FitSugar

Brown Bagging and Bacteria-Free: Tips For Bringing Leftovers to Work

Leta Shy — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:52:32 PDT

Does August's back-to-school mode have you in the mood for bringing your lunch to work? Good idea: not only will you be saving money, but you'll also be making healthier options while you're at it.

If you're ready to brown-bag it, bringing leftovers can be the perfect solution. Making a little extra when cooking dinner is a great time-saver; no need to carve out extra time to make a sandwich when you've already got a meal waiting in the pan, and you don't need to spend extra time planning out a lunch menu before you go shopping. But using leftovers for lunch doesn't mean that there's no preplanning required. Making sure you are safely and conveniently storing leftovers tonight means a happy, healthy lunch for tomorrow, so check out these tips for bringing leftovers as lunch.

Leftover prep. That huge dish of lasagna shouldn't stay out on your counter for too long. You should pack away your food (in convenient lunch portions if it's a big batch) within two hours at room temperature - but note that since Summer days can mean hot kitchens that you should refrigerate leftovers within an hour if the temps reach 90 degrees or more.

Read on for more tips on how to safely and easily bring leftovers at work.

Smarter Eats: Roast Your Own Sandwich Meat

FitSugar — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:00:01 PST

One of my New Year's resolutions is to always bring my lunch to work. I'm trying to save money, eat healthier, and have more time so I can go on a long walk during my workday. So far, so good!

Of course now that I'm shopping at the market more often I'm trying to figure out ways to bring down costs there too. Two words: sandwich meat. For my sandwiches I like to use good quality meat, which means natural, organic, or minimally processed. And even though it's still cheaper than eating out, this stuff is really expensive! One 8 oz. package of free range natural turkey meat costs $7, and only lasts me a few days. As I sat eating my sandwich last Friday, I decided that I would try and make my own sandwich meat this weekend. I figure it's cheaper, will last longer, and it's going to taste better.

To find out about all the money I saved and how it tasted,

I settled on turkey and picked up a free range natural 3.75 lb. bone-in turkey breast from my butcher for $23. I prepared it the same way as a whole turkey - rubbed it down with a little bit of olive oil, kosher salt, herbs, and spices. I basted it a couple of times while cooking and in one hour it was done. After having some for dinner, I sliced some to use for sandwiches and used the bones to make a turkey stock. I also froze half of the cooked breast to use for sandwiches next week.

Besides, a sixty percent savings (3 lbs. of pre-packaged turkey meat from the same makers of the bone-in breast would cost over $50), my homemade sandwich meat tastes better than most deli meat I've tried. It's flavorful, moist, and not too salty. While shopping, I also compared the prices of a much cheaper non-organic brand's deli meat to its bone-in turkey breast and found that roasting your own still gives you a tremendous savings. You save even more money if you opt to roast an entire turkey rather than just the breast. I'm so impressed with how everything turned out that next time I'll be making my own version of lean roast beef deli meat.

New Year, New Lunch Habits

FitSugar — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:00:08 PST

An easy way to get healthy this year is resolving to bring your own lunch. By doing so, you know exactly what's going into your meal - not the case when eating out. Even something that seems healthy like a takeout salad can be full of hidden calories. You also cut back on waste and save on money and time by bringing your own lunch. Instead of using my lunch break to stand in line and wait for food, I go for a walk around the neighborhood or hit the gym for a quick session instead.

It may sound silly, but one way I motivate myself to pack a lunch is to have some nice to-go containers to carry it in. If I buy special dishware that's meant just for my lunch, I feel bad if it goes unused. An easy way to solve this problem is by making sure it doesn't get neglected!

To hear about the cool BPA-free containers I've been using,

Lately, I've been making a lot of healthy, one-pot meals that last over the course of a few days. It saves me time during the week and minimizes the amount of pots I use. The Aladdin Artist Series Bowls ($20) are the perfect to-go containers to bring these meals to work with. The bowls are the perfect size for lunch and are extremely durable, but the best part is that they are microwave safe and BPA-free. The last thing I want are toxins leaching from a container into my food!

Besides being totally practical, they are really pretty to look at. Each twist-off lid has artwork on it commissioned by up-and-coming artists like Amy Ruppel and Heisuke Kitazawa. I seriously get excited when I am packing my lunch because I love looking down at the great illustration on my bowl. It's like having a little piece of art on me at all times.

Besides the bowls, the Aladdin Artist Series also includes 12-ounce coffee mugs with lids. All the lids on the bowls are interchangeable so you can mix and match colors if you're in the mood for something different. If you're an artist yourself, check out the blank canvas series instead and create your own mug!

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Speak Up: What's in Your Lunchbox?

FitSugar — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:30:56 PDT

I'm in a lunch rut. For the last week I've been eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and an apple. I usually make a big dinner the night before so I can bring the extras with me to work but I've been having a lot of guests over, which equals no leftovers.

I'm in desperate need of some lunch ideas and would love to hear what you take with you to work. What healthy lunches do you pack?

Do You Brown Bag It and Bring Your Lunch to Work?

FitSugar — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 03:00:00 PDT

When you are trying to eat healthy, and especially if you are counting calories, it really helps to pack your own lunch no matter if you are eating at work or school. This however takes some pre-planning and a few extra minutes in the morning, both of which can be hard to come by. Not only is it a great way to save money, bringing your lunch to work ensures that you are eating healthy fare (if you pack healthy fare!) without hidden calories. I bring my lunch most days, but how about you...

Source

Easy Ways to Get More From Your Food Budget

LearnVest — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:15:48 PDT

Go the extra mile with your food budget with these tips from LearnVest.

For years, many people - my husband, mom, sister and even my son - told me to stop wasting so much food.

Throwing away half a piece of chicken here or a handful of grapes there never seemed like such a big deal to me. If I was full or no longer in the mood for that particular food, then I had no problem tossing it.

That is, until I experienced a bad case of sticker shock during a recent trip to the supermarket. The cost of bread, eggs, fish - basically everything I was purchasing - had increased. And, according to the USDA, we can expect prices to rise even higher this year.

As I forked over my money and left with only a handful of bags, I realized just how important it is for me to pay more attention to what I spend on food . . . and to confront how much of it I shove down the garbage disposal.

Unfortunately, I'm not the only one with wasteful ways. In 2010, 33 million tons of food was thrown away, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. Obviously, wasted food means wasted money, but figuring out how to make your grocery budget go further can be a challenge.

To keep more food in your fridge (and more money in your pocket), try these expert tips.

1. Ward Against Freezer Burn

Those large bags or packages of frozen veggies or meat come in handy when you have a large family, but "each time you open a bag of frozen food, air gets in and will cause freezer burn within two to three weeks," says consumer saving expert Andrea Woroch. Freezer burn will dry out the meat and make it less tasty. Woroch suggests going small.

Read on for more.

6 Handy Tips For Packing Work Lunches

Emily Co — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:28:28 PDT

Bringing lunch to work every day sure does save more than a few bucks and keeps you healthy at the same time. It's such an easy everyday saving trick, and it's a great option for those trying to cut costs on their daily expenses. Here are a few tips that get me through the week.

Mental Meal Plan: What do you want to eat for the rest of the week? Give it some thought before you make a trip to the grocery store to buy some ingredients. For inspiration, flip through Yum's list of delicious work lunches. While you're grocery shopping, read our savvy tricks for saving money at the supermarket.
Prep on Sunday: Buy all the ingredients you need on Sunday so that you won't have to desperately scramble around the night before. If you're planning on making one dish that you'll be eating all week (such as soup), you can either keep it refrigerated or, depending on what type of dish it is, you can also choose to freeze it in five ziploc packets that you can ration out throughout the week.
Keep It Separate: If you want to keep your lunch fresh, try to keep the pieces separate and assemble it right before you're having lunch. This works best for meals such as salads and sandwiches - soggy bread and vegetables are not appetizing!

Read on for more tips.

Our (Yummy, Guilt-Free) Lunch With Jillian Michaels

Fitness Magazine — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:16:25 PDT

We are pumped to share one of our fave stories from Fitness Magazine here on FitSugar!

Ever wish you had a personal chef to deliver diet-friendly meals right to your home? Us, too! That’s why we had to catch up with Jillian Michaels at her recent event at the W Residences in Hollywood to get the skinny on her new partnership with Freshology, a food delivery program that brings gourmet, calorie-controlled meals straight to your door.

"I've been wanting to get involved with something like this for a long time, but either the food sucked or it was packed with unhealthy preservatives," says Michaels. "It's not just calories - the quality of the food matters when it comes to health and weight loss, which is why I really clicked with the Freshology's commitment to fresh, clean food."

Teaming up with Freshology’s five-star chef, Michaels used her nutrition principles to create a total weight-loss plan that delivers healthy, wholesome, and delicious food with no preservatives, no hormones, no artificial sweeteners, and no trans fats. On the program, you’ll receive a twice-weekly delivery stocked with daily meals totaling 1,400 to 1,800 calories: breakfast (240 to 475 calories), lunch (230 to 470 calories), dinner (303 to 536 calories), and a dessert. The 28-day rotation ensures you’ll never experience taste bud boredom. And all the food is precooked, chilled, and ready to go, so at the very most, all you have to do is zap it in the microwave. For added "thinspiration," you’ll also get Michaels’s fitness DVDs, texts to keep you motivated, and a copy of her book, Master Your Metabolism.

Keep reading to see if Freshology passed our taste test.

Savory Sight: Shrimp and Cauliflower Salad With Cucumber, Lemon, and Dill

Yum Community — Fri, 11 May 2012 03:17:06 PDT

This bright, flavorful salad sounds like the perfect thing to make ahead and bring to work on warm Summer days. Thanks, Sevimel!

A fresh and easy way to make salad that is perfect for a Summer lunch on the go!

For this simple and beautiful recipe, visit her blog. Share your own Summer recipes in our Savory Sights community group.

Walnuts: Our New Favorite Ingredient

Camilla Salem — Thu, 10 May 2012 06:33:09 PDT

Historically, walnuts haven't been an ingredient that comes to mind often when I'm cooking - I typically eat them out of my hand and in banana bread, but that's about it. But recently, I attended a seminar with cooking host Joanne Weir and the California Walnut Board and Commission, where we enjoyed a walnut-centered lunch. From that broadening meal, I learned so many new ways to incorporate the healthy and delicious nut into more recipes. A few of my favorite takeaways:

Add chopped toasted walnuts to homemade aioli: I enjoyed a dish of roasted asparagus, boiled eggs, and homemade toasted walnut allioli (Spanish aioli) that was transformative. The chopped walnuts added great texture and crunch to the dish, and complemented the garlicky sauce perfectly.
Top pizzas with walnuts: The Spanish pizza we enjoyed was topped with walnuts, bringing a delicious crunch and nuttiness to each bite.
Make walnut butter: Walnut butter is straightforward and simple, and would be great atop crostini as an appetizer.
Add them to salsa verde: Toasted walnuts bring an earthy flavor to a bright, zesty sauce such as Italian salsa verde. We enjoyed it topped on crispy roasted salmon.

Find more ideas for walnuts when you keep reading.