Focus: Enough: Food gratitude









Focus: Make Your Own Lunch

In the spirit of the 30-Month Plan, each month I will feature a single goal entry for that month. It may be something that I am working on myself, or something that I found particularly helpful in the past. This month it is one that I found helped me a lot. It isn’t going to sound very earth shattering when I share it with you, but it has made an incredible difference for me, and that is making my lunch, a hot lunch, every day.

Upfront investment: a wide-mouth thermos and a re-useable lunch container. I actually use an old metal lunch box. And when I forget it different places around the school, I get a call or a text that says, “Hey Natalie, you left your lunch box —.” Almost everyone knows that it is mine.

And yes, in some ways it is easier to bring a couple of bucks and buy lunch. But here’s the thing: I am stressed out at work. I feel like I have too much to do and too little time and my students always seem to need something. Going out of the building actually stresses me out even more, because I am freaking out the entire time I am gone, afraid that I won’t get back to school in time. Going to the cafeteria stresses me out because there is a line, and I might have to stand in it for a few minutes. If I bring something that needs to be heated, I might have to wait for the microwave to become available, and this, too, stresses me out. Time is my big issue, and what I found is that if I can reach around and pull out my lunch, undo the thermos cap and eat, I am much more relaxed.

One of the things I do on Sunday is make my lunches for the week. I usually make some sort of soup-base that can take some fermented vegetables being mixed in. It isn’t complicated and doesn’t really take very long. I portion it in pint jars.

During the week, while I am making the children’s lunches in the morning, I heat up my soup. Tempering the thermos by pouring in boiling water a few minutes before adding the soup really improves its ability to keep things hot because the thermos is already hot, it doesn’t take away any of the heat from the soup. I dump the water, add the soup and then mix in some fermented vegetables.


Red Lentil “Base Soup”

  • 2 T ghee, lard, coconut oil, or butter
  • 1 t ground cumin
  • 1t ground coriander
  • ½ t ground turmeric
  • 1 ½ C red lentils
  • 4 C stock
  • 4 C water

Salt to taste

  1. Heat the fat in a heavy bottom pot.
  2. Add the cumin, coriander and turmeric and fry until it becomes fragrant.
  3. Add the lentils, and swirl around until they are coated.
  4. Add the stock and water. Bring to a simmer and reduce the heat to maintain a simmer for about 1 hour, or until the lentils are cooked to bursting. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.
  5. Puree with an immersion blender.
  6. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you plan to add fermented vegetables, go easy on the salt, as the vegetables carry a heavy salt component.