Welcome to The Susty Lunchbox by Rozanne Stevens, wholefood chef, zero-waste champion and cookery tutor.
By day: a sustainability coach working at the intersection between planetary health and people health. By night: just a human trying to make a difference, keep life admin chaos at bay and have a bit of craic along the way.
The course of my own life was changed by a lunchbox when I was eight years old. I kid you not. My mom, who was a special needs teacher, realised that I was getting rather podgy. So she changed my lunchbox from white bread sandwiches to a treasure chest of cherry tomatoes, cucumber, Greek yoghurt, wholewheat crackers, fruit and other wholesome goodies.
Which kicked off a lifelong interest in food, nutrition, human performance and treading lightly upon the earth. I have been beyond blessed to have the most incredible 25 year career spanning radio, TV, writing books, running a cookery school and life-changing sustainability projects. So this newsletter is a way to get all that knowledge and experience out into the world.
My two big goals for the Susty Lunchbox Substack: helping people to prevent food waste at home and at work and introducing people to delicious wholefood recipes.
The best way I know how is to each you how to run your kitchen like a micro version of my zero-waste test kitchen project in DCU (Dublin City University). Even if you only try a fraction of the stock management, proper food storage, meal planning and professional food prep, it will make such a big difference to the planet, your wallet and even your waistline!
In my test kitchen I developed a weekly ritual called Tidy Friday where the chefs were challenged to use up all the fresh produce, they were not allowed to order anything new in. It actually led to the most fun, creative and tasty dishes.
But cobbling together all sorts doesn’t always work. So I give you my template Tidy Friday recipes to use up the bits and bobs in your fridge, bread bin and fruit bowl. So you don’t have to rely on bunging everything in a pot and hoping for the best.
But man cannot live on leftovers alone, so I mostly share actual wholefood recipes. I’m very fond of Freezer Filler, and Big Batch recipe five ways recipes. You will learn how to properly cook wholefoods such as quinoa, lentils and beans so that they turn out perfectly every time.
New sections to the newsletter include Kitchen Kit and appliances, showcasing my vintage finds and my mom’s beautiful antiques. And a reader favourite: Biscuit Tin Bakes for tea and coffee breaks. All with a zero-waste, use-what-you-have, susty spin.
The Susty Lunchbox Promise: saving your waistline, wallet and the washing up!
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Happy cooking!
xoxox
In the meantime, tell your friends!