Friday, October 31, 2008

Lunch Box …

During August and September, I prepared lunch box for my son frequently. What I discovered that not all vegetables are suitable for lunch boxes.

Mushroom, tofu, cabbage, tomatoes, soybean sprout, celery, kelp salad, corn salad, mashed eggplants, cauliflower, pickled cabbage, pumpkin, curry dishes can be an ideal choice.

Soup is an excellent choice as you can put hot soup in a thermos flask (or those used for hot beverage).

Braised dishes, quick one-pot meal, sushi rice, cold soba are a good choice. Home-made rice seasoning and furikake can be packed separately and mix with the rice.

Note: Lunch Box needs to be prepared properly and put in suitable containers, else it can be hazardous to health. I purchased a Zojirushi brand thermos flask during a Sale, it was a steal.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hazardous? do u mean the bacteria breeding in it? or u mean the plastic material is unsuitable?

For bacteria, i think mine is fine coz i keep the box in the fridge immediately after packing it..

But the plastic heating in microwave.. i am a bit worried lor..

a veg*n @ Blog*Spot said...

Oh Veggie bun :)

This was mentioned by Dr Paul Chiew of Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority in last Sunday STLife - Boxing lessons - 26 Oct.

He says: " When packing a portion of dinner for lunch the next day, put it in a clean, small and shallow container and store it in the fridge immediately.

Large amounts of food can take hours or days to chill properly and a slow cooling process provides an ideal environment for the growth of harmful bacteria.

If your work place does not have a fridge, he recommends packing chilled food in an insulated lunch box so it stays cool, or packing the lunch box in 2 plastic bags to keep the temperature low, and placing it away from direct sunlight.

Put hot food in a thermos flask.

If you plan to reheat your food in a microwave oven, put it in a microwave-safe container to ensure that it does not melt during heating and contaminate the food with harmful chemical.

Make sure the food is steaming hot before you remove it from the oven, so any bacteria that might be in the food is killed.

Mrs Magdalin Cheong, chief dietitian and senior manager for dietetic and food services at Changi General Hosital, says reheating food might cause the loss of nutrients such as Vit C but loss is minimal and this could be made up for by including more fruit and vegetables at other meals.

Those who keep dinner leftovers for lunch should make sure that food is eaten within 3 days of cooking.


Cheers :)

Anonymous said...

Wah! Yountook the effort to type this out!!! Thanks!!! :)

Diana Tan said...

Crystal, I think your blog have EVERYTHING. LOL

I got the idea of bringing my own lunch box as I am real sick of the vegetarian stall and it is getting expensive =(

Your recipes help a lot =D

Related Posts with Thumbnails