They say good food, good mood – and we surely agree! All moms have seen the unbearable tantrums kids can throw when they are hungry and how they turn into angels sent from the heavens after their hunger is satisfied.
When your child is in a good mood, he/she can perform better, think better, and be more receptive to his/her surroundings. Lunchtime might change slightly from one school to another, but inevitably there is one in every school and for all kids, young and old. Packing your kids’ school lunches might be slightly tiring after the first week.
Either you start to run out of ideas or your child gets a little extra picky and tired of the usual sandwiches. Since our kids are having a very routine day every day where they wake up, go to school, learn, and head back home. It is our job as moms to add a kick to their day and give them something to look forward to at lunchtime.
Some kids might show signs of independence from an early age and would rather choose their own school lunch. While that is quite impressive and mature, moms should always make sure that they are choosing food that can help them because kids might end up filling their lunch boxes with chocolates and candy!
Whether your kid likes to prepare his/her own lunch or still relies on you for that, we have a great technique that will make both your lives easier. Create a menu! This menu will have a bit of everything they should have in their lunch box and will give you control over the grocery list ?
Your menu should have a variety of options from each food category; whether it’s the snack, main meal, juice/water, or dessert. For this, we recommend investing in a lunch box that has multiple compartments that houses everything your kid needs for his meal. Check out the full collection on our website!
Steer away from the basic sandwich in a zip lock bag routine, with this new generation of kids we need to get more creative. Spice lunchtime up with some non-traditional lunch ideas, here are 10 of them:
Combining 2 things that all kids love; pancakes and pizza! Your kid will be the talk of the cafeteria for this genius idea. It’s as simple as combining the ingredients you would normally use for the pizza toppings into your regular pancake mix and voila, pizza pancake. ??
This is a flavourful meal that is bound to keep your kid full for a long time. You can accompany it with a smoothie done from the same fruits you use in the recipe. These ball treats are for sure a new addition to your child’s appetite and might even become a regular.
Give them protein in the shape of a cupcake, this is the only time when tricking your child is allowed ? You can use the bun bread as the lining bottom for the chicken and cheese before you pop it into the oven. We recommend adding sauce packets as a dip to add more flavor when your kid is devouring it at school.
This is a good snack to keep for your child when they need a boost of energy. You can use honey or peanut butter to get the cereal or rice cake crispers to stick to the banana. Place it on foil to avoid it sticking on the lunch box tray. This will become one of your child’s favorites very soon.
Give your kid a taste of fast food but homemade. Wrap some fried chicken in a tortilla or regular bread and add some ranch sauce or honey mustard. For a yummier touch, grill the wrap before you place it in the lunch box to have some crunchy bread bits on the outside.
Taking your ordinary grilled cheese and rolling them up to make them easier to consume. cut off the edges of the bread, place some slices of cheese, roll the bread over and place it in your sandwich maker to get the final golden color and toast up the cheese. If the school offers a microwave, ask your child to get it heated up just slightly before consuming it so the cheese tastes tastier.
7. Healthy Strawberry Oatmeal Bars
Dessert but make it healthy! These handy bars are a great sweet snack for your kid, they can have it after their meal during lunchtime or they can have it between classes to re-energize. You can prepare a batch at the start of the week and keep adding 2 or 3 in your child’s lunch box until the end of the week.
Kids looovve pizza, so why not surprise your kids with a mini pizza in their lunchbox with all the toppings they like. This would be a fun surprise on Thursdays and a nice end to the week. These could be treated as the main meal (add at least 5) or as a side snack (2-3).
9. Mac n Cheese
The famous mac and cheese dish is every moms’ emergency meal. We recommend pairing it with breaded chicken, chicken popcorn, or chicken nuggets to add some protein to their meal. Similar to the pizza bites, it could be the main meal or a side snack depending on what your little ones prefer.
10. Nutella and Banana Sushi
Another yummy dessert that will surely be the talk of the school. Expect some mommies asking you for the recipe (send them this blog, easier ?). For the outer layer, you can use a wheat wrap or even better, crepe! Lather on the Nutella and the banana, then roll it up and chop it into bite sizes. Easy to make and delicious to eat.
Some of these ideas sound like a perfect recharge meal for moms too after the kids are off to school! Let us know which one is your favorite in the comments ?