of food and literary graphic fiction is a combination basically lab-engineered for my particular cultural sensibilities.So one of my absolute favourite Christmas presents (from my very observant wife) was a copy of Cannon by Lee Lai: an acclaimed 2025 work about a female Chinese-Canadian chef grappling with identity, romance, friendships and an encroaching nervous breakdown amid the pressure-cooker heat of Montreal’s restaurant scene.Think The Bear meets Alison Bechdel and you’re on the right track.
I savoured it, so I only finished it this week and can’t recommend it enough if you love food-service culture and inventive visual storytelling.Drizzle kick | Speaking of mood-boosting festive gifts … another boon, within the frenetic December whirl of exchanged cards, hurriedly bought chocolates and regifted panettone boxes, was the beautiful, squat jar of Basra date syrup that Ellena, a thoughtful, Iranian-heritage neighbour, dropped at our door.What a revelation: subtle, complex and with a distinct, humming note of fruity, toffee sweetness.I’ve been trickling it over roasted carrots, spooning it on to yoghurt and basically whacking it on everything in sight.I’m very grateful and completely hooked.
If you want to read the complete version of this newsletter please subscribe to receive Feast in your inbox every Thursday.
At home with Jakob Ingebrigtsen: ‘I’ve fed my obsession my whole life’
On a bone-cold new year’s morning, the world’s most compelling athlete is sweating so much that tiny puddles are starting to ooze across his treadmill.For 40 minutes Jakob Ingebrigtsen makes 6min 40sec mile pace look like a Sunday stroll, breezily chatting away even as the heatbox in his home gym pushes the temperature inside to more than 32.4C (90F). Only when I ask the double Olympic champion what his super-strength is does he pause to take a proper breath. “In Norwegian we have a word for it,” he eventually replies
Bullish Borthwick tells England to target Six Nations triumph in Paris
Steve Borthwick is plotting an English raid on Paris and has called on his side to set their sights on clinching a first Six Nations title in six years in the French capital on Super Saturday.England have not won the title since the Covid-hit championship in 2020 and last managed the grand slam in 2016 when Eddie Jones’s side clinched a fifth straight victory at the Stade de France.Borthwick was in bullish mood after announcing a settled 36-man squad for the tournament, naming a pair of uncapped props in the 19-year-old Billy Sela and Emmanuel Iyogun amid injury problems in the front row, while Exeter’s 22-year-old flanker Greg Fisilau will hope to make his debut. The head coach also welcomes back George Furbank, who has struggled with calf and arm injuries recently and has not played for England since November 2024.A clutch of players including Fin Smith, Ollie Lawrence, Fin Baxter, Tom Roebuck and Ben Curry will head to next week’s warm weather training camp in Girona for rehabilitation but it remains to be seen whether they will be fit to face Wales at Twickenham for England’s opener on 7 February
Borthwick’s task is to strike the right balance with thriving England ready for takeoff | Robert Kitson
Precise formations, instant decision-making, absolute synchronicity. It is not hard to grasp why Steve Borthwick and his assistants spent an instructive day with the Red Arrows last month in preparation for a Six Nations campaign in which they would love to soar even higher and leave their rivals gazing at their vapour trails.Squadron leader Borthwick was particularly struck by the clarity of the Red Arrows operation – “They were so clear and to the point about what they must do better” – and how the world-renowned air display team choose their elite personnel. “The lead pilot basically said: ‘Every one of these pilots is a great pilot. What we’re going to select on is the character of these people
Harry Redknapp targets second tilt at Cheltenham glory with Taurus Bay
The first meeting between Sir Gino and The New Lion, the top two in the Champion Hurdle betting, is among the highlights of Trials Day at Cheltenham on Saturday but every contest on the eight-race card will offer pointers towards the festival and owner-of-the-moment Harry Redknapp will hope to see another big-race contender emerge in his colours in the concluding race.Redknapp’s attempt to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the blue riband of chasing, with The Jukebox Man, his recent King George VI Chase winner, already looks sure to be the biggest story at this year’s festival. It never hurts to have strength in depth at Cheltenham in March, however, and a win for Taurus Bay in the Grade Two AIS Novice Hurdle would see him shoot towards the market leaders for the Turners Novice Hurdle.Ben Pauling, who trains both The Jukebox Man and Taurus Bay, has made no secret of the regard in which he holds the five-year-old, a £155,000 purchase at Cheltenham’s February sale in 2025.“I think Taurus Bay is very smart,” Pauling said, “but we are going from two miles to two and a half miles on what will be very testing ground and hopefully he will stay
Lewis Hamilton warns new F1 season will present biggest challenge of his career
Lewis Hamilton has emphasised the scale of the challenge facing drivers and teams as Formula One enters a new season with a regulation reset that the British driver described as the biggest of his career, as his Ferrari team look to a new start after a disappointing 2025.The Scuderia launched their new car, the SF-26, with Hamilton driving it at the team’s test track at Fiorano for the first time on Friday. He was optimistic, having been involved in the development of a Ferrari for the first time but acknowledged that a huge task lay ahead.“The 2026 season represents a huge challenge for everyone, probably the biggest regulation change I have experienced in my career,” he said. “Being involved from the very start in the development of such a different car has been a particularly fascinating challenge, working closely with the engineers to help define a clear direction for it
Your Guardian sport weekend: Premier League, Australian Open and NFL title games
Day seven at Melbourne sees some big names in action as Jannick Sinner and Novak Djokovic go in the men’s draw, where one of the game’s veterans is enjoying a last hurrah. The former champion Stan Wawrinka, who will retire at the end of the season, is the first player to reach the third round at a grand slam past his 40th birthday since Ken Rosewall at the same tournament back in 1978. The Swiss next faces the ninth seed, Taylor Fritz of the US. In the women’s draw, Iga Swiatek and fashionista Naomi Osaka are the standouts. Luke McLaughlin hosts our liveblog, while Tumaini Carayol and Jack Snape report
Harry Constable obituary
British retail sales jump as online jewellery firms offer surprise Christmas sparkle
‘I’m picking winners’: UK business secretary takes activist approach to economic growth
The Australian dollar is (oddly) rising – what does ‘sell America’ sentiment have to do with it?
JP Morgan chief Jamie Dimon took home $43m pay last year
‘We have to stand together’: Minnesota economic blackout organizers push to take demonstrations nationwide