A bag of chips you got from the vending machine and an apple you flung in your bag while running out the door in the morning may not exactly seem like the ideal office lunch, but when you're a busy woman with not a whole lot of time to leave your desk at work, that's all too often the sad reality of your midday meal. But your lunch doesn't have to be all pathetic, all of the time — a few genius office lunch hacks dreamt up by the brainiacs at FoodBeast may be just the thing you need to kick your tastebuds' noon-time blahs and become a desk lunch boss. Hey, just because the occasional vending machine lunch is inevitable doesn't mean it has to be terrible.
The brilliance of these desk-side tricks comes from their simplicity. Want to get your avocado to ripen faster? Throw it in a paper bag with a banana peel. Been trying to figure out how to get your food to heat up quicker in your office kitchen's ancient microwave? Arrange it on a plate in the shape of a circle (seriously). Other hacks use items you already have at your desk. Rubber bands, old CD holders — they all do their part to make your lunch slightly more exciting (or at any rate, slightly less depressing).
I listed my five favorite office food hacks from FoodBeast below, but check out the full video for more ideas that will make you feel like you're not a complete loser for having to stay at your desk for lunch... again.
1. Turn your bag of chips into a bowl of chips, and get ready to party
Whereas munching on a single-serving bag of chips alone at your computer may feel sort of, um, sad, there's just something about digging into a bowl full of chips that makes you feel like you're at a party. And lunchtime should always feel like a party, no?
2. Use a pen as a bag clip
Once you're done munching, turn your chip bowl back into a bag, and clip it shut with a pen. So simple, so smart.
3. Keep your apple slices fresh by holding them together with a rubber band
Brown, soft pieces of fruit will make you feel terrible about your existence. Don't let that happen to you. Instead, hold your sliced apple together until you're ready to eat it by using the one thing you probably have sitting in abundance in your desk drawer — rubber bands.
4. Boil an egg in an extremely hot cup of coffee
Apparently this isn't a magic trick so much as it's actually a thing people do to make lunch feel more exciting. I've never tried this one out myself, but I gotta say if nothing else, at least it looks pretty cool.
5. Microwave granola bars to make them less crumbly
As a person who makes a mess eating one of these every morning, all I can say is that this is brilliant.
Check out FoodBeast's full video below for more mind-blowing ideas.
Images: Martijn van Exel/Flickr; FoodBeast/YouTube
