Today is a day of gloom and wintery mix (whatever that is), but yesterday was a day for a picnic. Once the rain cleared, all I wanted to do was sit outside, have a lazy lunch and pretend that it was Saturday. Sadly, it was Wednesday, which meant I barely had time to each lunch, let alone make it.
Happily, I didn’t have to, because yesterday I tried Stupid Good Lunchbox for the first time. My lunch had been delivered at 9 a.m. all ready in a little box with a cute note. All I had to do was warm it up — thirty seconds later, I was on my porch enjoying a picnic in yesterday’s rare warm snap.
Stupid Good Lunchbox is the brainchild of Stupid Good Rachel, a.k.a. Rachel Johnson. She’s serious about good, healthy food: She’s serving a fellowship at Cooking Light; she has a great blog about eating well, and she’s even published a Stupid Good ecookbook. Now she has a new, incredibly ambitious idea: Make quick, easy, healthy food available for delivery to the people of Birmingham. To those of us who are chained to our desks. To those of us who want to cook better and can’t seem to get it together to actually do it. To those of us too lazy to go out in the wintery mix to shop for food.
I think this idea is great, and I’m excited to see an entrepreneur thinking outside the box (or, uh, inside the lunchbox, whatever). It’s really exciting to someone with talent like Rachel’s growing a business that’s different than a brick-and-mortar — that kind of diversity is good for Birmingham’s economy, and it’s good for us as consumers.
But the real question is: What’s the food like? Well, judging from yesterday’s Roasted Cauliflower with Caramelized Onions and Peanut Sauce, the name says it all — it’s stupid-good. It’s very rare to have a lunch that you know is healthy but still tastes delicious and decadent, and this really did. Like my impromptu picnic yesterday, it was perfect.
Another exciting thing about Rachel’s lunches? You can try them for free. Head over to the Stupid Good Lunchbox website, list your contact info and your preferences, and you’ll be emailed a menu. Pick what you like from that, and let Rachel know if you’d prefer 9 a.m. delivery (she’ll deliver to your home or work) or 5 p.m. delivery (the lunches are designed to keep until the next day, so you can come to work prepared).
Or you can come to the Localist Bham Birthday Bash next week, because Rachel’s donating a pack of three lunches to a lucky raffle winner! Either way, be sure to try Stupid Good Lunchbox. It’s a meal you won’t have to feel guilty about, and it’s a great way to brighten up a workday.
Carrie Rollwagen is author of The Localist: Think Independent, Buy Local and Reclaim the American Dream and co-founder of Church Street Coffee & Books. Find her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @crollwagen.