REVIEW: Which came first? The chicken, or the egg (sandwich).

When I was asked to review “20 Great Lunchbox Ideas From Leftovers” I did wonder what on earth these meals could be and indeed look like, so I was pleasantly surprised.

My first impression of this e-book was the clear navigation, simple instructions and easy steps to follow. It made this occasional dizzy blonde feel like even I could produce great food from the recipes.

It’s a fabulous idea; a book written by two very inspiring women. One a busy mum who set up MyFamilyClub , and the other, a campaigner who heads up the brilliant
www.lovefoodhatewaste.com and is also the food expert for MyFamilyClub. They also have a great page on Facebook, click here to view.

Now, I’m not the most organised of mums so when I read how easy it was to convert last night’s dinner to today’s always-hungry child’s lunchbox (actually make that husband’s too) I was very keen to read on and take lots of notes.

The layout is very helpful with first a dinner recipe, then lunchbox and then waste-reducing tips including freezing instructions. Did you know you can freeze fresh garlic, me neither. Bake washed potato peelings, season and enjoy? Slice fresh lemons and freeze for drinks instead of ice cubes? Impressive, hey?

I never thought I’d enjoy reading a recipe book, especially an e-book (I like to hold a thick tome, but that’s a different story, boom boom) but like any good book I was hooked from start to finish. In fact, you could say “the butter did it” (sorry).

Bin there. Dung that.

I’m now looking at my freezer in a different light.  For instance, I never thought of buying peppers, onions and mushrooms. Preparing and then freezing. How easy it is to throw something nutritious and tasty together when the main components can be found in the freezer? I do recall my mum ‘blanching’ vegetables and freezing them but those were the days when it was the done thing to boil the life out of broccoli, rather than have the much healthier and palatable ‘al dente’ we all prefer these days.

I found the lunchbox ideas particularly helpful as well as innovative. I seem to be the only parent with a four year old who still won’t deign to eat a sandwich, no matter what lies betwixt the wholegrain goodness. I sometimes find myself having bleary-eyed, head-scratching food dilemmas at 7am, searching my cerebral cortex for another way to make cold pasta interesting. Not anymore, thanks to this book. Next time I do a ‘big shop’ I won’t just be considering dinner-time meals but how these can be converted for lunch box.

And as for our ever-faithful compost bin – well it’s going to take a lot longer to fill now we have this book in our lives!

This cookery book is hugely recommended and makes you think. Doesn’t it?

Well I’m off to make myself a well-deserved gin and tonic, not forgetting the frozen lemon slices. All in the name of research, of course. 

Buy it now for only £1.99:  http://www.myfamilyclub.co.uk/ebook/great-lunchbox-ideas/d/9