Lunch is a meal that definitely needed fixing at my house. While my husband and I both work from home (including pre-pandemic) and aren’t guilty of creating the waste from grab-and-go meals and takeout containers that Nouri describes, this title appealed to me from both a recipes and solutions standpoint. Our struggle is actually taking a break and preparing and eating a healthful mid-day meal, so I was delighted to come across a lunch-specific book – and bonus (!) it benefits No Kid Hungry.

We are already fairly environmentally conscious household, yet I appreciated the inclusion of litter-free tips for those can benefit from the nudge and new tips. Additionally, the full-color photos are beautiful and make the recipes even more enticing. In full disclosure, I’m a pescetarian with a nut allergy, so there are quite a few recipes in Let’s Fix Lunch that wouldn’t find their way onto my plate. I will also note that I expected a “planet-friendly” cookbook to be 100% vegetarian focused, or at least stick to sustainably sourced fish vs. including several chicken and beef recipes. I chose three test recipes – one each from the Condiments, Sandwiches, and Pasta sections. The results were delicious.
1. White Bean Hummus – This is the first hummus recipe I’ve ever made from scratch, and it was creamy and flavorful. With Nouri’s added suggestions for mix-ins, I’ll never go back to store-bought. A keeper!
2. Spinach-Feta Frittata Sandwich – I modified this recipe quite a bit, substituting my own pesto recipe, which uses sunflower seeds vs. pepitas, using a square baking dish to make the frittata vs. a Stasher bag, forgoing the mayo, and toasting the focaccia. The end result was a yummy sammie suitable for brekkie, brunch, or lunch.
3. Tuna Pesto Pasta Salad – Again, I substituted my own pesto recipe, and also used edamame in place of green beans due to personal preference. I had never had pesto pasta with tuna before, which upped the lunchy factor for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed the flavor combo.

For me, the biggest success of this book, was that it inspired me to actually take a break and prepare and enjoy a delicious and delightful mid-day meal. Ultimately, I would have given this book 3.5 stars, my biggest issues being the limited content, inclusion of meat-based recipes in a “planet-friendly” cookbook, and constant salesy-ness of the Stasher brand mentions in so many of the recipes – and several preparation instructions that require them. That said, in a three-or-four-stars-only landscape, I’ll round up because we can always make modifications, and the environmental tips and hunger charity tie-in are an uplifting touch – like purchasing carbon offsets for a private jet flight that included meat dishes and too much self-promotion.

This book has everything I like in a cookbook- beautiful pictures, easy recipes, and no nonsense tips and advice! With many home working/long distance learning, this is a perfect time to try new lunch ideas. Loved the crispy barbecue chickpeas! One thing I would like to have seen , though, would be nutritional information with each recipe.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Dont really care to try all the recipes in this book but i do really like the ideas they ha for meal planning!

"Let's Fix Lunch!" features planet-friendly on-the-go meals and lifestyle tips. You might be asking, what does this mean? Well, most people don't pack their lunch or don't eat at home due to work and time constraints. Because of this, the consumption of plastic from to-go containers and food packaging (think saran wrap, wrappers, and plastic bags) is skyrocketing. These single-use plastics from lunch alone are difficult to recycle and often end up in landfills, polluting the environment. This book strives to teach us how to avoid single-use plastic and reduce waste, as well as introduce us to recipes that we can prepare for our on-the-go lifestyle.

The tips offered in this cookbook are (for the most part) inexpensive and simple to implement. Most likely, you already have them at home (think of the thermos sitting in your kitchen cabinet and the plethora of utensils in your drawer). Some are obvious, but I had never considered them before.

"Let's Fix Lunch" also provides advice for meal-prepping and storage, not just for the whole meals, but for individual ingredients. Nouri also includes a table to help you meal plan. Each row is the main ingredient (roasted chicken, chickpeas, rice, etc)l and each column is a day of the week featuring a meal that uses this main ingredient. I found this table to be helpful and easy to understand. I have always liked the idea of meal prepping, but have felt lost about how to implement it into my busy life. Having a list of meals that go with each "main" ingredient helped me wrap my mind around what I could prepare without doing a lot of additional work upfront. (For example, If I am going to make roasted vegetables, I could pick two recipes that incorporate them to last the entire week.)

As for the recipes, there require minimal ingredients and minimal steps. I am looking forward to trying the Barbeque Roasted Chickpeas, Italian Tomato Bread Soup, and the Pesto Chicken Salad - I will update my review once I have had the chance to try them out. Each recipe has an eco-tip that is related to the preparation of the meal or the shopping. I am always at a loss of what to prepare for lunch and this book features some new ideas. Bonus that they are "eco-friendly" and "meal-prepable".

The final chapter features tips for ways to make your home eco-friendly by room. This section is a little light and could use more visual aids to draw the reader's attention to it.

I would say this "cookbook" is more of a lifestyle guide - ways to make your life more eco-friendly and respectful of the environment. If you have already integrated a lot of eco-friendly changes into your lifestyle, this may not be the book for you, but as someone who would like to do more and struggles with finding ideas and implementing them, this book was helpful for me. It's basic, but that doesn't mean it is lacking substance or ideas.

I would call this a lifestyle book rather than a cookbook. There are only about 30 recipes, in chapters on snacks, sauces & condiments, soups & salads, sandwiches, and grains & pastas. For a 150ish page book, this felt like too few. The recipes sound good, and there are vegetarian options. I appreciate that the recipes all included full color photos. The book was written by the founder of Stasher reusable bags, and the majority of the book focused on ways to reduce waste during lunches that are not at home and then reducing waste at home. There was also a section about meal prep. A book called "Let's Fix Lunch" I expected to be more specifically lunch recipes.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Let's Fix Lunch! includes recipes that are packable and make ahead and freezer friendly. Most of the recipes are easy to take on the go and don't take a lot of extra time to get together in the mornings. There's a great selection of lunch and snack recipes. The photos are stunning. I've already made several recipes from the book, and I can't wait to keep working my way through it!

Let’s Fix Lunch is a helpful cookbook and lifestyle guide for those wanting to be more environmentally conscientious. The book is full of helpful little “eco tips” on each recipe page and offers more points of advice on lists in the back of the book. Unfortunately, in the days of Covid-19 some of these tips will be useless (my grocery store now pre-packages bulk bin items in plastic bags); but there are still quite a few nuggets in here to try. Although for a cookbook with a focus on “planet-friendly” meals and practices, I was surprised to see so many recipes with meat since animal agriculture is one of the leading contributors to climate change. Half of the main dish recipes are vegetarian, although some of them do call for Parmesan cheese which is not a vegetarian cheese and the author seems to be unaware of this fact. There are no vegan recipes.

The images in the book are beautiful and the recipes look tasty. However, many of the recipes require you to make your own snack or condiment as an ingredient to your main dish and that’s generally not something I’m willing to do for a middle of the day meal unless I’m prepping ahead. And even then it seems like a little too much work for lunch.

Overall, I think this could be a good cookbook for someone trying to develop new environmentally friendly habits surrounding their food, but it’s really not for those of us who already bring our reusable produce bags to the grocery store and have nooch in our pantry.

Thank you for allowing me to read the book beforehand.

As a fans of Stasher bags, I was so excited to read this book. But once opened, I found more "treasure" inside. How to preserve foods.

Nowadays with the Corona Virus still looming above, we need to be more careful of our surrounding, and throw less waste. Therefore the author gave the solution of easy meals that can be prepared beforehand, stored and cooked accordingly. A good solution on these difficult moments.

With heat proof materials, you can even submerged the Stasher bag into hot water to heat your meals. So practical!

**I received an e-ARC from NetGalley for an honest review**

I just received this book today and have already made several things.

I received some groceries from a neighbor that were going to go bad, and using them I made several things from the book. Every single thing was absolutely delicious, especially the "Balsamic Caramelized Onions"!

While I'm not a huge fan of some of the recipes in general, the basis is there so I can modify the recipes to my taste. I'm usually struggling to think of different ways to use up some of my groceries before they go bad, and I usually end up freezing them. These recipes were uniquely twisted (in a good way!) and allowed me to try new things without going too far out of my comfort zone.

I do wish that there had been a tiny section for lunch size desserts. Just something that would finish off a meal, as lunch is usually the only time I indulge in desserts, I think it would have made the perfect finish to this book!

I thought there was a nice variety of recipes in this book - there's nothing unusual or overly fancy, but if you're looking for some different ideas for light meals, Let's fix lunch fits the bill. I do wish there had been a small dessert section, because who doesn't want something sweet after lunch? but overall, there were a number of recipes I'd make. Included in the book are helpful tips on being more sustainable in your kitchen, particularly with your storage and packing.

Thanks to NetGalley for a review copy.

It has decent recipes but nothing outstanding. I felt the recipe portion was a bit light. It will be fine to borrow but not something I would buy.

This was quite good and easy to follow. Aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. Will look beautiful by the kitchen counter. Quick perusal through for all the environmentally conscious tips.

Would like to thank Netgalley and the Publishers for this copy.

I enjoyed the idea of this book, being about more than lunch. It's bout changing in small ways, creating habits one at a time to have a better life for ourselves and the environment. Of course I picked it up because I wanted to have more ideas about lunch. It gets boring having turkey sandwiches every day and I'd rather not eat at all, which is the opposite of helping the problem.

Meal prep and doing my part for the environment to reduce waste is a huge part of the book. I really enjoyed the different ideas that were simple to incorporate into my life. My husband didn't even notice when I switched him to a lunch box instead of his normal paper and plastic bags!

The building blocks of meals also make a huge difference, although my family has less of a worry about schooling, (children are grown) and more worry about pets, time is still important. What feels like cutting corners is actually a more economical way to spend my time and money!

The recipes are also mouth watering, and more importantly the ingredients are accessible. I love that there are also variations for some of the recipes. The Herbed Whipped Cream Cheese is easy and cost efficient and something I can see doing weekly, but the variations make it even more fun! Also, it gives me more of an idea of how I can change that particular recipe to fit my own household's needs.

I cannot wait to get my hands on this actual cookbook! Fabulous ideas not only for lunch, but I can see quite a few of these for dinner.

Great ideas for fixing lunches with some gorgeous pictures of yummy looking recipes. Environmental friendly tips and tricks to reducing your carbon footprint through some non profit ideas geared toward helping the environment!

What did I like? I like the idea of the stasher bags but I think I will stick to Tupperware and recyclable containers. The Stasher bag did not have a ton of good reviews off amazon, and let’s be honest. At ten dollars a bag they have to have great reviews. The recipe part of the cookbook is where it’s at. Some delicious looking recipes and fun looking lunches caught my eye.

Would I recommend or buy? As a cookbook, I thought it had some wonderful looking recipes. I’m not sure if this is a marketing strategy for the stasher bags but it has some nice environment protecting information. I totally agree though about the plastic ware. Every time I get to the beach I’m mad about the amount of plastic spoons I find daily on the beach.

I received a complimentary copy to read. Four stars for environment protection, and wonderful recipes.

A beautiful book of lunch ideas with vivid photos of each recipe. Organized well. It offers sample menus and many choices, including snacks and sauces. A short but powerful book with tips and suggestions to living a healthy life and having a scrumptious lunch.

A very informative and useful book with beautiful photography.

It contains lovely ideas for lunchboxes that can be made ahead of time.

I was gifted a Stasher bag a year or so ago and wondered what to do with it - now I know, the fritatta sandwich springs to mind!.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me the chance to read this book.

Let's Fix Lunch is a neat tutorial and recipe guide to planning, making, and enjoying lunch. Due out 15th Sept 2020 from from Chronicle Books, it's 144 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

I'm a healthcare professional in my "day job" and as such, I continued to work during the lockdowns. For a while, we were advised against buying food in the hospital restaurant or convenience stores, so my choices for lunch pretty much consisted of hospital vending machines or bringing it myself. This book was a lot of fun to use and review and at the end of the month, I was really *shocked* how much money I had saved. (Like, embarrassingly much).

The layout is logical and easy to understand. The introductory chapters make the case for meal-prep, saving packaging, minimizing litter and waste, and efficiency. The tips are clear and basic, and the introductory tutorials are easy to implement with a little planning.

The recipe chapters are arranged thematically - snacks on the go, sauces and condiments, soups & salads, sandwiches, and grains and pastas. Each of the recipes includes an introductory description, ingredients listed in a bullet point sidebar (US measurements, with metric equivalents in parentheses (yay!)), and step by step instructions. Many of the recipes are photographed, and they are photographed well and clearly. Serving suggestions are attractive and appropriate. Special category listings (building block, school lunch friendly, make ahead, etc) are provided in the recipe headers.

The book also includes a short resource list and cross referenced index. There are a fairly large number of recipes included which provide the building blocks for varied and tasty lunches.

Four stars. There are a lot of really good tips here for reducing waste and making enjoyable meals on the go.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

A lovely cookbook that just might become my new favorite. Plenty of simple, easy to follow recipes that are accompanied by gorgeous photographs. There are also many eco-friendly tips included to help ease you into a more environmentally conscious lifestyle. This message is never heavy handed, but does serve as a gentle reminder that we can all do better.

Thank you to Chronicle Books and NetGalley for providing this copy in exchange for a review.

This is the book that a lot of people need. At the office, I see so many people who either always buy lunch or have pre-packaged meals.

The recipes in this book aren't new, but they are presented in a way that showcases beautiful pictures and helpful Eco Tips.

Let’s start with ‘the usual’; the layout is eye catching and easy to read, the photos are attractive and present the meals and ingredients well. Generally, the ingredients are generally available from your usual food stores and the instructions are clear.

Lunch can become very formulaic during the regular routine and now is a good time to take a step back and review the usual choices. Recipes for the standard lunch choices are covered (soups, sandwiches, salads... ) are covered, together with sauces and some interesting snacks. There are alternative ingredients for some recipes to make them more child friendly, or to use seasonal produce some tasty sounding combinations and the majority of the dishes, but not all, are totally plant based.

What sets this book apart is the Eco influence throughout, with the gentle emphasis that small changes by one person can make a massive difference to everyone. The book is written by Kat Nouri, the founder of Stasher and a mother of three, who became concerned about the amount of (plastic) waste In school lunch boxes in particular and the long term effect on the environment. The book is full of tips and ideas for how to reduce waste, from the ‘Getting Started’ section to the meal planning advice and the Eco tip on each page. Who knew that you could freeze super ripe bananas in their skins to make smoothies or add to cakes? The final section ‘Litter Free Life’ gives suggestions for small changes we can make when we’re at home or out and about. There are also contact details of various environmental organisations, from the ‘World Wildlife Fund’ to ‘Fashion Revolution‘ and there is a contribution to charity with every purchase of the book.

A very interesting book.