Murukku & Mithai

Indian snacks are the best...Murukku is a popular spicy South Indian snack. Mithai is a sweet dessert.

A friend brought this amazing tiffin to share with me and our friends. I made some sweet chai to go with the spicy Murukku....YUM!

Papaya, Scones and more...

The large stainless steel food storage container is perfect for toting along your favorite cut-up fruit...we had some juicy papaya for breakfast at the coffee shop...Of course our breakfast wouldn't be complete w/ a scone and some yogurt!

Shredded Carrot Salad

My carrot salad is all the rage with my friends lately, I can't stop making it since I bought my new Cuisinart Food Processor. Takes salad making to a whole new level for me! It also make incorporating raw food into my diet much easier!

Here are the ingredients:

- shredded carrots
- frozen peas
- rice vinegar
- agave nectar
- grapeseed oil
- sea salt/pepper

Toss it all together and voila! Shredded Carrot Salad! I usually don't measure when I make this, I just add to taste. I've made variations of this salad with carrots/daikon, carrots/zucchini and carrots/beets...all of them pretty tasty.

Here is the 3 tier tiffin with organic berries, spinach and lentil daal and my famous carrot salad.

Mission Trails

I took the girls to Mission Trails park for class on opossums. We had made homemade pinto beans with a pressure cooker for dinner the night before, for the first time. I decided to pack everything to make-your-own burrito for our lunch. We used corn tortillas instead of flour. I made Spanish rice using a Trader Joe's rice box with seasoning included. Everyone including our friends ate it all up!


I used the 4 tier tiffin, one tier had beans, one tier had torillas, one tier had rice, and one tier had tomatos and lettuce.

OM Goods Photo Shoot

We were asked to take more pictures for a review of OM Goods. Here are some picture of the 2 tier tiffin.

Winner of the Zero Waste Lunch Contest!

We finally have a winner for the Zero Waste Lunch Contest that was held on Facebook last month!

With 21 votes, the winner is:

Deborah Murphy Doughty!!

Here are all the pictures she had posted to the Zero Waste Lunch Pledge Group:


Comment from Deborah: "I take leftovers to work as often as possible and have some cut up veggies or fruit to go with it. Here I have rice in one container and an easy bean chili (a can of beans, tomatoes with hot peppers, corn, garlic, onions, cumin and chili) in another container. Carrots and a sliced avocado round out the meal. I also take snacks with me - an egg with spices for morning snack and an apple and walnuts (in the little woven container in the picture) for the afternoon. My Sigg water bottle goes everywhere with me, and I like to bring a cloth napkin as well. Metal forks and spoons are available at work. The water bottle and Tiffin are clipped together and the napkin holds the apple and walnuts tied to the top of the Tiffin. I put everything together the night before and refrigerate so I can grab it and go when I rush out of the house in the morning."


Congratulations Deborah!

Zero-Waste Lunch Pledge Contest!

We had a contest on the Zero-Waste Lunch Pledge Group on Facebook. Member's were encouraged to post their best zero-waste lunch photo for a free tiffin. The contest in now closed for additional entries but we want you to vote!!

Here are the entries:



Entry #1


Entry #2

Entry #3


Entry #4

Entry #5

Entry #6

Entry #7
Entry #8

Farmer's Market Fruit

I did a 10 day raw food cleanse the beginning of the new year. I made me realize how much energy and better I feel when I eat raw foods. I have been encouraging my family to eat more raw meals. I packed seasonal fruit from the farmer's market and some soaked almonds. I used different sizes of the stainless steel nested food containers.

Zero Waste Feast!

A couple of Mama's and I decided to take our kiddos to Pepper Grove Park for fun in the sun and lunch. We all are very passionate about eco, healthy, waste-free meals. I had to share this picture of all of our tiffins and non-disposable lunch ware. Silverware, cloth napkins, klean kanteens, enamelware bowls, stainless steel containers...we had it all. I'm proud to say zero plastic too! It was nice to enjoy a hot cup of chai (Indian tea) while the kids played...A feast to remember.

Vegan Banana Mini Muffins

I took a traditional recipe for banana bread and added agave nectar instead of sugar, grapeseed oil instead of butter and 1 extra banana instead of eggs. They came out delicious! We shared them at the Hillcrest Farmer's Market with people that came by the OM Goods booth. As my mom used to say when we were kids, "Sharing is Caring".


I used a stainless steel food storage container.

Round bento!

I like this breakfast that I made, it's packed nicely. Almost like a round bento box. It reminds me of the center of a veggie sushi roll.


I used a stainless steel food storage container. It's nice and convenient when you don't want to use a tiffin. Shown is, organic baby carrots, organic blueberries and strawberries and cut up cheese strings. Not shown are Stonyfield organic yogurt cups to go with this breakfast.

Homemade pizza and more!

We made homemade pizza for dinner the night before so I decided to pack it for lunch the next day. I used the 4-tier stainless steel lunch tiffin. Packing this lunch took me not longer than 10 minutes to do. It's so easy to do!

1st tier; boiled edamame with sea salt. 2nd tier; cheese strings, broccoli and olive pizza. 3rd tier; organic blueberries and apples, 4th tier; tofurkey roll-ups with veganaise, organic baby carrots, and olives

Spud Puppies

We have dear friends visiting us from Beacon, NY. We planned to meet at the park after breakfast. I quickly made some Spud Puppies (Yes, a fancy name for tater tots!) for all to share. Here I used a stainless steel food storage container. They actually stayed warm until we were ready to eat them!

Leisure bike ride

My 3 year old insisted carrying her stainless steel lunch tiffin while she rode her bike. The 2-tier tiffin actually fit quite nicely on her handles.

Close-up shot of the 2-tier tiffin.
3 clementines in the top tier and organic raspberries, blueberries and blackberries in the bottom tier.

Dessert to-go!

I promised the girls that I would give them a treat if they finished their dinner at a dinner party we had to go to. Not a huge fan of sugar, but I don't mind the occasional chocolate raisins and wafer cookies...These wafer cookies from Italy are delicious and all natural from Loacker...Reminds me of traveling abroad before children. Believe it or not I got them at an Asian Grocery store.


Here I used a stainless steel food storage container.

You Can't Catch Me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!!

In the car, my 3 year old enjoys to listening to audiobooks, her current favorite is The Gingerbread Man. She has been insisting that we make gingerbread men ever since she heard it. Yes, me being the freak that I am, I used all natural (organic) ingredients and left out the eggs from the recipe to make vegetarian cookies (not vegan). We had much difficulty making happy faces on them! I kept them in an OM Goods stainless steel food storage container....Of course they were all eaten within 2 days. Next she wants to make homemade bread like The Little Red Hen does!

Lots of errands to do today

I have a lot of errands to do today. Being a stay at home mom means toting my darlings along with me. Instead of spending money on "Mama, I want this!", "Mama, I want that!", I carry my girls snacks in a tiffin so they can eat yummy food that makes me happy too. I change up the tier size depending on how I feel their appetite will be that day. Since we were going to target, I know that we are going to have to get popcorn for my 3 year old and she won't be as hungry, it's a snack-y day. I used the 2 tier tiffin.


I packed cheese strings, chips, to-go packet of mixed nuts from Trader Joe's, orange slices and organic raspberries.

Outstanding for Oatmeal!

Off to storytime. The girls ate a little bit before storytime, but I know if I can pack some food, they will enjoy listening to storytime a little more. So I packed 1 instant oatmeal packet using one of the nested stainless steel food storage containers and put some organic raspberries on top. Add a spork and cloth napkin and we are set! I like the snug fit of the lid to be able to pack things like oatmeal with out leaking.
Don't know how to pack it all together? Use your cloth napkin and tie a Furoshiki wrap.
My 3 year old likes carrying it like a clutch purse....Furoshiki, what a genius idea.

I sell the stainless steel food storage containers as a set of 3, small, medium and large. This is the small size shown. They are perfect for packing leftovers or round bento boxes too! Please check out www.om-goods.com for more information on the nested stainless steel food storage containers.

Samuel's Lunch!

One of OM Goods customers sent me a picture of her 3 year old's lunch for preschool. I wanted to share. Samuel's lunch shown is veggie seaweed roll, sliced beets, a peach and some pieces of waffle)



Send me your pictures and I'll post them for all to see. Come on, show us your tiffin pride!

Healthy and Tasty Lunch

My 3 year old's favorite thing, mac-n-cheese. It isn't hard to get her to eat with the 2 tier tiffin, it makes her feel independent. Luckily for me, she loves broccoli too. For lunch she had rice Mac-n-Cheese, Steamed broccoli drizzled with olive oil and organic orange slices. Since she is a small eater, I was able to pack the mac-n-cheese and broccoli in the same tier. These tiffins really make my life so much easier and simpliler to pack meals. The fact that she is eating more, makes me feel better too...


Here is my 3 year old holding her lunch: