So it’s Summer, and believe it or not it’s actually warm in England for once! Instead of hiding in your uni buildings at lunch time you finally have the option to go out to have lunch! Although the Southsea Common and Ravelin Park are looking like great places, unfortunately you can’t take your standard tin of soup there, so here are some outside friendly options that make a perfect summer lunch!
1. Sandwich/Wrap
An old summer lunch favourite. I have fond memories of sitting outside at Primary School with my tuna and sweetcorn wrap, taking in the sun, and although the days of eating fish for me are gone, I don’t think anyone can disagree that a sandwich or wrap is the perfect summer lunch. Nowadays I prefer different fillings such as falafel and hummus, and cheddar ploughmans, but there are many different options that work, meaning that although you’re having wraps and sandwiches everyday, you can keep the filling changing so you don’t get bored! (Also let’s not forget how easy they are to make! Tasty and stress-free? Sign me up!)
2. Salad
Before anyone thinks “Ew, salads” let me tell you- there are many ways to make your salads more interesting and perfect for your summer lunch. If you’re the kind of person who just had lettuce, pepper, cucumber and tomatoes, then WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING WITH YOUR LIFE (and salads). I personally couldn’t eat a salad like that, I love mine with falafel, homemade croutons, homemade salad dressing, and lets not forget, cheese. My prefered type of cheese for a salad would probably be feta, but that isn’t the only option, cheddar, halloumi and brie also work- just to name a few! Let’s also not forget that you can tell yourself salads are healthy (no matter how much cheese you add) cause it’s just vegetables right? Which gives you more of a reason to eat a whole packet of cookies by yourself!
3. Pasta Salads
First of all, they are not the same as normal salads, because they have the addition of carby pasta goodness. Now the stereotype of a pasta salad is that it is just plain pasta chucked in the pot with dressing, and if that’s what you like then you carry on, but if you’re looking for something a bit more interesting then carry on reading! My current favorite addition to a pasta salad is red pesto pasta, but cheese and tomato tortellini and green pesto pasta also works! Be careful though if you’re adding flavour to the pasta as you don’t want it clashing with the flavour of the salad dressing, so either skip out of the salad dressing, the sauce, or spend an afternoon trying to match the flavour of your chosen pasta to a salad dressing.
4. Leftover Risotto
Okay so I don’t know about you, but whenever I make risotto, I make enough to feed an army, and this means leftovers. Fortunately cold risotto still tastes amazing, which makes it the perfect summer lunch because 1) It’s not going to make you hotter than you already are 2) You get a tasty lunch 3) You aren’t wasting food! Food wastage not only seems pointless, but also in the long run costs you money! As a student I try and throw away as little food as possible and one way of doing this is making it into a risotto which i can enjoy hot or cold!
5. All of the above!
I’m not telling you to eat 1 normal sized portion of each of these things, but rather get a few friends together all bring a bit of each of these things and have a picnic! I’m yet to meet someone who hasn’t enjoyed a picnic. In my books picnics are the ultimate summer lunch! They’re bags of fun and you get to have some quality time with friends in the sun whilst eating tasty food- what’s not to like! Portsmouth has some lovely picnic worthy spots such as Southsea Common, the beach, Ravelin Park and Victoria Park, to name just a few. So next time you and your friends are planning on having lunch, why not save your money on Wetherspoons and have a picnic instead!
There you have it! Just a few ideas as to what you can have for lunch whilst the weather is hot! But the list doesn’t end here, there are plenty of other options for your summer lunch, so get cooking and find out!