Here is a great way to eat healthy and affordable lunches, that don’t require time preparing them in the morning, just grab that jar out of the fridge and take it with you. You can quickly prepare these a week in advance, making 5 days worth in one prep. Or prep a bunch of lunches for a picnic, hiking trip or day watching kids sport, and take a thermos of boiling hot water with you.
The vermicelli noodles will soften and become ‘cooked’ simply by being steeped in boiling hot water, though please note, the julienned vegetables will retain some texture or crunch (that’s how I like it!) You could use crushed garlic, sliced shallots or spring onions, corn, peas or sugar snap peas, if you don’t need a low FODMAP version.
If you want to make your own broth (or stock) for the extra nutrition and flavour, and you have somewhere to heat it up at work (or uni, or home), you can check out my ‘Add Hot Broth’ Noodle Soup in a Jar recipe.
‘Just Add Boiling Water’ Noodle Soup in a Jar
MAKES
5 serves (1 litre jars)
REQUIRED
- 5 large jars of 1000mls capacity – use good quality jars, i.e. preserving jars are able to handle changes in temperature quite well, I use no. 31 Fowlers Vacola jars with their no. 4 green Snap On lids
INGREDIENTS (PER JAR)
Soup Flavourings
- 1 to 2 tbsp tamari
- 1/2 tsp fish sauce
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 1/4 tsp Garlic Infused olive oil
- 1/2 tsp Roast Onion infused olive oil
- 1/2 tsp fresh finely grated ginger (1 small knob of ginger in total)
- 1/2 to 1 tsp lemongrass, very finely grated using a kitchen rasp (1 to 2 large lemongrass stalks)
- 2 to 4 pieces of sliced chilli (1 to 2 chillies)
Optional
- 1 to 2 tsp miso paste, Low FODMAP Yellow Curry paste, or Asian soup paste (like tom yum paste), but these may not be low in FODMAPs
- 1/2 tsp Hot sauce or Sweet Chilli Sauce
- 1 tbsp. peanut butter or satay sauce
- 1/2 tsp Lime juice (or wedge of lime, as per below)
- 1/2 tsp finely grated fresh tumeric & 5 grinds of black pepper
Fresh ingredients (heavier/ moister)
- about 2 tbsp finely julienned carrot (1 large carrot)
- about 3 tbsp. finely julienned zucchini (1 medium to large zucchini)
- about 2 tbsps finely julienned capsicum (1 red capsicum)
- Uncooked vermicelli noodles (I use a pack which has 5 individual sections in a 250gm pack)
Fresh ingredients (lighter/ drier)
- 1/2 cup baby spinach or chopped greens (2 1/2 cups baby spinach or chopped greens)
- 1 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped (1/2 bunch fresh coriander)
- Small wedge of lime (1 lime)
Protein (separate container)
- 1/2 cup of protein (such as, about 2 to 3 cups of cooked roasted chicken meat, or 3 to 4 cooked Asian Beef meatballs per lunch)