I am not going to lie making up my eldest son’s lunchbox every day is a bit of a bind.  It’s hard to think about what to put in it.  This is probably why I don’t tend to I offer much variety.  It’s the same tested format I know he will eat.  A Turkey sandwich, some cut up cucumber, crisps, a chocolate bar and a bit of fruit.  Hardly imaginative!  So, I decided to write up some tips to hopefully inspire myself and others to make kids lunchboxes more exciting.

Stock Up

What I really hate is waking up in the morning and realizing I have run out of something crucial for my son’s lunchbox.  Then I feel guilty, especially as we always seem to have enough sugary treats!  It’s the cucumber or fresh fruit I tend to run short of.

Packaging

Unless your lucky enough to own your own packaging machinery from a company like C Pack Ltd then you need to make sure you have plenty of sandwich bags and containers in stock.  If I ever open a café, I am so getting one!  It can seal 60 sandwiches in a minute.  Talk about speedy!  Although I am quite keen to try the beeswax sandwich wraps as I do go through a lot of sandwich bags.  I think it might be better for the environment as they are reusable and recyclable.  They are made from natural ingredients!  Plus, the designs are so cute.  I have started seeing them in more and more kids’ lunchboxes.

Be Prepared

Some parents make up batches of sandwiches and freeze them!  I don’t know how I feel about that.  I don’t know how fresh the sandwiches would taste.  Perhaps I should do a trial run and see.  Apparently, they thaw out by lunchtime!

Keep it Healthy

The NHS Change 4 Life have some great suggestions of balanced lunchboxes you can try!  I think I am feeling more inspired looking through that.  Instead of his chocolate bar I might mix it up with some sugar free jelly or some air popped popcorn.  I always tend to stick to bread for the main part of his lunchbox.  But I could experiment and try rice, pasta or potatoes to mix it up a bit.  On the plus side, at least he mainly has a lean meat, turkey is better than ham.

Keep it Cool

If you freeze their juice boxes, they can keep their lunchboxes cool until it’s time to eat!  It saves adding a frozen ice pack which takes up a lot of room.  They need the juice anyway.

Give Your Children Choice

If you are worried lunchboxes are getting a bit repetitive get a selection of different snacks and give children more choice picking what they want.  If your children have been involved in the process of packing their lunchboxes they will also be more likely to eat the contents!

Use Leftovers

See what you have left over from dinner that you can add to the kid’s lunchboxes the following day.  This article called From Leftovers to Lunches has some great ideas.  I don’t like it myself but the other day on holiday the kids did eat leftover pizza quite happily!  So, I guess that’s one option I should start to consider.