The power of a well-packed lunchbox

Caroline's lunch Photograph by Rob Biddulph
"For 26 years Caroline McGivern has saved a fortune by avoiding a pre-packaged sandwich and making her own lunch. Her towers of plastic tubs have inspired real lunchbox envy at the Observer.


There’s nothing like a well packed lunch box and I’ve been making mine for 26 years. It was always a great way of saving money and to be honest, there are only so many mayo filled sandwiches that I can eat in one week.
The choice can be overwhelming or even underwhelming depending on how you look at it, and the worst scenario is to pick up a take-out that you were looking forward to only to end up disappointed. You never experience that with a homemade lunch box because you know exactly what you’re getting.
In recent years we’ve been hit by the foodie bug resulting in an enormous amount of choice, but it comes at a price. I tallied up one colleague’s expenses for breakfast and lunch over the eight years that she’s been working at the Observer, and it came to a beautiful £23,000. And no, that's not a typo.
It’s great to experiment with flavours and customise the food to suit your palette and I love the purity of home-made, knowing exactly what’s gone into it. Sometimes I take it day by day and use up any bits and pieces that are hanging around and other times I make a big vat of rice, lentil or mixed bean salad and include an extra ingredient each day so that I don’t get bored. I go out of my way to make a jar of exceptional dressing, something like a classic French because olive oil and balsamic can get boring, and it makes all the difference to a tasty salad.
It’s a lot easier to make a packed lunch than you think. But yes, you do have to get out of bed. Even if I’m adding daily to to something I've prepared earlier, I need more than 5 minutes to dish it out and prepare the other courses. Courses? My Tupperware tower has reached seven storeys before now - I include a small bowl of pretzels, nuts, a couple of pieces of fruit or a slice of tea loaf. Fruit salad with yoghurt is an everyday must but I vary the fruit by season. A small container of mixed dry roasted nuts and seeds, (not the shop bought variety!), dates, grapes and what ever else takes my fancy.
The Scandinavians have got lunch boxes down to a fine art - every shape and size - but I’ll make do with whatever will hold my bounty. Each morning I lift the altar of Tupperware out out the cupboard and make a selection. And everyday around my desk at 1pm there is serious lunch box envy.
Caroline's tips to a successful lunch:
  • You have to be organised and plan ahead. And get up 10 to 15 minutes earlier.
  • Stock up on the ingredients you need.
  • Cook a bit more dinner the night before as leftovers always taste better the following day.
  • Make enough bean/pulse/rice/couscous salad to last you the week and top it up each day with strong flavours - choritzo, goat cheese, tuna or salmon.
  • Nibbles to graze on such as dry roasted seeds and nuts, are great with a sprinkling of sea salt and fresh rosemary.
  • Keep a jar of salad dressing ready mixed to save time.
  • Get inspired with different recipe books or pinch ideas from salads in shops."
Fonte e imagem: http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/she-said/2014/mar/25/the-power-of-a-well-packed-lunchbox