It seems to me as if people are now waking up and smelling the coffee. Home prepared lunch does not only taste better, but it is more economical and nutritious. Thrift in the face of recessionary situations often brings us right back home to the basics... if you can do it yourself at home; then do it.

I suspect that when you hear the word "lunch box" that you immediately envision a child at school, but I want you to see that traveling with your lunch box to work could be just as rewarding and healthy to you and your budget. Remember the economy is slowing down!

What makes a lunch nutritious? I believe a perfect combination of grain, vegetable, fat, fruit, and protein. Whilst the concept of the perfect combination is fairly hard to grasp and maintain, the idea is that those five elements should be present in some form or fashion. Finding the items and making the nutrition exciting is often a perplexing and sometimes vexing chore. To relieve some of that tension I shall attempt to offer a few ideas that I know work.

The first step towards a desirable but wholesome lunch is to take careful note of what you/they like to eat [that is actually good for the body]; this should protect you from wasting your resources on items likely to be dumped in the garbage at school or at work.

Secondly patiently try to be educated about the nutritional value of certain lunch items. This approach tends not only to reduce the tension created between the mind and the stomach such that one is not forcing the other to eat what they don't like, but instead creates a sense of importance and self-worth once the benefits are understood.

Now for fibre, vitamins and something sweet you can choose from fresh fruit [such as apple, tangerines, strawberry, plum); dried fruit [a small handful such as raisins, apricots, prunes]; fruit salad [simple combination of three]. Fruits are essential for stimulating the memory, providing essential vitamins, and regularizing the bowels.

One can reduce cholesterol levels, avoid certain cancers, and body restoring vitamins [such as vitamin E, foliate acid and potassium. Vegetables can be used raw [carrots, cucumber]; vegetables can be used grilled or stir fried (if you don't want to boil them). This element of the lunch is the most difficult to convince most people to eat because of its taste, however a little creativity can be applied to solve that problem. Julienne your carrots, sweet peppers, and celery sprinkle them into your sandwiches;

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