1. Strawberries, 2. Mangoes, 3. grapefruit, 4. Abacaxi, piña, pineapple

One week back at school and already I am a bit over the school lunch boxes thing! I have to admit, that this is not my most favourite job in the world. Trying to find a balance of healthy variety 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 predetermined categories of food to complete the kids lunch boxes.

There are however other items that I would like to include in the kids lunch boxes but don’t:

• Yoghurt – The kids love yoghurt, but don’t like eating it at school.
• Cheese – As above. This is a real shame, as cheese is great to eat as the last item in the lunch box because it helps negate the impact of sugars in their food on their teeth.
• Nuts – Our school is a nut free zone.
• Particular fruits – Like pears, apricots, which the kids like, but think that they go too squishy in their lunch boxes.
• Seeds – like pumpkin and sunflower seeds. As much as I have tried, they just won’t go there with me on this one.

Does this list make my kids the fussiest ones around????

Anyway, I thought I would trial a couple of weekly rotations for the school lunch boxes and have the items for the weekly fruit and veg shopping lists itemised. The idea behind this is if I can take the thinking part of the lunch box process and just follow my list, I think it will be less of a chore. Also it has the added bonus of making it easy to hand over for someone else to do……………!

Shopping List 1 – Based on early spring seasonal fruit and veg

These are the extra items that will need to be added to the shopping list. Naturally we buy significant extra fruit on top of this (we actually go through about 60 – 70 apples a week!!!), but these are the minimum base requirement to stock the lunch boxes only:

• 5 bananas (cake)
• 15 apples
• 6 carrots
• 1 punnet strawberries
• 1/2 small watermelon
• 3 oranges
• Approx 18 beans
• Approx 36 snow peas

Monday
Core Lunch Item	Salad sandwich – (actually just grated carrot and lettuce!)
Whole Fruit	Apple
Veg Sticks	Carrot
Fruit Pieces	Strawberries
Homebaked Treat	Banana Cake
Crackers*	Water Crackers
Dry Cereal**	Weet Bix Crunch Multi Grain

Tuesday
Core Lunch Item	Vegemite Sandwich
Whole Fruit	Apple
Veg Sticks	Snow Peas
Fruit Pieces	Watermelon
Homebaked Treat	Banana Cake
Crackers*	Cruskits
Dry Cereal**	Mini Wheats

Wednessday
Core Lunch Item	Rice Cakes (usually just vegemite and butter)
Whole Fruit	Apple
Veg Sticks	Green Beans
Fruit Pieces	Strawberries
Homebaked Treat	Banana Cake
Crackers*	Water Crackers
Dry Cereal**	Weet Bix Crunch Multi Grain

Thursday
Core Lunch Item	Ham Sandwich
Whole Fruit	Apple
Veg Sticks	Carrot
Fruit Pieces	Watermelon
Homebaked Treat	Banana Cake
Crackers*	Cruskits
Dry Cereal**	Mini Wheats

Friday
Core Lunch Item	Salad Sandwich
Whole Fruit	Apple
Veg Sticks	Snow Peas
Fruit Pieces	Orange
Homebaked Treat	Banana Cake
Crackers*	Water Crackers
Dry Cereal**	Weet Bix Crunch Multi Grain

* & ** – only the eldest child will actually have both these items, as he eats more than the others. The younger two will have one or the other, not both.

Shopping List 2 – Based on later spring seasonal fruit and veg

• 15 apples
• 3 carrots
• 1 cucumber
• 1/2 rockmelon
• 6 oranges
• 1/2 honeydew
• 1 punnet cherry tomatoes

Monday
Core Lunch Item	Salad sandwich (Grated carrot and lettuce)
Whole Fruit	Apple
Veg Sticks	Cherry Tomatoes
Fruit Pieces	Rock Melon
Homebaked Treat	2 x 100s of biscuits
Crackers*	Vita Wheats
Dry Cereal**	Weet Bix Crunch Multi Grain

Tuesday
Core Lunch Item	Vegemite Sandwich
Whole Fruit	Apple
Veg Sticks	Cucumber
Fruit Pieces	Honey Dew
Homebaked Treat	2 x 100s of biscuits
Crackers*	Water Crackers
Dry Cereal**	Mini Wheats

Wednessday
Core Lunch Item	Rice Cakes (usually just vegemite and butter)
Whole Fruit	Apple
Veg Sticks	Carrot
Fruit Pieces	Orange
Homebaked Treat	2 x 100s of biscuits
Crackers*	Vita Wheats
Dry Cereal**	Weet Bix Crunch Multi Grain

Thursday
Core Lunch Item	Ham Sandwich
Whole Fruit	Apple
Veg Sticks	Cherry Tomatoes
Fruit Pieces	Rockmelon
Homebaked Treat	2 x 100s of biscuits
Crackers*	Water Crackers
Dry Cereal**	Mini Wheats

Friday
Core Lunch Item	Salad Sandwich
Whole Fruit	Apple
Veg Sticks	Cucumber
Fruit Pieces	Orange
Homebaked Treat	2 x 100s of biscuits
Crackers*	Vita Wheats
Dry Cereal**	Weet Bix Crunch Multi Grain

I am starting this idea this week, so it will be interesting to see if it makes the lunch box process and fruit and veg shopping easier. I will let you know how it goes! What do you do to make the lunch box process as easy as possible?