Yummy and healthy

By Tan Bee Hong

We cannot avoid eating out but Alexandra Prabaharan tells Tan Bee Hong we should try to eat healthy meals a few times a week

NO time to prepare a healthy lunch? With Lunch2U, this is just a click away. Started just a month ago, the online portal is the brainchild of Alexandra Prabaharan, a certified nutritionist with the American Fitness Professionals and Associates and former food editor of Friedchillies Media.

How did the idea come about?

“I used to make my lunch to bring to the office. When my colleagues saw what I was eating, they asked me to make extra portions for them too,” she recalls with a laugh. “When I obtained my nutritionist certificate, I decided to go into this business. My aim is to help busy career people eat healthily. There is definitely a lack of healthy options in the city.”

Most people grab a quick bite at the mamak or chap fun stall but while she concedes that such food can be very tasty, it is also extremely unhealthy, high in calories, carbohydrates and fat.

With this in mind, she has crafted a menu that reflects the care and thought put into each item. All recipes are her own and meals are well balanced, flavoursome and most of all, look appetising.

Slim and beautiful with a slender face accentuated by a ring of dark curls, Alexandra is perhaps the best advertisement for what she advocates.

“We deliver healthy lunches to offices. These dishes are low in fat, high in nutrients and fibre and most importantly, they taste great. We want to change the overall mindset about healthy eating.

VEGETARIAN BLISS

Her Moroccan Dreams, currently the only vegetarian option on the menu, is a case in point. The couscous and chickpea salad has cherry tomato, chopped red onion, chopped coriander and cucumber, tossed with a squeeze of lemon and olive oil.
It’s a lunch packed with fibre, vitamins and minerals. Only 377 kcal and RM12.90.

RICE & PASTA

Thai Journey is a red rice salad with baked chicken, cherry tomato, cucumber, red onion and mango, tossed with a Thai dressing. Red rice is a rich source of fibre, iron, thiamin, calcium and vitamin B1. Only 511 kcal and RM12.90.
Lunch2U also offers a tri-colour pasta salad with tuna, red and yellow capsicum, oyster mushrooms and red onion — tossed with a mixture of lemon, olive oil and mustard. This is 505 kcal and RM12.90.

SANDWICHES & WRAPS

Lunch2U offers two sandwiches with generous fillings and a wrap to perk up your lunch hour.

Egg-centric is a creamy egg salad sandwich with scallions and paprika on high-fibre, preservative-free bran bread produced by an artisanal baker, Tommy Le Baker. Mayonnaise is not an option. Instead, Alexandra uses yoghurt. Has 303 kcal and is RM10.90.

Yoghurt is also what goes into the Skinny Spicy Tuna, together with crunchy celery. Only 270 kcal and is RM10.90.
Oh, I love this third option. Love Me Tandoor is simply fabulous.

Imagine chicken breast marinated overnight in tandoori spices and then baked to perfection. This is sliced and wrapped in wholesome, whole wheat capati, with a lashing of yoghurt mixed with mint and cilantro. This is 331 kcal and RM11.90.

HOW TO ORDER
Go to lunch2U.my to browse the menu, order and pay. “We require a day’s notice as all meals are prepared to order. We don’t make extra and keep,” says Alexandra. “The food is delivered between 11.30am and 1pm.”
For now, Lunch2u only delivers to Damansara Heights, Phileo Damansara and Mon’t Kiara neighbourhoods in the Klang Valley. But for bulk or corporate orders, she will try to oblige. All prices inclusive of delivery charges.
phoenixbee@nst.com.my

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Yummy and healthy

We cannot avoid eating out but Alexandra Prabaharan tells Tan Bee Hong we should try to eat healthy meals a few times a week

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