Healthy Packed Lunches

by Beverley Glock

Back to School, it really is just round the corner, or next week to be exact. After a great summer of long lazy days, children not getting dressed until lunchtime and on day my youngest (aged 4) wore his pyjamas all day. He thought this was a real treat, well it was cold and rainy and I really did not want to have the argument about getting dressed - we’ll all have enough of that from next week won’t we?

The great lunch box debate - what fun! Trying to find the middle ground between putting in what you as a parent would like your children to eat and what they, as children, want to have in their lunchbox.

Lunchboxes are a great way to help get those 5 portions of fruit and veg into our children - providing they eat what is put in the box and not just come home with it at the end of the day, or even worse, throw it in the bin without you knowing. So what can we do to make lunchboxes more interesting, healthier as well as encouraging children to eat what we put in them. We can start by getting the children involved in preparing and cooking what they are going to eat.

A healthy lunch box should contain one of each of the following food types:

Carbohydrate (Bread, Pasta, Rice, Potato) these give energy and some carbohydrates such as oats release energy over a longer period of time to help children keep going all afternoon. Healthy examples are bagels, english muffins made into mini pizzas, flapjack (oats), granola bars (oats), rice or noodle salad, couscous salad, wholemeal bread for sandwiches, cold baked wedges of sweet potato - really yummy.

Protein (Lean Meat and Chicken, Eggs, Fish, Chick Peas, Beans and Lentils) these help children grow. Healthy examples are slices of cooked chicken or turkey, tuna, sardines, hummus, bean salad, prawns.

Calcium (Dairy Products) these help strengthen bones and teeth. Healthy examples are cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, milk, yoghurt, smoothies, pot of rice pudding.

Vegetables essential vitamins and minerals to help fight disease and keep us healthy, these can be salad leaves, cherry tomatoes, different coloured peppers cut into strips, cucumber strips, black and green olives, sweetcorn - baby or even canned mixed in with tuna.

Fruit help to fight disease and keep us healthy, apples can be wedged - squeeze lemon juice over the cut side to prevent them going brown, bananas, handful of cherries, raspberries, strawberries or grapes put into a small container, a banana, tangerine, carton of fresh fruit juice, mini can of fruit in natural juice or small packet of dried fruit.

Take the children with you shopping and allow them to choose a different fruit and vegetable each week to try. Do the same with different types of bread such as pitta, foccacia, chapatti, naan, malt loaf, bagels and then tackle the protein. Get the children to try different cheeses, such as soft goats cheese, great with breadsticks and carrots to dip in and Boursin light is great the same way.

Homemade muffins can be packed as a sweet treat, just put lots of different fruit in them, apple and raisins, bananas, dried apricots, fresh raspberries or blueberries, not altogether though! Use a mixture of wholemeal and white flour for added vitamins.

Smoothies are a great way of getting children to eat fruit, blend together a large glass of fresh orange juice, 1 banana, 1 mango (or a tin of peaches) and a handful of raspberries or strawberries if you have any in a liquidiser, you can freeze this overnight in a plastic bottle and in the morning pack in the lunchbox, it will still be slightly frozen at lunchtime but the children can pretend it’s an ice lolly. You can do the same with a water bottle and it will help to keep chilled items cool.

Flapjacks are great as they are slow release carbohydrates with the oats so will help to keep children going all afternoon, add raisins, dried cherries, blueberries, apricots, any kind of dried fruit and a handful of sunflower or pumpkin seeds for added vitamins.

Rice, Pasta and Noodle salads -great way of using leftover cooked rice, pasta and noodles, just add some lean cooked meat, fish or chicken, some chopped tomatoes, peppers and cooked peas and a little dressing. However, this can be one of the most dangerous foods for food poisoning so a few rules to make sure that this is safe. When cooking rice, pasta and noodles they should be eaten within 90 minutes of being fully cooked, if you are going to use them for salads then the rice, pasta and noodles should be plunged into cold water and cooled quickly so you can get them down to fridge temperature within 90 minutes, it should then be covered and stored in the fridge at 5oc or less for no more than 24 hours. When packing lunches make sure that an ice pack is included to keep this very cold or put it next to the frozen smoothie.

Try and keep away from crisps, sweets, commercial biscuits and cakes, they are hugely high in salt, fat and sugar, even if they say they’re not! Children can help make flapjacks and muffins and you can make a batch at the weekend, freeze them and take them out in the evening and they’ll be defrosted by morning, flapjacks will keep up to one week in a airtight container - if they last that long! If you must put chocolate in, then 2 x pieces of good quality dark chocolate is the healthiest option, but include it as a treat or a reward.

Try some of the recipes out and good luck with the early mornings when the children go back to school.

About the Author:
Beverley Glock is the founder of Splat Cooking a Buckinghamshire based business running cooking parties for children as well as selling a range of funky cookie cutters, sprinkles, cooking kits and cake cases online. They also organise school cooking clubs and cooking workshops for children and adults. For more information visit www.splatcooking.net or phone 0870 766 8290.

How Splat Cooking Began
Flapjacks & Chocolate Banana Muffins
Hummas & Bread Swirls