Packed Lunches Beat Credit Crunch

'I would never buy my lunch every day,' Mr Harkness said.
'I would probably buy lunch out less than once a month and it's a treat. I just make sure I buy good stuff to put on my sandwiches and make them fresh every morning.'
Mr Cogger agreed and put forward a few suggestions for tasty lunches.
'I tend to buy bread, soups and small things like toast and avocado. Some of those frozen meals are good as well.'
With cost considered the driving factor towards homemade food, they may be on to a good thing.
A comparison of a standard lunch consisting of a sandwich, piece of fruit and a muesli bar showed a homemade lunch was less than a third of the price of a cafe bought one, costing $68 a week ($13.50 a day). A homemade lunch cost $4 a day based on figures obtained from Woolworths' online website.
Consumer Magazine has produced a guide for choosing lunchbox snacks, advising lunch lovers to look for snacks that are low in kilojoules and low in saturated fat and sugar.
Energy in food should be below 600 kilojoules per serve, which is about the equivalent of a banana. The fat conscious should also opt for foods that sit below the 10 per cent mark, with no more than 5g for each serve, the magazine advised. Sodium levels shouldn't exceed 200mg per serve, as high sodium levels can lead to high blood pressure.
Rotorua and Taupo hospitals' professional adviser and dietitian Sarah Robinson said there were a few things to be aware of when selecting lunch snacks.
'You need to be a bit careful of the muesli bars, bikkies and chippies, because they are high in refined carbohydrates, high in salt and sesame salad dressing fat,' Ms Robinson said. 'Things like dried fruit and nuts are alright in moderation.'
There are a variety of cost-cutting measures for lunches, with Ms Robinson advocating the trend towards bringing homemade lunches to the office. She estimated around half of Rotorua Hospital staff brought their lunch to work each day, with even higher numbers bringing their lunches in the nutrition department.
'I mean, why pay $7 for a meal, when you can pay $3.50 a day and mango salad dressing bring something from home which is just as nice,' Ms Robinson said.
'Start off with things like fruit and salad blaster vegetables. As far as lunches go, you can pretty much have anything. You can't go past your basics like sandwichesrolls.'
With summer on the horizon, Ms Robinson suggested the humble salad as a good staple.
'You can just bring a tin of tuna, but just make sure you stick to low-fat dressings like vinaigrettes or even a squeeze of lemon or orange juice does the trick.'
A common criticism of the move to the homemade lunch is boredom. 'What I would say to that is plan,' Ms Robinson said. 'If you plan a week in advance, you can make sure that you don't have the same lunch everyday.'

EMAIL STORY PRINT STORY

Read more about cranberry jello salad recipe on top sites:
allrecipes
easysaladrecipes
cooksrecipes