Healthy kids lunchbox ideas

littelady

Hi, at this point I'm fed up with packing up the usual lunches for my little ones. Suggestions welcome.

XplaygirlX

littelady wrote:

Hi, at this point I'm fed up with packing up the usual lunches for my little ones. Suggestions welcome.

Im the same. I always make my 4 y/o son sandwich usually ham or cheese or both. A piece of fruit and a drink. He's in play school so it's just a small lunch. But like you @littlelady I need some exciting ideas. Getting fed up of giving him the same thing over and over again

littelady

Mine are loving fruit cake atm. But yes ham & cheese with mine too I always think the other kids have v exciting lunches!!!

garden

Chopped peppars

Chopped fruit/carrott sticks/tomatoes

Natural yoghurt and fruit (at end of week i used tinned fruit if i run out of fresh), mixed with linseed or flaxseed

Low sugar flapjacks - home made

Low sugar homemade muffins with fruit/nuts/carrotts/corgettes

Home made popcorn (depending on age -choking hazard for young kids)

Id avoid too much ham but insted roast chicken, roast beef, the odd tinned fish sandwiches

Things mine wont eat
Pasta chicken salad
Noodles and veg
Too young to manage flask of soup but that might be an option

Disgruntled Badger

On sandwiches; peanut butter is quick easy and healthy, unless school has policy against it. cucumber slices or on a sandwich is nice. Try different cheeses, on different breads, grating the cheese is fun too. Sausage roll.

pwurple

Small break: Crackers and cheese, i try to mix up the cheeses and the crackers. A small yoghurt.

Big lunch :
1 thing with protein and carb. wrap, roll, or sandwich. Mine bizaarly love frittata (tall omlettes) or leftover dinners like a slice of quiche or cold pasta. I hated those as a child...
+
1 veg/salad: Chopped veg like carrots, cucumber, tomatoes. Peas in the summer. One of mine likes lettuce, the other doesn't.
+
1 'dessert' = Fruit. Orange segments, berries, chopped grapes, a banana etc.

pwurple

Small break: Crackers and cheese, i try to mix up the cheeses and the crackers. A small yoghurt.

Big lunch :
1 thing with protein and carb. wrap, roll, or sandwich. Mine bizaarly love frittata (tall omlettes) or leftover dinners like a slice of quiche or cold pasta. I hated those as a child...
+
1 veg/salad: Chopped veg like carrots, cucumber, tomatoes. Peas in the summer. One of mine likes lettuce, the other doesn't.
+
1 'dessert' = Fruit. Orange segments, berries, chopped grapes, a banana etc.

byhookorbycrook

Some handy ideas on the leaflets at the bottom of this page:
http://safefood.eu/Education/Primary-%28ROI%29/Healthy-lunchboxes.aspx

byhookorbycrook

Some handy ideas on the leaflets at the bottom of this page:
http://safefood.eu/Education/Primary-%28ROI%29/Healthy-lunchboxes.aspx

Roselm

littelady wrote: »

Hi, at this point I'm fed up with packing up the usual lunches for my little ones. Suggestions welcome.

What about cooking extra dinner and giving that as a lunch eg pasta with bolognese or curry with rice. (Meat and spuds mightn't be so appetising though so it depends what you have for dinner)
Also depends on how much of a mess your kid might make while trying to eat it with a spoon/fork!

Anyway, this is the sort of thing I bring to work myself and find it way more interesting than a sandwich and I eat it at room temperature so no need to heat up in a microwave (I suppose think of it like a pasta salad that you would eat at room temperature. And I don't think it's any less safe from a food safety point of view than say a chicken or ham sandwich that's been in a lunchbox?)

Roselm

What about hummus and carrot sticks? Hummus is a fairly mild flavour and it's chickpeas so full of protein