Hi everyone,
So I was supposed to send this out yesterday but then I had a minor computer failure or probably computer user failure and thought I had lost all my photos! (Don’t worry i’ve now found them, well my hubby did!!)….but that may explain why when you read this it will seem like this all happened yesterday..because it did!….you see yesterday was Monday and for us that means one thing. Swimming! Ok two things, it means swimming and packed teas!
I don’t know about you but I always find taking the kids swimming pretty exhausting! I have no idea why, i’m not even the one swimming! There just seems to be a lot going on when it comes to swimming – Getting their swim stuff packed, getting them changed, showered and then changed again, hot stuffy swimming pool which makes watching the kids a feat in itself! and often all with tired and hungry kids!…not to mention getting home and then having to deal with wet clothes and washing!!!…
That said one of the things which does make it easier, aside from having a very good friend there with me taking her kids too, is taking a packed tea with me. It means while one is swimming the other can be tucking into their tea which staves off the hunger and keeps the energy levels going!
As I tend to do lunchboxes pretty regularly I thought it might be useful to collate them all together so they’re all in once place if I need to look back and get some inspo! Hopefully this will be helpful for you guys too! That’s the idea anyway..hence this blog!
So I guess to start I can pop yesterday’s lunchbox here. Alfie has been a bit off his fruit recently, as in he’ll only eat grapes and apples so in an attempt to try and increase his fruit intake I’ve just bought some fruit and veggie cutters from amazon so that I can make his fruit salads just that little bit prettier and hopefully more attractive! Link to cutters here: Veggie cutters: I kept his favourites in but also included plum and strawberries.
As well as the fruit salad I also popped in a wrap with some leftover pulled pork from the weekend, some delicious banana bread which we also made at the weekend (recipe coming for that soon!) and some carrots and mushrooms.
Now in addition to this pic I’ve also included below a little slideshow for you with lots of my previous lunchbox offerings! (You’re welcome!!) Hopefully there’ll be some ideas for you here which you haven’t previously tried and ideas which hopefully your little ones will like too! Y Please let me know if you try anything and report back! I’d LOVE to hear from you…the good and bad!
Now before you start shouting what’s wrong with a good old ham sandwich!!..Well the simple answer is nothing! The problem I had with sandwiches, especially when my kids were younger was that they weren’t very good at eating them (They’re better now!) so I had to try and switch things up a bit..so things which worked for us were wraps, pinwheels, bagels, sandwich thins. If I do make sandwiches I tend to use cookie cutters to cut them and make them a little bit more interesting! I have bought some sandwich cutters too which i’m going to try out on Thursday so stay tuned and i’ll let you know how they work! Maisie has requested a dolphin sandwich!!
Other things which work really well in packed lunches are EGGS! In any form! Boiled eggs, egg muffins, either just cooked simply in silicon cupcake cases or cooked in filo. My kids love these! Frittata’s also work really well in lunchboxes as they can be eaten hot or cold.
Skewers are also a great way to encourage your children to eat, everything’s more fun if it’s on a skewer! Fruit skewers or veggie ones. See pics below for some ideas but you could try all sorts of combinations..halloumi, chorizo, mushroom, chicken, fruit, roasted veggies…
Mini pizza’s are also good. Made from english muffins, or pitta or get a pizza base and use a cookie cutter to cut into small mini pizzas’. Again, like skewers, I find anything mini is more fun!
I’ll also try and put in a treat of some sort…so some banana bread, healthy muffins, homemade granola bars, oat cookies, energy balls (these freeze really well too so always make a double batch!) or you could try making your own trail mix by adding, pretzels, raisins, popcorn, nuts, seeds, banana chips, apricots, dried mango, coconut chips…..the list is pretty endless!
Here’s one I made for them recently..
I try to bake one thing a week which i’ll pop into lunchboxes! It also means kids can have after school snacks as well…if my hubby hasn’t got to them first! He works from home so is constantly popping down to the kitchen scavenging for food!! Anyway back to lunchboxes…I hope the below gives you some ideas to spice up the good old lunchbox!
I hope you find this useful, please comment below and let me know what you think!
If there’s anything else you would like me to blog about please put a comment below as well. I’m here because you are!
Thanks so much for reading!
See you soon! xx
hungrylittlebears.com 