Working mothers and healthy hot lunches

Some months back, DH decided that he would buy himself some ready-meals from the Blue Supermarket, given that there was a microwave at work to nuke them. Quite clearly, he was finding sandwiches a bit boring. Actually, I think it was more than that; an intolerance to the improvers and other c**p that is put in even 'healthy' brands of bread.

Now, as a system, this worked quite well, but damn, it was expensive. There must be an easier way, I thought. Given that my mother ran a restaurant for a good few years, I was not unfamiliar with the concept of bulk cooking. Why not cook up batches of meals, and freeze them. Then DH could take a pack to work, and nuke it. Other advantage: I would be able to control all those other details such as salt intake, and hopefully, ensure that he had healthier lunches.

First lesson learned: fish curry does not a good lunch make, not if you are going to nuke it in a relatively small industrial building. I am a big one for aromatic cooking, but I think that one overdid it slightly.

Second lesson: portion control. This was LUNCH, and not his main meal. He was still expecting dinner, so go easy on the portion size.

Third lesson: some ingredients work better than others. Mooli, whilst a great addition to a curry, needs to cook for a while. I had been experimenting with slightly undercooking the food, so that when DH nuked his lunch, he didn't end up with babyfood. Mooli takes a loooong time to cook. Did I say that already? Get it wrong, and it is apparently like having chunks of wood in your lunch. Equally so, not all pasta is created equal. Blue Supermarket wholemeal pasta holds its shape much better than the Orange Supermarket wholemeal pasta. Rather critical if you want to avoid the babyfood scenario.

Fourth lesson: this is a fantastic way to try out new dishes. DH can't refuse to eat his lunch, or he will go hungry.

Still we do end up with some favourites:

• Chilli con carne: pretty much idiot proof.
• Something on a Chinese theme: a bit (well, a lot) of five spice seasoning, a bit of teriyaki and a helluva lot of vegetables.
• Something on an Italian theme (tomatoes, oregano and beef stock) with even more vegetables.

The point is that, by dint of batch cooking, and a large chest freezer, DH ends up with a healthy lunch every day, which has minimal salt, a lot of vegetables, enough carb so he doesn't feel cheated, and a range of food which engenders a few favourable comments from his colleagues (hopefully!).

The batch cooking means that I cook up around 50 packs each time, which is the equivalent of around 10 weeks of lunches. The cost is comparable with taking sandwiches, and the taste a lot more exciting. The only thing in which I had to invest was a pile of plastic 'Tubbits', but equally so, takeout boxes work also. As a working mother, it takes me a few hours every two months to put together a new batch of lunch packs, and then I don't have to worry about them. DH takes a frozen pack in the morning, and by lunchtime, it is sufficiently defrosted that he can heat it up without risking food poisoning.

So, if you or your significant other works somewhere with a microwave handy, why not give it a go? It saves money, if previous lunches are bought-in sandwiches. You can cater to specific tastes. If anyone wants any of my recipes, I am more than happy to supply them.

Goodnight, all!