The struggle is real! The morning is already hectic and you need to think of a quick lunchbox idea that doesn’t repeat too often, yummy and healthy at the same time. Here are 5 seriously awesome lunchbox hacks, brought to you by the girls behind Funch. These two Melbourne Mums are right there with you, dealing daily with the lunchbox struggle.
#1 Lunchbox Democracy
Let your kids choose the menu. Well within reason anyway. They don't actually choose the menu, but they make a choice between the options that you are offering. Listing out some possible combination of food eg. which 2 of 3 fruits on offer would they prefer, which 1 of 2 possible sandwich fillers would they prefer. Autonomy can be a wonderful motivator when it comes to getting them to eat everything in their lunchbox!!
#2 Pre-prepare Healthy Snacks
Preparation (as annoying as it can be) is definitely the key to organisation. It's a great idea to batch cook so that you make snacks that can last for a long time in either the fridge or freezer. This way good options are more easily accessible.
Obviously this is an area that we have particular experience. Some great lunchbox friendly options from our range include the Breakfast Cookie Mix, Chocolate Bliss Ball Mix or the Chocolate + Chia Protein Ball Mix.
#3 Colourful Finger Foods
Ok so we have all seen the AMAZING lunchboxes on Pinterest or Instagram that are beautiful beyond belief. Whilst it would be amazing to be that creative, not many of us are blessed with that gene, let alone have the time to put something like that together!!
Colour can go along way towards engaging kids, they are visual animals, and love food that looks fun. Cut into sizes that can be an easy bite size, some quick, easy, colourful ideas include a combination of; orange carrots, green bean, red capsicum, red strawberries, purple blueberries, orange mandarin (peeled and split), purple or green grapes. All these would surely make lunchbox look more pleasing and boost your kid’s appetite!
#4 Use Dinner Leftovers
We often invest more time into cooking our dinner, for suitable meals why not cook extra so the kids can take it for lunch the following morning. Some great options for this include pasta dishes and using leftover meat for sandwich or wrap fillers.
#5 Everything Is Not As It Seems
Kids are notoriously opinionated when it comes to what they will and won't eat. They don't eat anything 'green' or they hate tomatoes but love tomato in red pasta sauce. Often it is the idea of what they dislike rather than the actual taste of something. To this end, we can become the masters of disguise. Slices made with Black Beans can taste a lot like chocolate, wholesome muffins made with wholemeal flour and sweetened with carrots and apples, or zucchini and carrots can be a great option.
We also find with our Chocolate Bliss Balls, because they look like a chocolate ball, kids tend to presume that is what they are... they never realised that there are seeds and oats and dates and all sorts of goodies that they would normally say no way! Because we have already milled the seeds and oats, kids have no idea what is actually in their chocolate balls. Even better, we have used Cacao rather than chocolate. The difference in the health benefits offered by these two ingredients is real and huge. Read more about that here.
