Ladies Who Lunch

At school my mum would make a pack lunch for me everyday. And everyday it would consist of a cheese sandwich, bag of ready salted walkers crisps, a yogurt, piece of fruit and a kitkat. I loved it.

Recently though I've been test-running a few ideas to keep my lunch interesting when I have 9-5 days in university. Now obviously these need to be on a budget, hence why I don't buy lunch out. So these are a few lunches I've come up with to try and save me money and time, whilst keeping things interesting!

1. Cous Cous/Rice Salad
Bags of cous cous and rice are so cheap, but I only ever think of eating them cold in the summer with a BBQ. So recently I've been introducing cold cous cous with chopped tomatoes, peppers and onions to give a Mediterranean feel but with a bit more sustenance than a traditional leafy salad. I also find this is good with quinoa if you're looking for a bit more protein.

2. Burritos
Similar to above, I cook rice and  throw in beans. Once cooled I add onions, peppers, grated cheese (whatever you like in a burrito), and wrap them up in foil. Then I'll take in a small pot of salsa/guacamole/crème fraîche, or all three if I'm feeling spendy. This is a great and filling lunch! Bound to keep you full all day, and if you have access to a microwave, swap the foil for a lightly moist kitchen towel (I would have previously cooked the onions and peppers) and heat for 3 minutes. Delicious!

3. Quinoa and Broccoli Bites
This one takes a little bit longer to prep but is well worth it! Cook your quinoa and broccoli and allow to cool slightly. Then combine with chopped spring onions, bread crumbs, grated cheese, egg and any seasoning of your choice! My personal favourites are paprika or oregano. These go great with rocket and some fresh cherry tomatoes.

The best thing about all three of these options is how customisable they are. Hope this has inspired you to change up your lunch a bit. Let me know if you have any suggestions for me!

Standing Proud

My main New Years Resolution this year is to no longer eat meat. This decision has been a long time coming, after giving up meat for lent last year I have not eaten red meat since, and never bought meat for myself. However when I'm at home or visiting peoples houses, I've always found myself apologising for being awkward and so eating poultry and occasionally pork.

If you were to ask those who know me, they would say I'm never one to shy away from confrontation, or standing up for what I believe in. So it was surprising to me when I realised I had started to apologise and conform for something I do feel very strongly about, and the only thing I can put it down to is that eating meat is just so commonplace. In most occasions I am the odd one out - but that has never stopped me before.

So this year I have fully committed to no longer eating meat, and now I'm not embarrassed to put people out or feel awkward, I'm embarrassed it took me so long to get to this point.
The main reason for this post is not to discuss confidence and resolve (which are also important), but share what helped me finalise this decision; finding communities and support. Just seeing people post about going meat-free online made me realise I wasn't alone in this decision (obviously there are many others... but you know what I mean). I heard a statistic the other day that 1 in 8 Britons are now vegetarian, and whether true or not, it gave me hope.

Hope for change.

So, whether your belief is the same as mine or different, I hope that is the message anyone reading this takes away.

Going The Distance

No this is not a film review (although I do bloody love that film).

I have quite a lot of experience with long distance relationships. At one point or another I've been away from my family, friends and boyfriend, so I feel I'm fairly qualified to talk about this area.

Apart from holidays away, moving to university was obviously my first big step because I left my family and friends to move somewhere I'd only visited for a few hours on the open day. Luckily, I was so ready and excited to leave that it didn't hit me straight away. Although there were obvious down times, like my first birthday away from home, I made a great group of friends in freshers week that I'm still close to now. In fact I live with most of them. However after having known these friends only a year, I then left to do a year abroad in Canada, leaving behind family, old friends, new friends and now a boyfriend that I'd met in my first year in Glasgow. 

Freshers Friends Last

Home Is Where The Heart Is

This post is a little bit more personal but I felt the need to address it.

When I first moved to university I could not have been more excited. I was looking forward to having independence, cooking and shopping for myself, meeting new people and just experiencing the next stage in my life. Of course there were a good few tears when my parents left me at my accommodation but in general I was happy to be there. After speaking to all of my friends from home, the same seemed to be applying to them too. Now I was a little unfortunate in that the building I moved into wasn't actually finished, and so this meant no Internet for what (was supposed to be a week maximum) ended up being months before we had a semi-reliable connection. I was also in a studio room consisting of two bunk beds which I had to share with a complete stranger (that it turned out I didn't get on with that well). After fresher's week died down I began to feel really homesick, especially with not being able to facetime my family. I found this incredibly difficult. The worst part would be eating alone some nights, staring at a blank wall because I couldn't even watch youtube or netflix! This was the disadvantage of not being in a traditional uni flat with a kitchen/living area shared between at least 6 people.