I received fantastic comments, ideas and feedback on my Lunch Box Ideas – February post. Thanks so much to everyone who added to the conversation on the blog and the facebook page.
One of the changes I made based on the feedback was to increase the level of protein in the kids lunch boxes. After receiving a lovely email from a reader I did want to note one thing. If you read this post and think ‘wow that is too much work for lunch boxes for me”, please don’t compare and feel bad if you don’t make this sort of food for your kids lunch boxes. The reader said she felt guilty now only giving her kids sandwiches.
This is the first time in a number of years that I have started making more food for the kids school lunches and where I am not just relying on sandwiches or the like for the their main item every day. It is something I want to work on and am happy to spend a bit more time doing it. When I had very little ones, this was not something that I felt I could or even wanted to do.
So with that in mind………
Lunch Box Ideas – March Set 1
Zucchini and Pasta slice which I posted the recipe for last week.
And this is what it looks like altogether, Zucchini and Pasta slice, chocolate balls, strawberries, banana and organic corn chips. Each child has five items and they are not necessarily exactly the same. I will tweak the seasonal fruits to suit their preferences.
Lunch Box Ideas – March Set 2
Chicken Balls as suggested by Sinead!
Three out of the four kids took them as a wrap combo, just one of them preferring to have them straight up.
I actually made a double batch (used 1kg of chicken mince) when I made the chicken balls and froze large batches to use in the coming weeks. This is a more efficient use of my time and I will try and build up a stash in the freezer of these type of lunch box items.
Frozen orange – I cut an orange into quarters, wrap in plastic and freeze overnight. (I actually do a whole batch at the start of the week!) It does mean that the lunch box does contain one bit of rubbish, but the boys really love these on a hot day. They also have the added benefit of keeping the whole lunch box cooler too.
Hard boiled eggs – as suggested by Lynda, I tried hard boiling eggs as an additional protein source for the lunch boxes. According to the United States Department of Agriculture hard boiled eggs will keep for a week:
When shell eggs are hard cooked, the protective coating is washed away, leaving bare the pores in the shell for bacteria to enter and contaminate it. Hard-cooked eggs should be refrigerated within 2 hours of cooking and used within a week. Source
I hard boiled 6 and just shelled them the night before they went into the lunch box. However, only the preppie liked having them in his lunch box, so I will make fewer next time around.
And this is what it looks like altogether, Chicken ball wrap, chocolate cup cake, grapes (they also freeze well too), frozen orange and Vita Weat Original crackers. As with the other lunch box idea, each child has five items and they are not necessarily exactly the same, but pretty similar.
For more inspiration, the tables below list some fruit and veg which are in season for March. This isn’t a complete list, but just a selection of items that you might like to try including in the kids lunch boxes, either raw or baked into a snack / meal:
| Seasonal Fruits for March: | |
|---|---|
| apples - aba, cox's orange pippins - gala - jonagold - jonathan - mutso | orange - valencia |
| banana | papaya |
| berries - raspberry - strawberry | passionfruit |
| grapes - cardinal - currant - muscat - purple cornichon - sultana - waltham cross | peach |
| kiwifruit | pears - beurre bosc - howell - josephine - packham - red sensation - williams |
| mango | persimmon |
| melon - honeydew - rockmelon | plums |
| pomegranate |
| Seasonal Vegetable for March: | |
|---|---|
| avocados | pumpkin |
| beans - borlotti - butter - green - snake | spinach |
| capsicum | sweetcorn |
| celery | sweet potato |
| cucumber | tomato |
| peas | zucchini |
| potato |
You can see more lunch box ideas here and read more about my school lunch box process here.
Have you tried some new things in the kids lunch boxes recently?
22 comments...read them below or add one
Protein in lunch boxes is something I’ve been much more conscious of since my daughter became ill. One thing that I still am not entirely sure about is how safe is it to put chicken in lunch boxes…especially on a warm day. My daughter is resistant to having a bulky lunch so cool bag/freezer block not an option. My girlfriend, whose kids have been brought up with Japanese style lunch boxes, freezes the cooked chicken and just pops it in in the morning.(but her girls have freezer blocks too) I am striving to create lunches as conscientiously as she does! BTW I know another Western mum living in Japan who got phoned by the school and told off because the lunchbox only contained sandwiches and this was ‘not enough to sustain them’! Can you imagine?!
Love hearing about how other cultures do the lunch box thing – almost all our school would be getting told off about sandwiches!
I am always looking for new things in the lunchbox..but I am pretty sure it is more for me than the kids…they seem content with the same old same old all the time! I have LOADS of things on my blog to fill lunchboxes, we’ve made quite a few things over the last couple years! I even have a ‘lunchbox friendly’ label so you can look at recipes good for lunchboxes. I always try to to do one of each: protein, whole grain, fruit, veg, healthy treat. We definitely do leftovers in the boxes as it works, and I usually make several muffins/bars/raw bites to store in the freezer for quick lunchbox filling. We have a lunchbox greatest hits notebook that the kids decide which recipes go in as their favs, Here are a couple of nutritious, healthy foods to put into kids lunchboxes:
http://tessadomesticdiva.blogspot.com/2011/04/after-school-no-bake-cookie-snack.html
http://tessadomesticdiva.blogspot.com/2011/04/lara-snack-bars-squared.html
http://tessadomesticdiva.blogspot.com/2011/12/easy-gluten-free-vegan-blueberry.html
In order to reduce wastage like yoghurt etc coming home and to keep things fresh I invested in 4 ‘fridge to go’ lunch boxes available at our school clothing pool. They are eco friendly and stay cold for up to 8 hrs so that i can return some items to the fridge when possible. They were an investment but they have been well worth it. Their web site is: http://www.fridge-to-go.net.au/.
I love all the helpful suggestions here for providing variety (which my not sandwich loving kids enjoy) and the nutrition that I want.
I sometimes give my kids a lunch of carrot sticks, cucumber, ham slices, a baby tomato, some crackers and olives etc which they love too.
They look great Nadia, definitely worth checking out.
I usually buy one of those square water bottles and I freeze it. Tha’ts what I used as iceblock for my son’s lunch bag. I’m afraid of putting the proper ice blocks because he might accidently open and drink the content thinking it’s water.
I am yet to put stuff like chicken balls. I will try.
Good thing is the school whacks hot food in the microwave! So I pack stir fried noodles, and macaroni!
Wow you are lucky that your school does that!
hi Nicole,
I was wondering how you are finding your kids konserve lunch boxes now, several months down the track? I was thinking of investing….are the lunch sacks holding up ok? Also, do you use the cotton bag that comes with the pack – I imagine that makes it hard to put in an iceblock to keep the lunches cool?
Thanks!
We have been using them for over a year now and I really love them. The lids on the tins can be a little hard for the younger ones, so sometimes they have used their teeth and now I need to replace some of the lids. That would be my only issue.
As for keeping things cold, I have only really started to need to do that. I use a combination of the frozen orange and these little frozen blocks. The sets came with a fabric napkin, so I wrap it in that so it doesn’t make anything wet. It has worked well so far.
Where did you get your little stainless steel containers from?
Hi Lisa,
You can see the details here about where they can be purchased.
My only problem as noted earlier has been the lids can be a little difficult for little ones. Mine have used their teeth at times and I need to replace a few lids due to that.
Otherwise I highly recommend them,
Nic
I am just loving these posts! It gives me new inspiration and support at trying to continue giving my kids healthy, yummy, nutritious homemade lunches.
Quick question…Do you make the wraps in the morning or the night before? Do you find alfoil the best to wrap them in? I have never had much luck with wraps but my kids love them.
How do you find is the best way to wrap “wraps”??? Every time my son (year 1) says that it all falls apart when he tries to get it out….
Ive tried wraping in gladwrap or cutting a wrap in half and placing it in a tupperware sandwich keeper.
Any other suggestions as my boy is sick of sandwiches and loves wraps at home but is having issues getting it into his mouth at school!
Thanks!
I make the wraps in the morning. I do cut them in half and then I use foil only at the ends and wrap them tightly to keep them together. This means the kids can eat the bulk of the wrap with out having to undo anything and by the time they need to take the foil off, there is only a little bit left.
The kids haven’t complained so I guess they are working ok!
Thank you, i will try this next week!
Love the blog and the book by the way!! Awesome!
Thankyou for these scrumptious recipes. I have a large famiy (8 kids,2parents)so this means on any given day i am making up to 22 sandwiches. Our primary school has the first and second lunch happening so instead of making all those sandwiches i am going to try your lunchbox recipes instead. Thankyou for giving larger families these wonderful time-saving ways. A less stressed mum means a happier family.
Love these ideas. My little one is a baby so too young to make packed lunches for just yet, but your post has inspired me to make better lunches for the work week for my hubby! He would just LOVE the meals you put together. I’m thinking I’ll need to make everything over the weekend, and just freeze them ahead of time. There’s no way I would have time during the work week to do this. Thanks for the great ideas!
I gave my kids hard boiled eggs in the shell – their favourite job is peeling them. I drew a smiley face on them (also a good way of telling them apart from the fresh eggs…!).
Thanks for the inspiration! Unfortunately I can’t use the egg-based ideas, as our school asks that we don’t send in egg-based foods (as well as nuts), due to some kids & staff with severe allergies.
One thing my kids love are pita bread ‘chips’ – I brush pita rounds with olive oil, and whack them in the sandwich press until cripsy, then cut into triangles, and sprinkle with a little salt & spice. They like grissini sticks as well, and I sometimes send either of these with a little pot of cream cheese (I decant from a big tub into a little reusable ‘dressing tub’, which I tuck in next to the frozen drink)
Nicole, thank you so much for your menu ideas and recipes. Would you please be able to add the lunchbox recipes to the main recipe section? BTW I couldn’t find chicken balls on that recipe list either.
Thanks again for a great blog!
So many great ideas, thanks Nic. I suspect both my girls would really enjoy the chicken balls.
Annie likes the zucchini and rice slice that I make based on Coles recipe – although I mixed up the ingredients a bit.
She also enjoys sushi hand rolls in her lunch box, though I avoid the raw fish versions.
Heidi really enjoys the rice shapes – pictured about halfway down this post http://www.stuffwiththing.com/2011/10/difference-eat-do-go-make/
Benefit to the rice shapes is I can make up one batch of sushi rice and do both girls lunches from it.
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