This is my third post sharing our lunch recipes (you don't have to use them for lunch, they are just recipes that are easy to cook in bulk). You can find more recipes in my January post and my February post. I also share them on Instagram each Sunday night (you will also see them on the Facebook page). And I'll post the recipes at the end of the month. I hope these posts are inspiring you to cook from scratch and take your own lunch to work - both to save money and eat better. I haven't had any comments so far, so please let me know if you find these posts useful!
Week 1: Roast Pork
I've been trying to clean out the freezer, and there was a giant pork roast in there, I think around 2.5kg, so I cooked that in the Webber BBQ for several hours and we had plenty left over for dinner with family later in the week.
Recipe
1 kg old tomatoes
Rissoles or sausages (rissoles cooked by Pete - just mince, egg, grated carrot and dried oregano)
Onion, carrot, celery, stock, wine and garlic for tomato sauce, herbs (oregano, basil, rosemary)
Chopped veges (mushrooms, carrot, zucchini, cauliflower)
Week 4: Beef rolled roast
I cleaned out the freezer and found that we still have six rolled roasts! They are my favourite and I think I've been a bit stingy with them, so now we have to eat the rest of them. I wrote about these back in February.
Have you been taking your own lunches to work? Has anything I shared inspired or helped you? Any suggestions or tips for taking your own lunch?
I'm not great at following recipes, and I'm also not good at writing them, because I tend to just use up what we have in the fridge/pantry/garden, things that are on special or we've been given at our local produce share. I'll tell you what I made, but I'm not saying you should follow exactly, just use it as a rough guide and use up whatever you have handy too.
I've been trying to clean out the freezer, and there was a giant pork roast in there, I think around 2.5kg, so I cooked that in the Webber BBQ for several hours and we had plenty left over for dinner with family later in the week.
Recipe
One LARGE pork roast
Stock
Chopped veges
- I cooked the roast in the Weber BBQ in a roasting pan for a couple of hours (it was HUGE), with the stock in the bottom of the pan and then made gravy from the drippings
- The veges were cooked in the wok
Week 2: Mexican mince (again)
Mexican mince (like the Asian mince in January) are not exactly authentic, but using vaguely the right spices. For the Mexican mine I combine coriander seeds, hot paprika, cumin and chilli, and it does taste like the packets of Mexican taco mix that you can buy from the supermarket, but without the fillers. I'll usually throw in any spare tomatoes and I used to put in kidney beans (but I am not getting on with beans at the moment). Served with chopped veges and a little cheese.
Recipe
Mince - about 1kg
Stock
Spices - Coriander seed, paprika, cumin, chilli
Onion
Chopped veges - mushroom, carrot, broccoli, button squash
- Brown the mince, add the spices (about one tablespoon of each, to taste), add stock and allow to boil down to the desired amount of liquid (add cornflour to thicken if required)
- Brown onion and add to mince
- Cook veges - fry in wok is ideal
Week 3: Paleo pork sausages OR beef rissoles with tomato sauce
This meal was all about using up leftovers. We had got a bag of old tomatoes from the supermarket, and they really needed to be cooked right away, and we had leftover rissoles, but not quite enough, so I also opened a packet of paleo pork sausages (we bought from a local supplier, so yummy and spicy!). I also added chopped veges and it was a perfect combination for a tasty lunch.
Recipe
1 kg old tomatoes
Rissoles or sausages (rissoles cooked by Pete - just mince, egg, grated carrot and dried oregano)
Onion, carrot, celery, stock, wine and garlic for tomato sauce, herbs (oregano, basil, rosemary)
Chopped veges (mushrooms, carrot, zucchini, cauliflower)
- Chop tomatoes and put in a pot on a low heat to boil down
- Brown onion, carrot and celery, add to tomatoes with stock, wine, garlic and herbs, cook with lid off until liquid is reduced
- Cook rissole/sausages and chop into pieces
- Cook chopped veges
Week 4: Beef rolled roast
I cleaned out the freezer and found that we still have six rolled roasts! They are my favourite and I think I've been a bit stingy with them, so now we have to eat the rest of them. I wrote about these back in February.
Have you been taking your own lunches to work? Has anything I shared inspired or helped you? Any suggestions or tips for taking your own lunch?
I love your pack your own lunch idea and really like the containers. Your meals look delicious. I've had a similar problem in that my husband is an over the road truck driver, so trying to send healthy homemade meals is a challenge. I freeze them in foil and he cooks them in a 12-volt lunchbox oven. In hot weather he can take about three of these in his cooler. I wish it was more, but it's better than having to rely on expensive truck stops and not-so-good foot.
ReplyDeleteThose meals look super healthy. We do a mince fry up, regularly too. It's nice spiced with curry and Greek yoghurt, stirred in, at the end.
ReplyDeleteI love your packed lunches and am so happy to see other people eating the best quality food instead of inferior junky take-away. We often eat the previous night's dinner leftovers for our lunches, so I don't need to be quite as organized as you Liz. Plus we live only minutes from our work place and generally pop home for lunch. Aren't we spoilt?
ReplyDelete