Lunchbox - Nistepakke

When I was young and going to school, I always had a "Pausenbrot" ("breaktime snack") with me which my mother thoroughly prepared. But when I started to live on my own and went to University, I was often too lazy to prepare my own food and bought a sandwich  here or there or ate at the University's dining facility.
When I began to work in the office, I ate at the canteen, day in, day out.

Sometimes I brought with me some juice or I made an instant coffee, but nothing more. When we got a "barista corner" in our cafeteria, I was very pleased at first and from then on, bought my "Latte macchiato" or my "Chai Latte" or hot chocolate there.

In 2006, during a stay in Norway, I learned that many of the adult Norwegians still prepare their food for lunch and bring it to the office every day. They call it "matpakke" or "nistepakke" (I love that word).

This was a turning point for me. From then on, I tried to bring my own food to work, not every day, but with increasing frequency.

And I realized that this has some advantages for me: I dont spend much money on my lunch and it tastes much better than the food in the canteen. Moreover, it is sustainable (another word I love) and I feel more independent ( a feeling like when you wear your own, knitted socks;-)).

Meanwhile, I got some stainless steel containers, which I like a lot more than the plastic ones. Especially the round container is very practical, because warm meal stays warm and cold meal stays cold in there.

Today I had with me a thermos bottle with milk coffee, whole grain bread with cheese, a sliced apple, some tomatoes, some paprika slices and plain yoghurt with some blueberries, walnuts and maple syrup -  just wonderful.