My children are pretty good eaters and will try most foods but I find it so limiting trying to think of something suitable to put in lunch boxes especially as the colder weather sets in.
At home it's no problem, we usually have soup, or pasta, toasted sandwiches or quesadillas but none of these are suitable for school lunches as at 7,5 and 3 giving a flask of hot soup is not yet an option and mine prefer pasta hot rather than cold especially in winter. We are limited to a small number of options, namely;
•Pitta Bread stuffed with ham lettuce tomatoes and feta cheese with dressing
•Lightly Toasted Bagel with either ham and grated cheese or Philadelphia
•Tuna, grated cheese and mayo in a wrap
•Peanut Butter and Jam or plain Jam sandwich, these are reserved for days when nothing else in the house!!
In addition I usually add some chopped apple and grapes and/or a banana. I sometime add hummus and breadsticks and recently I've been adding their favourite yoghurt Glenilan Raspberry
into these little pots that came with their Nude Food lunch boxes which I find fantastic.
I gave up buying the individual yogurts a while back as they were being half eaten and wasted but we are huge fans of this range and Glenisk to a very similar range of these too.
I struggle find other things which will add variety to their lunch, in warmer months they will eat rice and pasta and green salads but none of these seem appealing right now!
I'm determined to try add a few new things to our lunch 'menu' and would love to hear what other people make, sharing is caring and all that so all suggestions welcome.
Hey Liz!
ReplyDeleteI very often make a little 'selection box' for them: I divide the clip-lock lunch box into compartments using silicone muffin cases. The cases are nice and bright in colour and make anything look tasty. I then fill them with a selection of cold meat/cheese/fruit/vegetables and give them crackers or similar in a separate little clip lock container. They both love these snack boxes.
Most common fillings:
Rolled slices of salami, ham or mortadella.
Cubed cheese (usually I use Gouda).
Cucumber (if I feel extra über-mummy I cut shapes with a cookie cutter), cherry tomatoes, grapes, melon pieces - anything goes to be honest!
I also find that the polish shop near Lidl in Tullamore has a great range of crackers that make a nice change to the usual.
A couple of years back I got sandwich shape cutters in Aldi which turn a boring sandwich into a love heart or dolphin. Again, a good change once in a while.
Both kids love the fruit bags from Tesco (they come in apple; apple-strawberry or apple-blueberry which is very tart). Eva won't take these to school anymore though as she was being teased, they said she was eating baby food, despite the fact that 'FOR KIDS' is written on the packet...
Banana bread, but baked in muffin cases. I have a recipe which uses 50g of sugar for a whole loaf tin so I can send them in without feeling guilty. The flapjacks I make are a different kettle of fish... :-o
Hope that helps!
They are brilliant suggestions Barbara, I love the variety, I think I was stuck in the idea of one main thing but Im definitely going to give the 'selection box' lunch a go and see how we get on. Thank you xx
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