Even on hectic days, your stomach will be rumbling by lunchtime. But your phone rings and there’s an email to send before you can quickly find something to eat... and in no time at all, your lunch break is over. Sound familiar?

We’d all like our midday meal to be healthy and with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. But, in the real world, our good intentions are often sabotaged by a lack of time, and we end up back at the uninspiring snack bar around the corner.

If you’re looking for something vegan, you might get lucky even there. More and more often these days, cafés are offering vegan snacks. This is a great improvement. But still, sometimes you end up having to go on a food hunt. And let’s be honest: often what you can find is pretty far removed from a balanced meal.

No wonder that full- and part-time vegetarians prefer to bring their own food from home. In a survey of 3,500 vegetarians, 75 percent packed their own lunch several times each week. The kinds of recipes they want are balanced, simple, and quick. And that is exactly what you will find in this book. Here are plenty of vegan ideas for lunch box classics such as colorful sandwiches and cold dishes—which our survey respondents put right at the top of their list—as well as soups and warm dishes that can easily be reheated at the office and guarantee a delicious and stress-free lunch break.

And if you are wondering when you might have time to prepare these meals, I have a
tip for you: every so often, meet up with family or friends on a Sunday for a communal cooking session. Together you’ll have so much more fun chopping, sizzling, and baking than you would on your own and, by the end, your fridge will be bursting with plant-based delicacies for your own completely personalized lunch box.