Time to make those school lunches exciting

Writes

For me, the memory of school lunches was a plastic lunch box with one large and two small compartments and a plastic drink bottle. The large compartment was for the luncheon and tomato sauce sandwich and on some days the filling was lettuce and marmite.

The small compartments were for a couple of home-made biscuits or cake, a packet of raisins and a mandarin. Orange flavoured packet drink was made into cordial which filled my drink bottle.

When my children were at primary school, I dreaded putting my hand into the bottom of that backpack, I just didn’t know what was going to cling to my finger.

Some schools now provide their students with a wholesome choice of lunch options, but for those who still must still fill the lunch box, maybe a few new options will help wet the appetite of your child.

Lunch ideas

I have seen some pretty interesting ideas for school lunches. Quite a few using bento boxes that gives you a lot more compartments giving added choice for your child. Primary school children especially, like choice, small amounts but varied.

They like small sandwiches cut into shapes. Grapes taken off the stems, watermelon cut using a star shaped cookie cutter. Pop in, small corn fritters, pretzels, squares of cheese and what about fresh peas still in their pod from the garden, sliced cucumber, make some fresh spring rolls and remember to add a little pottle of sauce.

Cherries, cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, blueberries, popcorn, and sushi are all good options to fill that hungry tum!

Wrapping

As a lot of bento boxes are stainless steel, so it is ok to put the food straight into the boxes as a stainless lid goes over top. But if you are needing to wrap sandwiches and the like, there is a good range of beeswax wraps on the market, and they are reusable which means not so much plastic wrap is needed.

Here’s hoping for no more partially eaten food items at the bottom of the bag!