10 Lunch Box Ideas To Save Your Mornings!

I'm sure every mum faces the same problem that I do, 5 days a week- what I am going to pack for your children's lunch?

Here are my 10 top tips to help assist you in you:

1. Ensure you have a good lunch box, I'm not talking a ben 10, or princess one. Although- these are a serious consideration point when you are 5.  I'm talking one that is sealable, big enough to actually have food inside and can store an ice pack.
2. Use leftovers! Chances are if you're children gobbled down last nights dinner of homemade chicken balls, they will for lunch too!
3. Get your children to pack their lunch with you, that way they can choose the foods they like and if they don't eat it, they chose it!
4. Ensure you have enough food to provide choices. School is a long day, there is nothing worse than feeling hungry, so even if your children doesn't get through it, over compensate- rather than under!
5. Ice packs! In Australia (especially in Summer) the heat can mean that there runs a risk of food spoiling. Put an ice pack in, especially if you are selecting meats.
6. Muffins. People think of unhealthy, sugar loaded sweets when they hear the word muffins, in my latest release 'My kid's eat' I have a whole section of different muffins, including savoury muffins. These make great lunch box ideas!
7. Add in left over tuna mornay or spaghetti bolognese for the ultimate lunch box idea!
8. Think outside the box- a sandwich and chips are not compulsory items. Make chia seed puddings, chicken burritos or sweet potato chips!
9. The basis I use to 'build' my children's lunch boxes is to start with a protein source, say chicken breast, create a meal- say a burrito with avocado, tomatoes, lettuce and chicken, wrapped up. Add in fruit, a vegetable- say carrots, cucumbers or celery and add in a baked good to finish!
10. Have fun with it, wrap the baked goods in wrapping paper, or put a lego man in there.
11. Lastly, Your child's lunch box is what they eat from 5 days a week for 12 years. You wouldnt through a packet of chips on the table for dinner, so why do it for lunch? A few extra minutes of planning will make for less health problems in the future! ;)

FUN FACTS:

Did you know: • Aussie parents spend 60 million hours a year packing school lunches. • Ninety per cent of parents regularly throw away uneaten, nutritious leftovers from family meals. • A sandwich made with leftover meat from dinner, such as roast beef, contains almost three times the protein, more than double the amount of iron, and around five times the zinc as a sandwich containing a yeast spread or jam.