Time-saving tools
To minimise on time and effort spent preparing lunchboxes, preparation is key. Despite her beautifully prepared lunches, Deeks says she doesn’t usually spend more than five minutes putting her children’s school lunches together.
Here are Deeks’ time-saving tools to making healthy, stressfree lunches: Make two or three lunchboxes in advance and keep them in the fridge. Prepare as much as you can in advance. Cook a little extra dinner and use the leftovers for the main part of the lunchbox. Leftover meat can be eaten as is or chopped up to fill sushi, or lettuce wraps. Most useful of all is having a roast dinner on Sunday night and using leftovers to start the week. Have a baking day once a week or once a month and bake in bulk then freeze. Savoury muffins and bliss balls freeze well. Just pack them in the lunchbox frozen. They will keep the box nice and cool and will unthaw by lunchtime. Try a ‘no cook lunchbox’ which is just what it sounds like. It’s essentially creating a lunchbox based around fruit, raw veges, dairy (or dairy equivalents) and healthy fats. Hard-boil a batch of eggs on a Sunday. You can do this while cooking dinner so it doesn’t take any extra time. That way, you have a nice, easy source of protein to pop in lunches throughout the week. At the supermarket, grab a few healthy things you know will be quick and easy to throw in a lunchbox with no prep needed – mandarins, cherry tomatoes, grapes, and cheese, for example, are all great options.
Presentation
While Edwards understands most parents don’t have a lot of time to think about presentation, she says if healthy food is presented attractively then kids will actually want to eat it.
‘‘Cut up the fruit, especially for younger children. A whole apple or orange can be quite intimidating. Cutting fruit and vegetables into smaller pieces make them much more appealing and easier to eat. Try upping the fun factor by including a ‘dip’ such as yoghurt for fruit or hummus for carrot or celery sticks. Actually anything on a stick always goes down well. Food threaded onto a skewer goes down a treat!’’ Or put berries on a skewer or a combination of cold meat and cheese, she says.
Top tips to engage kids
Make it colourful with a rainbow of colours. Mix up the way you cut food – for example, carrots can be chopped into rounds, sticks or in quarters. Use funny names for food like ‘‘Hulk smoothie’’ for a green smoothie.
Pop a little note into the lunchbox to send a special message to brighten your child’s day.
Foods to try
Air-popped popcorn. Homemade vege dips like guacamole with raw vegetable sticks for dipping. Coconut chips. Fruit skewers. Homemade crackers made by cutting wraps with a cookie cutter and baking until crispy.
Eggs, either hard-boiled, as omelettes or as egg wraps, just make a thin omelette and use as a wrap with meat or salad filling.