Lunch on lockdown

I have asked my community over the past few weeks where they are struggling in the kitchen during Quarantine due to COVID-19.

One topic that raises its head quite often is lunches - what to create, how to have things ready that people can grab at their lunchtime, which might be a different time to yours, something tasty that doesn't take ages to make.... Sound familiar? Then read on.....

Here are my top tips, ideas, and recipes for #lunchonlockdown, you can listen to my recent interview on Newstalk Radio here

1. Plan ahead - Have an idea of some lunches you enjoy and make a rough plan before you visit the supermarket - we need to reduce our trips to the shops so planning is important. It doesn't have to be day by day but 6/7 ideas that can be moved around is great. Soup, wraps, omelette, pasta, stuffed avocado, goats cheese/smoked salmon/tuna salad, baked beans, burrito, quesadilla, fritters.

2. Get input or buy-in from others in the house - who wants an argument at lunchtime over someones like or dislike? Ask family members to say what they would like for lunch, within reason (from your master list) and allow for each person to have their choice for 1 day. In my house, for example it is sausage rolls one day as my daughter loves them.

3. Repurpose dinners for the next day's lunch, every time I make Lasagne, pasta, curry, chowder, roast chicken, casserole, etc I make enough to have for lunch the following day. When I cook rice I cook extra to have a rice bowl, fried rice or sushi within the next 2-3 days.

4. Variety - Everyone gets fed up with the same thing day in day out. While packaged soups from the deli are really convenient, they can get very boring! Have you thought about eggs? They are very nutritious and versatile; omelette, baked eggs, scrambled, poached, so many options.

5. Zero Waste - Save lots of little bits from previous meals to pimp up a quinoa or rice bowl, a handful of edamame beans or sweetcorn from the freezer adds nutrients, colour or texture to many dishes. If I have leftover broccoli or green beans from a previous meal, I will store in the fridge for the next day, some roasted peppers are great to add to a wrap or salad, pomegranate seeds are delicious in rice or quinoa bowls, grate the last of the carrots in your fridge to add more nutrients, a few chickpeas, seeds or sauerkraut or kimchi.....

6. Choice - If you follow the steps above then there can be a choice for lunch and I find things tend to run more smoothly. E.g I am going to the shops tomorrow so I didn't have a lot in the house so when asked what's for lunch today, I said there is Spanish Chickpea stew (leftover from the other day), a rice bowl with smoked salmon (for 1 only & it needs a bit of prep!) or eggs - you choose! I chose the rice bowl because nobody else wanted to do the prep, my son had chickpea stew and my husband made an omelette and my daughter had scrambled egg (with a request for baked beans on tomorrow's shopping list!). Other days I might say - goats cheese salad or soup if someone feels they have control over what they can have (ie making a choice) it tends to reduce the complaining!

I hope you have found these tips useful and keep an eye on my Instragram stories to see what I am making on a daily basis for #QuarantineCuisine.

Please share with others that may be interested!