How to pack a punch with your work lunch box

A lab rat gets a more exciting snack in the middle of the day than the average office worker. What happened? When we were kids, a lunch box was a treat. The idea of a cute little box of food that was all our own and nobody else's was so exciting, we'd usually bust into it long before we got to the school yard.

So let's analyse why the boredom as a working adult. It's hard to get excited about another ham-and-cheese sandwich after eating about, oh, 2637 of them, so if you're taking the same food to your workplace every single day, you're doing yourself a disservice.

Yes, taking your own saves you money. Yes, it's a great opportunity to eat something good for you, instead of bad. And yes, not being at the mercy of carb-heavy Nutella doughnut burgers and freak shakes should help your belt stay in its desired notch. But is it too much to ask for something exciting and joyful to eat in the middle of the day that will also power us up with enough energy to make it through the afternoon?

The real problem is that most work spaces are like being 30,000 feet in the air in a pressurised aircraft. I'm a bit hazy on the science, but they somehow suck the life force and the flavour out of the food that enters them, rendering everything dull and drab. So you need to build in MASSIVE HITS OF FLAVOUR to make up for the flavour loss, and you need to shake it up with something different every day.

Here are three recipes that pick a fight with lunchtime boredom and wrestle it to the ground.

The rainbow superbowl

Who wouldn't look forward to a bright, healthy and beautiful collection of the most colourful vegies, greens and grains? Toss with a tangy dressing and devour on the spot, roll into a wrap, or tuck into pocket bread.

The rule is to add anything as long as it's good for you, as long as it's bright. Choose for texture, fibre and goodness as well as flavour, and avoid anything that might sog. Consider also: crumbled feta, cherry tomatoes, pomegranate seeds, half an avocado, zucchini noodles.

100g mixed quinoa

200g broccoli

half red capsicum, cut into slivers

half yellow capsicum, cut into slivers

150g purple cabbage or wong bok, shredded

1 carrot, peeled and grated or cut into slivers

handful of parsley, mint or basil

handful of nuts or mixed seeds

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp honey

3 tbsp lemon juice

sea salt and pepper

1. Soak the quinoa for 15 minutes, then drain and rinse. Cook in simmering, salted water for 15 minutes or until tender, and drain well.

2. Cook the broccoli florets (and sliced stalks) in simmering salted water for five minutes, then drain, refresh in icy cold water to stop the cooking, and drain again.

3. Combine the olive oil, honey, lemon juice, sea salt and pepper in a small airtight jar, seal and shake well.

4. Arrange the quinoa, broccoli, capsicums, cabbage, carrot, herbs and nuts in two lunch boxes, drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil, and seal. To serve, shake the jar of dressing, pour it over the top, and toss well with a fork.

Makes 2

The salad in a jar

Another genius idea that is catching on fast among the office crowd. Layer all your favourite salad ingredients in an airtight, no-mess, no-fuss glass jar, along with last night's leftovers and a tangy dressing. When you're ready to eat, just tip it out into a bowl, or mix it up and eat straight from the jar.

No-cook jar salad

Canned salmon or tuna and a creamy pesto yoghurt dressing make this a super-easy lunch on the run.

2 tbsp pesto

200g plain yoghurt

200g baby spinach leaves

200g canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp ground cumin

sea salt and pepper

1 cucumber, peeled and finely sliced

200g can red salmon, drained

2 tomatoes, diced and drained

handful of basil or mint leaves

1 tbsp dukkah or mixed nuts and seeds

1. Whisk the pesto and yoghurt together until smooth, and pour onto the base of two 400-millilitre airtight jars.

2. Use tongs to place a stack of spinach leaves on top of the pesto yoghurt.

3. Toss the chickpeas with half the olive oil, cumin, sea salt and pepper and arrange on top of the spinach. Squeeze any excess moisture from the cucumber and place on top.

4. Drain the salmon, toss with remaining olive oil, sea salt and pepper and arrange on top. Spoon the tomato on top of the salmon. Add a few basil or mint leaves and the dukkah, seal, and refrigerate until lunchtime. To serve, turn out onto a plate or simply eat from the jar.

Serves 2

The bento box

You don't have to love Japanese food to see the brilliance of a bento box. The contrast of flavours and textures make every bite interesting, and the seemingly endless possibilities (Japanese pickles, kimchi, avocado, rare roast beef or cooked chicken, cauliflower rice, roasted sweet potato, baby spinach, wasabi, etc) mean you'll never have the same lunch twice.

Sesame soba noodles with soy eggs

Cook the sweet, earthy, soy-marinated eggs, noodles and snow peas earlier, so there's nothing to do in the morning except throw it all together. If it's cool, tuck in a sachet of instant miso soup (e.g. Spiral Foods) as well.

2 eggs

100 ml soy sauce

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp mirin

1 tbsp brown sugar

200g soba noodles

100g snow peas, sliced lengthwise

1 tbsp tahini

2 tbsp chopped spring onions

handful of soft lettuce leaves

half cucumber, peeled and chopped

60g silken Japanese tofu, drained and diced

2 tbsp Japanese pickled ginger

1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

togarashi* for sprinkling

1. To make the soy eggs, place the eggs in a pan of hot water and bring to the boil. Simmer for five minutes, then drain and plunge the eggs into icy cold water to cool. Peel when cool enough to handle.

2. Heat the soy, vinegar, mirin and brown sugar in a pan until the sugar has dissolved, and cool. Place the eggs in a snug airtight jar, top with soy marinade, seal and refrigerate overnight, turning once or twice to colour the eggs evenly.

3. Cook the soba noodles in simmering water for four minutes. Add the snow peas for 15 seconds, then drain and cool. Drain the eggs, reserving the marinade, and cut in half.

4. To make the dressing, whisk tahini into half the soy marinade, and toss the noodles and spring onions in the dressing, adding more marinade if needed.

5. Arrange the noodles, lettuce leaves, egg, snow peas, cucumber, tofu and pickled ginger in a bento or lunch box, and sprinkle with sesame seeds and togarashi.

*Togarashi is a Japanese spice blend of dried chilli, sesame and seaweed.

Makes 2

Out-sourced: Five cooks, five lunch boxes

There are some great recipes out there lurking in cookbooks and blogs, just waiting to be turned into lunch box magic every day of the working week. Here are five.

Monday: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's spicy chicken and peanut butter salad

To make, shred roast or poached chicken and combine with shredded spring onions, red capsicum, mint and coriander. Toss in a dressing of peanut butter whisked with tamari, mirin, grated garlic and ginger, honey and chicken or vegetable stock. From Hugh's new River Cottage book, Love Your Leftovers.

Tuesday: Nigella Lawson's spiced cauliflower and chickpea salad with pomegranate seeds

To make, toss cauliflower florets in oil spiced with cinnamon and cumin, then roast. After 15 minutes, add cooked chickpeas tossed in harissa, and some quartered tomatoes and roast for another 15 minutes until tender. Season, cool, and toss with pomegranate seeds and flat parsley leaves. From Nigella's new book, Simply Nigella.

Wednesday: Jess Pryles' roast beef po'boy

Barbecue queen Jess of TV's Aussie Barbecue Heroes likes shaking up the idea of the traditional southern shrimp-filled baguette of New Orleans. "I love using leftover roast beef in a baguette with some tart tomatoes and seed mustard, and a little bit of jus to soak into the bread," she says. jesspryles.com

Thursday: Tori Haschka's gado gado Indonesian vegetable salad with spicy peanut sauce

To make, lightly steam snow peas and broccolini, then combine with batons of red capsicum, finely shredded white cabbage and beansprouts. Make a spicy peanut sauce by whizzing peanut butter, cashews, lime juice, ginger, garlic, fresh chilli, soy and a touch of sugar to a paste with a little water, and serve with the salad and five-minute boiled eggs. From Tori's book, Cut The Carbs.

Friday: Michael Rantissi's Israeli chopped vegetable salad.

"Add a protein such as tuna or chicken and it's a meal in itself," advises the Israeli-born chef-owner of Sydney's Kepos Street Kitchen. To make, dice tomatoes, Lebanese cucumbers, red onion, radishes, and mix with chopped mint leaves, flat-leaf parsley, spring onions, and a dressing of yoghurt, chopped mint, crushed garlic and olive oil. From Felafel for Breakfast, written with Kristy Frawley.

And three tips ...

1. Pack a small tub of yoghurt.

Rich and creamy, natural yoghurt is both satisfying and filling. Make it savoury with a pile of snipped chives, sea salt and pepper and a swirl of extra virgin olive oil; or sweet, with a spoonful of brown sugar and a handful of berries.

2. Go for the grain.

Cook up a pot-load of lentils, cous cous or beans on the weekend, then reinvent them every day of the week. Cous cous, for example, could give weight to a Greek salad with feta on day one, be turned into lemony tabbouleh on day two, and be stuffed inside roast peppers on day three.

3. Go nude.

Keep your clothes on, but strip your food of packaging and processing. Take whole carrots and crisp apples to snack on. Instead of dicing avocado and watching it turn brown, take a whole avocado and make it the star of your lunch. Zero packaging, zero waste.