Monday 1 November 2010

Good lunches are on the way

The combination is finally here; the Star Chef along with a wide-mouthed Thermos and I'm sorted for hot lunches.  Finally!

So, the idea is to set the Star Chef to cook or re-heat something overnight to put into the thermos in the morning so I can have hot food at work through the winter.  I've got lots of stuff in the freezer ready to go and loads of ideas for soups, stews and small-bite casseroles.  Salads?  Pah!  6.45 this morning saw the decanting of the soup I put on last night (2x tins of Marrowfat peas, including the water, blended with a hand blender and a pack of sliced ham chopped into it with a bit more water to top it off - makes 2x good lunches) into the Thermos.  It was a tiny bit messy and I think I'd be better off pouring than ladling next time.  Come lunch time (after 1pm), the soup was very much warm enough to be good.  Not piping hot or mouth burny, but plenty plenty warmth enough for a good lunch.  We're not allowed a microwave at work, so this is pretty much the only way I'm happy with that I can get a hot lunch where I know what's in it (places like "pod" are good at giving an ingredients list that's clean, but...), plus I object to the prices you end up paying in The City for prepared food.

Hurrah for technology and simplicity both!

7 comments:

  1. Sounds like a plan, especially if you have no mircowave at work. I think I'd go mental without having the option to warm up some soup!

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  2. Pea & ham soup eh?

    Nice.

    Have a look at the recipe on Alison's profile on WLR for African Peanut Soup - I made that recently and it really was excellent.

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  3. Links to the thermos are giving 404 error.

    I never found a wide-mouthed one that kept food hot enough.

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  4. That reminds me i need to get my thermos back in action x x

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  5. I couldn't live without my wide-mouthed thermos in winter. I totally understood your excitement when you got one :D

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  6. Laura: god, I know! It's been driving me nuts not having the option to have my own hot food at work.

    Rob: mmm, simplest soup I know and I love it! Will definitely check out Alison's recipe, it sounds intriguing and I know it'll be a good one and nutritionally balanced too if it's one of Alison's :o)

    Hesadveil: thanks, for some reason, Blogger was pre-pending that URL with some extra stuff. All fixed now! This Thermos does well for a good 6-7 hours so I'm pleased with it so far.

    Tam: I'm so glad for the advent of non-glass Thermoses. I kept breaking the old style ones so I gave up on having one until recently. Now I'm free from EAT and pod for hot lunchies.

    Alison: great, innit? And it fits neatly into my tiny cycling rucksack too :o)

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  7. You are a living example of if you fail to plan, plan to fail .... but you're the good version in that you ARE planning so no failing for you and saving £££'s to-boot :-) Well done.

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