A lovely reader of the blog wrote to me earlier this month with a couple of starting school questions. I had already scheduled posts on a number of topics that were discussed, but there was one topic which I hadn’t and it was on school lunches.
Thinking of interesting food to put in the school lunches everyday can become quite a challenge after a while, so I thought it would make a great idea for a post. Thanks for the inspiration Sharon!
School Lunches – A Process
If you have been in the school routine for more than a year, like me you probably have a routine or process that you follow which takes some of the hard work out of making the school lunches. If this is your first year into the school routine, you might like to think about making one. School mornings can be stressful if there is too much to do, making the school lunches into an easy job can help things run more smoothly.
Establish how much food is required.
Through trial and error I have worked out how much food my children need to get them through the day. Marita at Stuff With Thing has her first child starting school this year and is trialling food amounts during the remainder of the holidays, to work out what is the right amount for her child.
Create a template for school lunches
You can only really do this once you know how much food is enough for your children. I have found that approximately six (seven for my oldest, who eats the most) items is enough for my children and they are made up of items along the lines of:
- 1 sandwich or 1 wrap or 2 cruskits
- 1 whole piece of fruit – apple, banana, mandarin or the like
- 1 piece of veg – carrot, capsicum, cucumber, celery etc
- 1 container fruit pieces – strawberries, grapes, watermelon, rockmelon etc
- 1 home baked treat – muffin, biscuit, slice of cake etc
- 1 selection of crackers – rice crackers, shapes, organic corn chips etc OR
- 1 selection of dried fruit – apricots, sultanas, sunflower seeds, etc OR
- 1 selection of dry cereal – weetbix crunch, sultana bran, mini wheats
Once I have included the 6 or 7 items in each lunch box, I know that there is enough food for each child and mix of the appropriate food groups.
EDIT: We have moved back to five items now for the primary school kids as there was an increase in wastage. You can see some recent examples in my post here on Lunch Box Ideas.)
Prepare as much as you can the night before.
Lots of the preparation for the school lunches can be completed the night before.
- Cut up fruit and veg and store in fridge. I find that watermelon, rockmelon, strawberries etc can be cut the night before and placed in air tight containers until the morning.
- Cut up fresh ingredients for sandwiches if required. I like to make fresh sandwiches everyday, purely as personal preference. Some people are happy to make up large batches of sandwiches and freeze them in advance. I will often grate carrot, shred lettuce, slice tomato etc, the night before so that I can just place the ingredients into the sandwich in the morning.
- Make up cracker, cereal or dried fruit packs.
- Wrap up cake or muffins and place in lunch box.
Have a regular baking day/s for treats for school lunches.
I have found that having a regular baking day, helps make sure that there is a home cooked treat in the children’s school lunches. Through out most of the year I will have two baking days:
- Sunday evening which I do quickly by myself.
- Weekday morning when I cook with the toddler and up until this year the preschooler. See my post on Children’s Timetable for more info on this.
Here are a few easy to cook recipes that are a hit in my children’s school lunch boxes:
Buy in season fruit and vegetables from a market.
Not only is this cheaper, but it also helps keep variety in the lunch boxes through out the year.
Then if you are anything like me, there is a sigh of relief when school holidays come around and you can take a few weeks off worrying about what to give the children for their school lunches!
How do you go about the business of school lunches?
18 comments...read them below or add one
Excellent tips there. Thank you.
Thanks for the tips. Certainly will need these tips for 2010 when Arielle starts school and baby#2 is 6months or so… (scarey thought)
Graces last blog post..Watercolour Paintings
My son’s a big eater so when he first started school I packed heaps of food for him. I’ve cut that down because the play factor comes in. They get an allotted amount of time to eat and if he’s not done too bad, he won’t finish eating. He’s 7 and I pack him a sandwich, a little yoghurt or custard, some biscuits (or similar), fruit (depending on what’s in season), and a fruit drink. I’m also a fresh sandwich kind of girl.
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What great tips! My little one is starting school on Monday so we’re very excited. I am baking on the weekend to prepare for his school lunchbox – so I’ll try out your recipes. Thanks!
ickle Kidss last blog post..New ickle Website!!
Thanks for this post, Nicole – very timely for me as my first baby starts school next Monday! I already used the cubing melons / cutting up strawberries the night before trick for kinder snacks and will definitely continue with that.
Kathys last blog post..Hot
I like your blog!
Thanks for visiting me & I hope you’ll come again.
Best wishes & great tips
ribbons last blog post..The Gift of Giving!
Me again. Just had a good look around and the one word that comes to mind is ………. you’re quite amazing!
Best wishes with all that you do. I’m a Mum to one.
ribbons last blog post..The Gift of Giving!
As a teacher and parent of young children I’ve also found that separating recess and lunch into two boxes (at least to start with) can be quite useful. Children get very hungry and will tend to gulp down the entire contents of their lunch boxes at recess and not leave anything for lunch!
Super ideas Nicole …even for mums taking their toddlers /preschoolers on a day out.
Thankfully , the daycare I am planing for one day a week we don’t have to prepare to take anything …I will need some practice later on though.
[...] make the toddler a snack box and water bottle as part of my daily school lunch box routine. We walk to school each morning and upon our return the baby generally needs a breastfeed. The [...]
[...] I would love to hear any ideas that you have for keeping the fruit and vegetables in the school lunch box interesting. If you want to see what else I put in the kids lunch boxes you can check it out on my post on preparing school lunch boxes. [...]
I have made a 10 meals menu for school time. It is so easy that way and I get a lot of variety for my daughter. At the end of 10 days I go back to number one on the menu list. Stick it up inside your kitchen cupboard.
.-= Natalie´s last blog ..AUSTRALIA DAY PREPARATIONS =-.
Dont forget the humble pasty, if made properly, is an ideal lunch item for kids.
Munch on!
.-= Pasty Muncher´s last blog ..Australia Celebrates Oggy Oggie Oggie Oi Oi Oi =-.
[...] year, so by posting them each month I hope it will keep me accountable.I have written more on my lunch box process if you are after more tips.Do you have a process for school lunch boxes?//LinkWithinCodeStart var [...]
[...] far much easier to the night before than in the morning. You can see my process in detail here at Preparing School Lunches.3. Complete Notices.The children have a folder where they place any notices from school when they [...]
[...] that they will actually eat can get a bit monotonous.In a post at the start of the year on my lunch box packing process, I explained the template system that I use. This is basically that I include 6/7 items from [...]
[...] can see more lunch box ideas here and read more about my school lunch box process here.Do you have some new ideas for the kids’ lunch boxes in term 2?//LinkWithinCodeStart var [...]
[...] bokmangoyellow grapefruitYou can see more lunch box ideas here and read more about my school lunch box process here.You can also check out my lunch box ideas board on Pinterest. I have recently re-organised my [...]