Welcome to Week 8 at Lunch Matters

Got a favorite photo or recipe to share?

Email it to us at lunchmatters@lunchmatters.com.au and we'll publish it here!

Click here to see this week's menu suggestions

NEWS

A very warm welcome to all those of you who are joining us for the first time after chatting with us at World Vegan Day today. It was a fantastic day for us as we had the chance to speak with so many people who already knew something about the Laptop Lunchboxes or who were fans of the Vegan Lunchbox blog. There were also a great number of others who we were able to talk to and introduce to the Lunch Matters concept. We hope that you find some of the information that is contained in this blog useful and relevant. The menu suggestions for the week are Vegan to celebrate World Vegan Day and as a way of welcoming our new subscribers.

The most exciting news of the week for me was the arrival of a sample copy of the Vegan Lunch Box cookbook. This is a resource that will keep me going with ideas for months if not years to come. Jennifer has put an enormous amount of work into this publication - it's nearly 300 pages long and there's something for everyone in there. Her chapters are cleverly organised so that you can find everything from the quick and easy to the more exotic. Jennifer very kindly sent us a copy of the book so that we would have it for show and tell today and I know many of you were as excited as I am about seeing the book.

We will be shipping in 30 copies for the end of November and if you are considering purchasing a lunchbox, then parcelling the two items together will be a great way to save on postage and the savings will be significant. If you are just interested in the book - the US$5 shipping deal that Jennifer is offering on International postage will mean that the savings that we will be able to pass on will not be significant, I'm sure that many of you will know that International shipping doesn't usually come that cheap! Just to give you an idea, we expect to be selling to book for AU$29.95 + $4.90 shipping if it is ordered as a stand alone item.

We'll enough about selling, let's get down to some cooking...

RECIPES

Blueberry Couscous
(adapted from Marie Claire Bruches by Jody Vassallo)

1 cup couscous
2 cups apple and cranberry juice
1 cinnamon stick
blueberries
zest of I orange
2 tablespoons golden syrup

Place the couscous in a bowl. Place the apple and cranberry juice in a saucepan with the cinnamon stick. Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and pour over the couscous, cover with the saucepan lid and allow to stand for 5 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed. Remove and discard the cinnamon stick Separate the grains of couscous with a fork, add blueberries, (add raspberries and blackberries too if you have some - Summer’s coming!), and orange zest and stir through gently. Spoon the mix into your lunchbox container and place a small amount of golden syrup (or maple syrup if you prefer) into your dipper. When it’s lunchtime and you’re ready to eat – drizzle the syrup over the couscous before you eat. YUMMO!

INGREDIENTS

organic refried beans
avocado
lemon juice
Better than Sour Cream
Olives

METHOD

The other lunch of note is the one that I made to celebrate the Vegan Lunch Box cookbook release. Here's the original post.It is worth noting here that as a rule I won't be blogging Vegan Lunch Box meals as there are already so many great resources available at the site - so this is what you'd call a one off, WVD event :o)

It sounded a little out there when I saw it but when I made it, it was really delicious and super filling so a great lunch to pack for a day when you or your children are busy.

All you need to do is mix a little salsa with some organic refried beans (available from healthfood stores, organic stores, Macro) and then layer the avocado mashed with a little lemon juice on top, then another of bean/salsa mix and then on top of that put some Toffuti Better than Sour Cream (you can leave this out of course if you don't have access to a supplier) with some olives. Use the veggies and pita for dipping.

LINKS TO OTHER SITES OF INTEREST:

For the newcomers - don't forget to check out the Laptop Lunches Flickr site

WEEKLY SHOPPING LIST: Remember for optimum health the aim is to have 3 fruit and 5 veg a day...

Fruit:

oranges
apples
kiwi
mango
banana
lemons

Vegetables:

Garlic
peas
carrots
green pepper
yellow pepper
red pepper
corn
potatoes
avocado
cucumber
parsley

In the pantry:

organic chick peas
olive oil
wholemeal pita
cranberry and apple juice
Organic tinned refried beans
Smoked organic tofu
grissini
sushi rice (to make use your Laptop Lunchbox User Guide)
Organic museli for trail mix, includes puffed rice, nuts, sunflower seeds, dried fruit
dried bananas
dried nectaries

In the fridge:
Frozen blueberries from the Farmer's Market
Soygurt

Welcome to Week 7 at Lunch Matters

1610Monday Originally uploaded by Lunch Matters.

Got a favorite photo or recipe to share?

Email it to us at lunchmatters@lunchmatters.com.au and we'll publish it here!

Click here to see this week's menu suggestions

NEWS

Things are really heating up this week at Lunch Matters as we work towards our first exhibits at the Ecosustainability Fair and World Vegan Day. We are really excited at the prospect of being able to meet with people and to hear their thoughts about the lunchbox and the Lunch Matters concept. Whilst there are obviously lots of plusses about running a web based business, the downside is that the only contact that we have with customers is via email. The fairs will really give us an insight into what the Australian customers are interested in.

In other breaking news I have had some wonderful discussions with Jennifer McCann of the Vegan Lunchbox and we are going to be in a position to have her book straight off the press and available in time for Christmas, so if you're looking for a wonderful resource to add to your lunchpacking repetoire then watch this space. If you're lucky enough to be in Melbourne and able to come to World Vegan Day, we anticipate having a sample copy of the book for you to see and we'll be taking preorders on the day.

RECIPES

With all the focus that we've had on Veganism this week I thought I'd post the recipe for the Vegan Patties that you can see in this week's menu suggestions. If you are looking for a lunch idea that packs some serious punch you can't do much better than these serious super food patties.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Patties

Adapted slightly from http://www.vegan-food.net/recipe/255/Sweet-Potato-and-Black-Bean-Burgers/

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons oil
2 onions, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 carrots, grated finely
2 cups black beans, tinned (available from organic wholefoods stores)
10 sun dried tomatoes, soaked in hot water until soft, coarsely chopped
2 cups shitake mushrooms, dried, soaked in hot water until soft, coarsely chopped
2 baked sweet potatoes, scooped out of skin
2 cups quinoa, cooked
1 1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 - 1 cup tomato puree
4 tablespoons mustard
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

METHOD
Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and lower heat. Cook until lightly browned, several minutes. Add carrots, beans, tomatoes and mushrooms and cook an additional 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn off heat. Mash slightly in pan, until beans are half crushed.
Place mixture in large bowl with remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. If mixture is too moist, add more wheatgerm. Form into 12-15 patties and baked on an oven tray for 25 minutes at 180C.

They freeze really well - so you can make a big batch and keep some in the freezer for the rainy days.

Rocket, parmesan and sundried tomato rolls

Adapted slightly from Jill Dupleix's recipe that appeared in Delicious Magazine October 2004

This recipe is for the omlette featured in the photo of the week. I imagine that you're thinking - when am I going to find time to make an omelette? But the beauty of this is that it literally takes about 3 minutes to make and it keeps beautifully if made the night before and stored in your lunchbox (in the fridge) until morning and then kept with your icepack until lunchtime the next day.

INGREDIENTS

3 eggs
splash of verjuice or dry white wine
Olive oil
6 sundried tomatoes + a little of the oil that they are stored in
50g rocket
50g parmesan, shaved

METHOD

Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk, add the splash of verjuice

Heat oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat and add half the egg mix. Tip the pan to help it spread thinly and cook for about 1 minute until lightly golden. Flip the omlette out onto a wire cooling tray. Repeat to make the second omlette

Finely chop the sundried tomatoes and place in a bowl with the rocket and parmesan. Toss together with one tablespoon of the sundried tomatoes' oil. Place the mix onto the cooled omlette and roll up. Garnish with a little of the left over salad mix.

If you are making lunches for school children - this may be a bit adult for the average child, so I packed this for my husband and me and made the omlette roll ups that you can see in the menu suggestions for my son. They were light and delicious the next day and a fun way of adding some protein to his lunchbox.

LINKS TO OTHER SITES OF INTEREST:

We've made some great cloth napkins to give away at the fair on the weekend thanks to some fantastic resources made available by Tea Priestess, a member of the Laptop Lunchbox Flickr group. I'm continually amazed by the generosity of people over the web and the sense of belonging to the global village that this can give you - even in these crazy times when the news seems so full of the sad stuff.

If you'd like some napkins for your box you may like to make your own - if you have a child who's particularly into a certain theme, this can be a great way to incorporate it into lunchtime without upgrading lunchboxes everytime a new craze hits. You don't need to be a wizz to make them, all you need is some fabric, about 20 minutes and a sewing machine (you could even do them by hand if you didn't have that).

WEEKLY SHOPPING LIST: Remember for optimum health the aim is to have 3 fruit and 5 veg a day...

Fruit: (roll on summer - I think we're more than ready for some of that summer diversity here)

oranges
apples
kiwi
pear
lemons

Vegetables:

Tomatoes
Beetroot
Garlic
Lettuce
Broccolini (YUMMO - much nicer than it's straight cousin in my experience)
sweet potatoes
carrots
onions
fennel
celery
beans
red pepper
rocket

In the pantry:

verjuice
tomato paste (another item where you really need to read labels!)
freeze dried veggie chips
kamut bread
Lavosh bread (from the freezer) tinned chickpeas
Prunes
Dried unsweetened SA cranberriesOrganic free range eggs
Organic tinned black beans
Quinoa
Smoked organic tofu
ham

Dairy:

Bocconcini cheese
goat's cheese
parmesan
cream cheese
cheddar cheese

Welcome to Week 6 at Lunch Matters

0910Monday, originally uploaded by Lunch Matters.

Got a favorite photo or recipe to share?
Email it to us at lunchmatters@lunchmatters.com.au and we'll publish it here!

Click here to see this week's menu suggestions

News

Lots of exciting news at Lunch Matters this week! If you're reading this you'll be aware of the first new venture for the week and that is to post the weekly newsletter as a blog entry in an attempt to minimize the impact that the weekly newsletter was having on your inbox...It will also allow you to really easily add your comments and feedback.

If you're subscribed to our newsletter we'll send you an email each week letting you know when we've updated the blog so that you know when to pop in for a visit.

Now to the really exciting news. Lunch Matters has secured stalls at two big events in Melbourne this month. Next weekend we'll have a stall at the EcoSustainability fair on Sunday the 22nd October and the following Sunday (29th) at World Vegan Day. We'll have the Laptop Lunchboxes and a selection of other goodies there for people to see and buy and we'll be offering an event discount of 10% to anyone who is wanting to buy their lunchboxes on the day. So if you're in Melbourne and you're wanting to have a look at the lunchboxes or you know someone else who is interested, let them know.

In recent weeks we have looked at some of the hot topics that surround packing healthy lunches for children. This week again there have been a number of stories in the media about parents wanting to steer their children away from making unhealthy choices. But how do we actually convince our children that the wizz bang packaged foods that they see at school are not what they should aspire to eat in their lunches? One approach that I have found particularly effective when I have to take my children to the supermarket is to focus on a ‘no numbers’ approach to filling the trolley. Very young children are capable of recognizing numbers on food labeling. When browsing the isles, as the inevitable temptations come my children’s way, we stop and I ask them to read the labels. “Are there numbers on the packaging?” If the answer is yes then it goes back on the shelf. If you can explain what those numbers mean and why some foods have numbering on the package, this can be an easy way to help your children to understand about foods that are good for them and foods that are not so good for them.

We make regular trips to the ‘no numbers’ supermarket – Macro. In Melbourne and Sydney, these stores are expanding. They have shelves of foods that are organic and free from artificial colours and preservatives. Health food stores all over the country offer similar products. When I first made the transition to buying organic foods nearly 5 years ago, the stores that I needed to shop in were few and far between and still pretty rustic, it seemed to go with the territory. To see how much that has changed in such a short period of time, suggests that more and more people are getting on board and what that means for the consumer is that the price tag that often made organic foods prohibitively expensive are gradually coming down and availabilty is on the way up. I have even found a couple of regular Coles supermarkets with half an aisle dedicated to organic produce!

Recipes

Simple fare was the order of the week at Lunch Matters this week - although looking back I think I was bitten by the bento bug. I am a Japanese teacher by trade and having spent time living in Japan, all that delicious Japanese food is one of the things I miss the most. When the weather heats up I often find it is cold noodles and sushi that I crave so I thought I'd post a tried and tested recipe for soba salad and one for the Japanese meatballs that are featured with the quail eggs in this week's menu suggestions.

INGREDIENTS

50g soba
1 small carrot julienned (I have a nifty thing like a peeler that juliennes in about 10 seconds)
toasted nori cut into strips or shapes
1cm piece fresh ginger (5g), grated
1 teaspoon organic sesame oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon soy sauce

Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan, add soba and allow the water to come to the boil again, as soon as it does add a cup of cold water, and repeat twice more until just tender; drain. Rinse under cold water; drain.

Place soba in your open container with carrot and nori. Mix the dressing ingredients and put those in the lidded dipper to pour onto noodles at lunchtime. This is one of the BEST ever dishes for a hot summer or spring (as was the case this week here) day!

Japanese Meatballs

As I suggested a couple of weeks back, to make these just for lunch rests in the realms of the lunchpacker with lots of time on their hands, the key to these being a handy lunchbox filler is to make them for dinner and then to use the left overs for lunch or freeze a few for the days when you need to grab something quick and easy for lunch.

Ingredients
1/4 onion minced
1/2 tsp cooking oil
80g ground beef
2 tsp beaten egg
2 Tbsp breadcrumbs
2 tsp soy sauve
1/2 tsp each sugar, mirin and sake
3 Tbsp water

Method
1. Saute the onion in the oil and let cool.
2. Combine the ground beef, cooked onion, beaten egg, breacrumbs.
3. Knead well. Form into small balls.
4. Cook on an oven tray for 25 minutes until well browned.

At this point you can add them to a tomato based sauce and have them with pasta for dinner
or if you want to make them Japanese meatballs then:

5. Place meatballs in a pan with all remaining ingredients. Boil for 4-5 minutes.
6. Place the meatballs on short skewers alternating with quail eggs.

Links of interest
In line with the Japanese theme:
Cooking cute and Bento Corner have some great ideas if you are looking to pack your Laptop Lunchbox with some delicious ideas from Japan.

WEEKLY SHOPPING LIST

Fruit:	Vegetables:
Kiwis Bananas Lemons Limes Apples Pears Oranges	Tomatoes (cherry and regular) Carrots Parsley Ginger Avocado Cucumber Asparagus Red Pepper Rocket Onion
Meat: organic mince
In the pantry:	Dairy
Sushi rice Olive oil walnut oil organic sesame oil free range quail eggs Quinoa Soy sauce Brown sugar Sake Organic dried nectarines and banana (no sulphur) Marinated organic tofu Organic seaweed and sesame sprinkles	Cheddar Cheese Fromage Blanc and goat's cheese from the farmer's market plain yoghurt

Welcome to Week 5 at Lunch Matters.

Got a favorite photo or recipe to share?
Email it to us at lunchmatters@lunchmatters.com.au and we'll publish it here!

NEWS
Is taking a packed lunch to work the new black?

A few thoughts this week on taking your lunch to work as a cost saving, diet friendly, environmentally conscious way to go.
It would appear from the growing number of blogs dedicated to people discussing their daily lunch fare, it is back in vogue to take a packed lunch with you to work. For all the reasons that I have listed above, it is a great idea and again once you are in the habit of packing a lunch it becomes much less onerous than you’d expect.
I still can’t explain the joy that my packed lunch brings me. I think as I am usually immersed in feeding my family when I sit down to the other meals of the day, I am often distracted from what is on my plate by the discourse and general mayhem around me. It is perhaps for this reason that when I actually stop, during a working day, and open my lunchbox I really do enjoy what I have packed. I still can’t really understand how everything that I pack in the morning and bounce on my hip all the way to work is not scrambled by lunchtime! The whole layout/presentation does give me the sense that I am doing something nice for myself. I do believe though that it is important if you pack your lunch for work that you still take the time to get up and away from your desk – those days when the sun is shining and you can perch somewhere warm while you eat your lunch are the best.
The issue of cost and environmental waste reduction is significant. I made the transition from sushi from the sushi bar to my packed lunch so I was already eating a healthy lunch but it came in a plastic packet with 3 plastic fish of soy sauce and a plastic bottle of water and it cost AUD$10 a go. So each week that I pack a lunch I am really making substantial environmental and financial savings.
This is a feature of the Laptop Lunchbox that has been explored by many of the bloggers who are into Frugality (there seem to be a number of them). If you’re interested in reading some of their entries see the links section this week.
A little housekeeping hint here: If you are packing leftovers and reheating them at work in the microwave do remember to remove the lids before you do – the lids have to be more flexible than the hard plastic that makes up the containers and as a result they aren’t suited to a blast in the microwave.
The other thing about packing your lunch is to include as many others in the production line – the more lunches you pack the less effort per lunch you are expending and the more likely you are to improve the eating habits of the whole family.

RECIPES

Very simple recipes this week – one for the mountain bread toasted wraps and one for the baguette roll.

As both recipes include ham it is important to make a couple of comments about processed meats. Where possible it is best to buy free range, organic or boutique ham simply because if you spend a minute looking at the labels on some of the mass produced ham products you’ll be horrified with the actual meat content versus all the other products that they contain. The hams that I have described above are much more expensive – I think the ham that I bought this week was $29 kilo BUT I don’t buy ham very often and when I do I don’t buy very much. So I guess what I’m saying is that every now and then, processed meats can have a place in a lunchbox but think about the quality and frequency seriously as too much of a low grade processed ham product is not good for anyone.

Rye Mountain Bread toasted wraps with swiss cheese and polish leg ham

The only real purpose of drawing your attention to this item on the week’s menu is to suggest that if you haven’t tried toasting mountain bread as a wrap – you definitely should. They are delicious cold and a big hit with my children and me. They are great way to incorporate rye bread into the lunchtime experience.

Baguette rolls


Ingredients:
Swiss cheese
Ham
Parsley
Fresh breadcrumbs
Baguette (half size)

Scoop out the inside of the baguette and place in a bowl with your other breadcrumbs and parsley
Heat a dot of olive oil in a pan and add the bread and parsley mix, then add the ham and cheese and mix until the mixture is all melted together and then spoon back into the baguette.
Then slice the baguette as you would a sushi roll and you’ll have a delicious new look ham and cheese roll. They are very filling so you’ll only need two in a box to satisfy your hunger.

LINKS TO OTHER SITES OF INTEREST:

The Vegan Lunchbox even for non vegans it’s amazing! Lunch Matters is hoping to be able to sell the Vegan Lunchbox cookbook through the website when it is released – we’re waiting to hear and will keep you posted. I’m sure many of you are onto this site already but if there are any of you who haven’t discovered it yet, in my opinion this is the best site on the web if you’re looking for ideas for how to fill a LLB – take a look at the archives.

Then Things – A Personal Finance Blog that reviews how the LLB has helped her to economize.


WEEKLY SHOPPING LIST:

Fruit:
Vegetables:
Blueberries
Mango
Rockmelon
Kiwis
Bananas
Lemons
Strawberries

Tomatoes (cherry are the best, but this week I just chopped up big tomatoes)
Potato
Beetroot
Carrots
Parsley
Garlic
Lettuce
Corn
Cucumber
Avocado
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Fish:
Salmon fillets

In the pantry:
Dairy:
Olives
Mountain bread – rye
Baguette
Sushi rice (I used brown but I think I’d be recommending white – for less mess, stay tuned for the brown white blend recipe, it’s in development)
Tahini
Olive oil
Organic free range eggs
Quinoa
Soy sauce
Brown sugar
Sake

Bocconcini cheese
Swiss Cheese



NEXT WEEK: A TRIP TO THE NO NUMBERS SUPERMARKET…

Welcome to Week 4 at Lunch Matters.

News
Recipes
Links
Weekly shopping list
Got a favorite photo or recipe to share? Email it to us at lunchmatters@lunchmatters.com.au and we'll publish it here!

NEWS

Many thanks to all of you that completed the online survey – it has provided me with invaluable feedback! Overwhelmingly people are happy to receive the newsletter weekly and the length doesn’t seem to be a problem – the scroll bar is a wonderful thing! So the format will remain the same.

This week I thought I’d take the news story about ‘healthy’ muesli bars as a focus point for the newsletter.

Many of you would have seen the news this week about Choice Magazine's review of so called healthy muesli bars. It comes as no surprise to me and I am sure to many of you, that products that are marketed as ‘healthy’ are often not what they report to be. In a world where McDonald’s is trying to promote the nutritional value of their food, where Nutella and Coco Pops are recommended as ways to enhance your child’s performance at school and prepackaged fruit juice is marketed as a way of boosting your vitamin intake, we cannot walk away from the fact that at the end of the day what comes off the tree or out of the ground directly to us is always better than anything that comes out of a factory.

Presentation:

What we have to accept is that marketing of these foods is fantastic – the producers are very good at making these foods attractive and will often try to put a healthy spin on the product. The Laptop Lunchboxes and the other products available at Lunch Matters aim to redress the imbalance, to highlight the presentation of natural foods in an effort to make them as appealing as their nutritionally inferior counterparts. In a recent trip to the park we had a little circle of children standing around our lunchboxes peering in to look at all the goodies inside – it works, good presentation of natural foods looks amazing!

Products that enhance the appeal of fruit and veggies are a great addition to your suite of lunch packing accessories. We recently purchased a device that cores and slices apple like a ‘slinky’ – our apple consumption has gone through the roof! Some schools have bought these for their tuckshops/canteens and they too are finding that apple sales are up from 1 a week to 50 a day! I spent ten minutes cutting out carrot into alphabet letters with cutters with my 5 year old today – he ate two carrots in the process! Kid’s love a good novelty and where we can it’s an idea to think about this too.

Planning:

The main perceived advantage of prepackaged foods over the homebaked/natural alternatives is time. We have little of it and sometimes packing a lunch filled with prepackaged foods seems like the only option if we are to make it out the door.

To overcome this – it is worth putting a little time into planning for the week ahead. If there’s a window on the weekend where some homemade muesli bars (page 74 of the Laptop Lunch User's Guide) can be baked or some muffins baked and frozen then there are goodies to grab and pack in your lunchbox even on the busiest mornings.

Always think about lunches when you’re preparing dinners. This week you’ll see that mini meatballs make an appearance in the lunchbox. To suggest making them just for lunches would be mad, but to prepare meatballs for dinner in a tomato based sauce and then to include some that were intentionally left out of the sauce as a lunch meal the next day makes life easier.

If you have a dish with rice for dinner – use the leftovers to make the rice quiches also featured in this week’s box and recipe section. It’s just a matter of planning out the week, and in my experience thinking about the week ahead can really take the pain out of thinking about every day’s options.

Think seriously about the freezer too – some things really freeze well and will thaw by lunchtime when taken out of the fridge first thing in the morning or late the night before.

The last tip is to think about natural easy to pack items – I love cherry tomatoes, blueberries, strawberries, nuts and dried fruit (if appropriate – finding dried fruit free of sulfur is hard but less so now than before) as they are so good to have on hand when you just need things to grab and go.

RECIPES

I have two great recipes to include this week.

The first is again from the fantastic publication recently published by a Melbourne mum, Hélène Canavan called Lunchbox. It is pictured in Monday’s photo. This is a great way to use up the left over rice.

Quiche with Rice Base

Rice shell

8 tbsp cooked white rice

2 tbsp grated parmesan

lightly greased muffin tins

Mushroom filling

1/2 onion grated

4 mushrooms sliced and quickly browned with onion in pan

2 beaten eggs

2 tbsp yoghurt

Preheat oven to 200C

Use fingers to mix cheese and rice. Place 3 tbsp of rice mixture in each muffin tin and press down gently. Pour over beaten eggs and yoghurt mix then place the sauteed mushrooms and onion on top.

Bake 20-25 minutes

Allow to cool

These really take about 5 minutes to make and they are really yummy cold or warmed up for lunch the next day.

Bean Dish

The second recipe is for the bean dish which is a great stand by to have when the cupboard is looking a little bare- this is a family favourite of ours and is again a great dish to have for dinner the night before and then cold for lunch the next day.

1 onion

1 red pepper

4 ripe tomatoes (or a tin of tomatoes if that's what's in the cupoboard)

1 tin of 4 bean mix

Fresh bread

Cheddar cheese

Parsley

Yoghurt

Cut onion and pepper, saute in a little olive oil.

Add beans and tomatoes and season to taste

Place bean mix in an oven proof dish

Leave some out for the lunchbox the next day

Process the bread, cheese and parsley together

Then spread the crumb mixture over the top of the bean mix and place in the oven at 200C for 15-20 minutes or until the top is a little browned.

Serve with a generous dolop of yoghurt.

If you are reheating the lunch the next day (and remember to remove the lids before you microwave) there is no reason not to just pack it as you had it for dinner - I find though that it works better cold without the topping.

LINKS TO OTHER SITES OF INTEREST:

It really is worth visiting the Laptop Lunchbox flickr group regularly - you'll see our photos there but also lots of new ideas daily.

The other site of interest this week is the site where the Laptop Lunchboxes are now being sold in the UK http://www.laptoplunches.co.uk/

You’ll find a wealth of information there on both the gourmet and environmental possibilities of the Laptop Lunchbox systems.

WEEKLY SHOPPING LIST:

Fruit:	Vegetables:
Apples Strawberries Oranges Kiwis Bananas Lemons	Tomatoes (cherry are the best, but this week I just chopped up big tomatoes) Avocados Onion Fennel Mushrooms Parsley Celery Red pepper
Meat:	From the freezer: (it is handy to have a couple of items in the freezer for various uses)
Organic beef mince
In the pantry:	Dairy:
Olive oil Soy sauce Baguette Organic museli - for trail mix Brown sugar Mirin or sake Eggs (quail and chicken) Wholemeal flour Organic dry biscuits OrganicChickpeas Green Olives with pimento Four bean mix organic tinned Beans Organic dried cranberries and& nbsp; blueberries Caster sugar Bread (Kamut bread is delicious)	Cheese Cream cheese Organic plain yoghurt Light mayonnaise Milk

Welcome to week 3 at Lunch Matters.

News	A testimonial from one of our new customers, reproduced with permission: "G (nearly 5) hasn't put his lunchbox down since he received it - except to sleep. He's packed his lunch by himself every day and has eaten more salad this week than he's eaten in his life!"
Recipes
Links
Weekly shopping list
Survey Got a favorite photo or recipe to share? Email it to us at lunchmatters@lunchmatters.com.au and we'll publish it here!

Week 3 at Lunch Matters has seen more lunchboxes on their way to new homes. We've had lots of local enquiries but also many from further a field - it seems that there are people interested in seeing what the Austra lians are doing with their lunchboxes, even some from Japan (the land of super deluxe packed lunches) are interested in finding out more.

We thought that we might take a minute this week to focus on the waste minimization angle of the lunchbox and to workshop some of the environmental and cost issues.

The table below compares the costs and packaging associated with the packing of like products in your lunchbox. Pricing of items was undertaken last week and obviously are subject to change. It is worth pointing out that for the purposes of creating a true comparison we priced like products – if you were doing the shopping, and savings were on the agenda then you could search the isles for cheaper bulk packaging that is available in all of the categories below.

sultanas		total size	serve size	pack price	per serve	packaging
1	Sunbeam 6x40g	240	40	$2.26	$0.38	6 boxes, plastic wrap
2	Sunbeam 500g	500	40	$3.08	$0.25	1 box
muesli
1	Uncle Toby's Chewy 12 pack 375g	375	31.25	$5.78	$0.48	1 box, 12 foil wraps
2	Uncle Toby's Muesli flakes Plus	750	31.25	$5.71	$0.24	1 box
yoghurt
1	Yoplait Go-Ghurt Berry 12 pack	1200	100	$6.05	$0.50	1 box, 12 tubs
2	Yoplait Original Berry 1kg	1000	100	$3.49	$0.35	1 tub
fruit
1	Uncle Toby's Roll Up 8 pack	125	15.625	$4.47	$0.56	1 box, 8 foil wraps
2	Mandarin	120	120	$0.62	$0.62	none
sandwich
1	Bread	650	65	$2.48	$0.25	1 bag
2	Bread	650	65	$2.48	$0.25	1 bag
1	Kraft Singles Chedder 12 pack	165	13.75	$2.80	$0.23	1 plastic wrap,1 plastic tray,12 plastic wraps
2	Kraft Cheese	250	13.75	$2.99	$0.16	1 plastic wrap
	Total 1	2,755	266	$23.84	$2.40
	Total 2	3,270	370	$18.37	$1.87

What you will notice is that there is a cost saving, it is marginal but nevertheless a saving, what you will What you will notice is that there is a cost saving, it is marginal but nevertheless a saving, what you will see, however is that the packaging that is saved is significant, and therefore the impact on the environment is substantially less when you pack a lunch that doesn’t require packaging. The beauty of the Laptop Lunchbox systems is that you can pack lunches everyday without ANY packaging. The lid of the lunchbox acts as a seal for all the containers so items that are packed do not require glad wrap and they remain in their place and fresh for lunch.

Many schools in Australia are implementing waste-wise lunch policies. Bins are being removed from schools and parents are asked to pack lunches without zip lock bags and cling film. A quick survey of morning tea at Kinder last week revealed some lunchboxes with up to 4 zip lock bags!

RECIPES

We have to share the Tabbouleh recipe with you this week. This will make enough salad for 2.

It keeps well so why not double the quantities and have it as a salad for dinner the night before and then pack some with lunch the next day.

INGREDIENTS:

· 1 cup water

· 1/2 cup quinoa (see explanation below – you can find it in many stores now)

· 1/2 pinch salt

· 2 tablespoons olive oil

· 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

· 2 tablespoons lemon juice

· 1-1/2 tomatoes, diced

· 1/2 cucumber, diced

· 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

---

DIRECTIONS:

In a saucepan bring water to a boil. Add quinoa and a pinch of salt. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature; fluff with a fork.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine olive oil, sea salt, lemon juice, tomatoes, cucumber and parsley. Stir in cooled quinoa.

What is quinoa?

If you are looking to cut down your family’s intake of wheat or to increase their veggie intake on the sly this is the perfect grain for you!

[ KEEN-wah ] Quinoa contains more protein than any other grain. It's considered a complete protein because it contains all eight essential amino acids. It is also higher in unsaturated fats and lower in carbohydrates than most grains, and it provides a rich and balanced source of vital nutrients. Tiny and bead-shaped, the ivory-colored quinoa cooks like rice (taking half the time of regular rice) and expands to four times its original volume.

LINKS TO OTHER SITES OF INTEREST:

You may like to ask your school about their Waste Wise initiatives to see if they have a current action plan. If you’re interested in finding out more you may find the following websites useful. The links are by no means the only ones – all States and Territories in Australia have a commitment to promoting sustainable schools and the Waste Wise program is in full swing in a large number of schools.

VIC

ACT

WA

SA

The Laptop Lunchboxes have become an integral part of the American movement to reduce lunchtime waste. If you’d like to read more about this click here.

WEEKLY SHOPPING LIST

Fruit:	Vegetables:
Apples Oranges Passionfruit Strawberries Lemons	Tomatoes (cherry are the best, but this week I just chopped up big tomatoes) Avocados Cucumber Parsley Beetroot Mushrooms Corn Asparagus Carrots Red pepper Silverbeet Lettuce
Meat:	Breads:
Organic chicken thighs	Wholemeal pita Spelt fruit bun/regular fruit bun
In the pantry:	Dairy:
Dried lentils Quinoa Olive oil Soy sauce Eggs (chicken) The items below were for the rice crackle things – I think trail mix would be a better option – less sugar and less sticky! Rice puffs Oats Dried mango Dried apricots Golden syrup Organic white chocolate Sesame seeds Seaweed Organic dry biscuits Tinned tuna	Cheese Cream cheese/crème fraiche Organic plain yogurt Organic mayonnaise