Lunchbox Wizardry
I've mastered this!
I think I can proudly claim to pack the best, healthiest lunches currently being packed in the USA. My husband is a welder/fabricator/MacGuyver guy. His daily job burns a lot of calories. There’s not an eatery for miles, and if there was, it wouldn’t have anything we’d eat.
As whole food plant-based eaters, we have to pack in a lot more food mass to get complete nutrition. Which is great, because we get to eat until we’re full without overeating. That’s not physically possible on meat and dairy. If you eat til you’re full on that shit, you’ve eaten WAY too much.
It might seem old fashioned that I pack my husband’s lunch. I don’t really care what anyone thinks about that. He makes breakfast and handles morning routines with the dog while I fill up his lunch box. I feel a little bad that he has to leave home every day to make a living while I am able to do so from the sofa. The extra lunches make me feel a little better about that.
So all that said, here as some of the brilliant things that can go into a WFPB lunchbox.
Veggies & Hummus
Fresh broccoli and cauliflower, in bite sized pieces, and red pepper strips with homemade Hummus.
5-Minute Hummus
14-oz can chick peas (garbanzo beans) drained and rinsed
3-4 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon minced garlic (from a jar.)
2 teaspoons yellow mustard
1 teaspoon reduced sodium tamari
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
Dump everything in the blender/processor with 3 of the tablespoons of water. The smoothie setting, if it has one, seems to be the best method and gets the sauce nice and smooth. If it needs the 4th tablespoon of water after blending, then add it and blend again.
Variations
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus: Add 1-2 tablespoons roasted red pepper to taste and texture
Smoky Hummus: Add 1/2 -1 teaspoon liquid smoke to taste
Cajun Hummus: 1 -2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning to taste
Thai Curry Humus: Add 1/2 to 1 tablespoon green curry paste, 1 tsp maple syrup and 1/4 tsp coconut extract
Veggies and hummus provide a huge protein punch, a wide variety of micronutrients, plenty of energizing carbs, and very little fat.
Peanut Butter Celery
Ingredients: Celery, Natural Peanut Butter
Wash the celery and cut into 3 or 4 inches lengths.
DRY it thoroughly or the PB won’t stick.
Spread natural peanut butter to fill the hollow of the stalk
Place in a single layer in a small container, packing tight enough so they won’t roll over.
*The peanut butter should have one ingredient: Peanuts. No added salt, no added sugar, no added oil. Peanuts have plenty of their own oil, as you’ll see when you open the jar and pour it off the top.
Carrot Sticks
Self-explanatory
Yellow and/or Red Grapes
Wash thoroughly, removing from the stems as you do, then add a couple of handfuls to a bowl. I like to tuck a paper towel in the bottom to absorb the excess water.
Oranges
I like the peel the big ones and put them into a container, because hubs has to grab snacks quickly throughout the day. The little Cuties or Clementines are my favorites because you can pluck off the skin in about 3 seconds.
Baby Potatoes
I always grab a bag of those tiny baby potatoes on grocery day. I steam them until they’re just shy of fork tender, because they tend to cook a bit more after you take them out of the steam. I run cold water over them, but they still cook a bit more. Potatoes are dense.
Anyway, I pop about 6 of those tiny spuds in for quick energy boosts for hubs.
Mixed Nuts & Raisins
I buy them from giant bins at the healthy food store near us. Pecans, walnuts, almonds, peanuts, cashews, sunflower seeds — but whatever I buy is JUST THE NUT or SEED. They don’t have oil or salt added.
There are almost NO packaged nuts on grocery store shelves that don’t contain oil and salt. You have to really hunt. You want JUST NUTS. No oil, salt, or preservatives.
It’s even hard to find RAISINS without oil in the grocery store. Many brands add oil to keep the dried raisins a little less dry, and prevent clumping. I prefer to pick my clumps apart over poisoning my body, so we buy natural raisins from the big bin.
I always have jars full of nuts and raisins.
To put them together for lunch, I take out a favorite candy dish. Then I cover the bottom in a layer of nuts, and then repeat that with each kind of nut, and then add a couple hands full of raisins, and then mix them all up, and voila! A powerfully, healthy nutritional snack. I put these in a small container.
Cookies
I make a variety of WFPB cookies and brownies and every day one finds its way into the lunchbox. His favorites are these Chewy Apple Raisin Oatmeal Cookies from Forks Over Knives.
Applesauce
Peel, seed, and cut apples into chunks, place in a large pot with just enough water on the bottom to barely cover the surface. Cover tightly, and heat on low. Stir here and there to keep the apples from sticking to the bottom. They will cook so soft you can smush them with a fork, and quickly. 10-15 minutes if you keep the temp high. You don’t really even have to mash them when they’re done, they cook into a slightly chunky sauce with just the frequent stirring.
Add cinnamon if desired.
Alternatives, you can buy a jar of natural, unsweetened applesauce. It will usually have citric acid, which I used to add in the form of a half teaspoon of lemon juice per pint when I canned it.
Whichever way you get it, just pour a serving size into a container and add it to the lunch box.
The Main Course
All of the above are, of course, the sides and the snacks. There’s always a main course in a wide-mouth thermal jug. I make a big batch of something on the weekends, and something else about halfway through the week.
Anytime I have extra, I measure out a serving (3 cups fills the jug) and freeze it, so if I run out, I have backup.
Main Course Options: Chili, Tomato Risotto, Goulash, Stew, or a Superfood Stir Fry
I’m not linking the stew recipe, because when I went to get the link I was horrified as one of the ingredients, “Better than Bouillon” stock. It’s mostly oil. YUCK. I have improved the stew recipe VASTLY since that one. I’ll post the perfected stew recipe next Saturday, and delete that old one at once. Ick!
Anyway, back the main course.
I always pour boiling water into the thermal jug and let it stand a minute or two, before spooning in the hot main course.
That’s it! All my secrets to Lunchbox Wizardry. Hope it was helpful!
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