We are officially into Autumn and we love when the leaves start to turn orange & red, the weather starts to become a little colder, but the sun's still shining. Autumn is one of our favourite months and just because it’s a little colder, that doesn’t mean you cannot have a fun day outside. Whether you want to plan a trip to the woods or you want to plan a day trip further afield, you always need food and drinks to keep your tummies happy. Let’s jump right in and explore the essential Citron products for this autumn season. Additionally, we'll share some of our favourite cosy recipes to get you taste buds going!
Grand lunch box
Our grand lunch boxes are great for Autumn explorers as they are big enough to fit your lunch in as well as a snack. The Citron grand lunch box comes with 4 compartments to keep all your food separate, as well as a small food jar and a sauce pot. If you haven't heard of our food jars before, they are insulated stainless steel food containers that will keep your food warm for up to 6 hours. On those slightly chillier Autumn days, having a warm snack can be that exact thing you need to keep you energised.
Grand lunch box recipes
Carrot pasta with fruit skewers
Serving: 1
Ingredients
Pasta
- 1 portion of pasta
- 2 cooked carrots
- 50ml milk
- Salt and pepper
Snacks
- 2 cherry tomatoes
- 2 mini sausages
- 3 cheddar cheese cubes
- A handful of Raspberries
- 1 apple
- 3 chocolates or Werther's Originals
Method
Pasta
- Boil water in a saucepan and cook the pasta according to the packet and boil your carrots until soft.
- Add boiling water to the small food jar to heat it up.
- Blend all your other pasta sauce ingredients together and add to your cooked pasta.
Snacks
- Chop your tomatoes in half, cut your mini sausages into smaller chunks and your cheddar cheese.
- Put all of them onto a skewer.
- Add your raspberries & your apple to one of the compartments.
- Add your sweet treats to another compartment.
Noodle stir fry with ham & cheese sandwiches
Serving: 1
Ingredients
Sandwich
- 2 slices of bread
- 2 slices of ham slices
- 2 slices of gouda cheese
Noodles
- 1 portion of plain noodles
- 1 hard boiled egg
- A Handful of green beans
- 1 tsp chopped coriander
- ½ clove of garlic
- 1 tbsp teriyaki sauce
- ½ small carrot
Snacks
- 1 peach
- 1 portion of raspberries
Method
- Make up your sandwich with your ham and cheese slices.
- Boil your noodles as per the instructions and boil 1 egg.
- Cook your green beans and garlic together and add your teriyaki sauce and grate your carrot.
- Mix all your noodle ingredients together and add to your small food jar.
- Add your fruit to the other compartments.
Large food jar
Our large food jars will become your best friend throughout the autumn and winter season, allowing you to enjoy hot meals while you're on the go. How does our food jar keep your food warm? All you have to do is add boiling water to our jars and let it sit for 15-minutes, once you have cooked your food and have left the food jar to sit with the water, simply pour out the water and add in your food. The vacuum-seal will keep the food warm for 6 hours, but don’t worry, the outside of the jar will always be cool no matter how hot the content is.
Large food jar recipes
Creamy Cajun and tofu pasta
Serving: 1
Ingredients
- 1 ½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 blocks of extra-firm smoked tofu (cubed)
- 1 ½ teaspoons Cajun spice seasoning (may wish to reduce spice quantity for children)
- 1 white onion (finely diced)
- 1 red pepper (thinly sliced)
- 3 garlic cloves (crushed)
- 60g sundried tomatoes (chopped)
- ¾ can chopped tomatoes
- 100ml dairy free cream
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 350g dried rigatoni pasta
- 80 ml water from cooked pasta pot
- Juice from ½ lemon
- Chopped fresh parsley to garnish
- Chilli flakes to garnish (optional)
Method
- Begin by heating a large pan on a medium heat and adding 1 tablespoon of oil, the cubed tofu and 1 teaspoon of Cajun seasoning.
- Combine and cook the tofu for approx. 6 minutes stirring every 2 minutes.
- Place the cooked tofu onto a plate and leave to one side
- Add the remaining ½ tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and sauté the onion for 5 minutes until it’s started to soften. Add the sliced pepper, crushed garlic, chopped sundried tomatoes and remaining ½ teaspoon of Cajun seasoning.
- Combine well and cook for a few minutes before adding the chopped tomatoes, cream and salt.
- Leave to simmer on a low heat while you cook the pasta as per instructions.
- Once the pasta is cooked, transfer 80ml of the pasta water to the sauce, then drain the pasta and add it to the pan also.
- Combine, and then stir the cooked tofu through with the lemon juice.
- Cook for a few more minutes to ensure everything is warm, then serve with some chopped fresh parsley and chill flakes on your bio-based Citron plates.
- Store any leftovers in your Citron food jar, or if you’re not eating the pasta immediately it’ll stay warm in the jar for 6 hours. So, it’s perfect for making for lunch.
Tiramisu porridge
Serving: 1
Ingredients
- 40g oats
- 150ml milk of your choice
- 1 tsp instant coffee
- 1 tbsp honey
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp protein powder
- 65g plain yoghurt
- Cocoa powder
Method
- Add hot water to your food jar with the lid on for 15 minutes to heat up.
- Put your oats, milk and coffee into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Let it simmer for 4-5 minutes, stirring from time to time.
- Alternatively you can add your milk, coffee and oats into a microwaveable bowl for 2 minutes.
- Next mix your yoghurt and protein powder together.
- Pour out the water from your food jar, and add in all of your oats and flatten. Next add your protein yoghurt and dust with cocoa powder.
- You can also turn this into overnight oats if you would prefer!
Cutlery
To go alongside your large food jar, you might want to add a Citron cutlery set to your basket. At Citron we have three different types of cutlery sets, all of which are eco-friendly as they are reusable. If you didn’t already know, as of October 1st, some single-use plastic food products like cutlery will be banned. This is to help tackle the amount of plastic that ends up on landfill sites. Citron stainless steel and eco bio-based plastic sets come with a silicone casing, so you can easily pop them in your bag wherever you go.
“Fabulous quality and perfect to put in my bag for work. Plus it all fits in my dishwasher.”
“Got lots of compliments at work, the case is really cute. The fact that it includes 3-pieces and not only two is a big plus.”
Travel mugs for the parents
Hands up if you cannot get through a morning without a cup of coffee or tea. If you’re that person, just like us, a travel mug is an essential. Citron travel mugs come in four different colours and two different sizes. Like the food jars, the vacuum-seal means your drink will stay warm for 6 hours, or if you’re still on the iced-coffee trend, it will keep your drink cold for 12 hours. P.S. they make the perfect present for someone, as you can personalise them for free!
Travel mug recipes
Pumpkin spiced latte
Serving: 1
Ingredients
- 2 tsp pumpkin puree
- Pinch of ground cinnamon
- Pinch of ground ginger
- Pinch of nutmeg
- 30ml espresso
- 250ml milk of your choice
Method
- Put your pumpkin puree in your Citron travel mug and stir in the spices and the espresso.
- Heat up your milk in a saucepan over a low heat until it starts to steam. Pour into your Citron travel mug and stir together.
- Sprinkle it with extra cinnamon or some pumpkin spices and enjoy!
Salted caramel hot chocolate
Serving: 1
Ingredients
- 2 tsp dulce de leche or thick caramel
- 150ml milk
- 50g milk chocolate
- Pinch of flaky sea salt
Method
- Warm up the milk in a saucepan over a medium heat until simmering.
- Remove from the heat and add in your chopped chocolate.
- Next put your saucepan back onto the heat until it starts to simmer and add in the dulce de leche and stir.
- Sprinkle in a pinch of flaky sea salt and then add the mixture to your travel mug.
The team hope we have given you some tasty and inspirational meals to try out this autumn and winter. Make sure you head to our website and check out what items we have on sale.