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Home » pondering » lunch box ideas

By Amanda Smyth Leave a Comment

lunch box ideas

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Tomorrow the Little Sister starts kindy. I’ve been through this once before, but that’s no guarantee I won’t shed a tear as I walk out the gate tomorrow morning.

The first day of kindy (and school on Wednesday) means a return to routine and to packing school lunches. So (after a few requests from readers) here’s a few lunch box ideas that might just get eaten!

When I pack the girls’ lunches I use a simple formula:

1 protein + 1 dairy + 1 fruit + 2 veggies + 1 sweet treat = lunch box

Not calculus, but it’s a good rule of thumb for making sure that the lunches I pack are fuel for learning.

handy lunchbox reference guide

Lunch box ideas to fuel learning:

protein

  • sandwiches with protein fillings – ham, chicken, tuna, eggs, cheese
  • wraps with protein fillings – ham, chicken, tuna, eggs, cheese
  • baked beans
  • savoury muffins
  • mini quiches
  • bacon and cheese wheels
  • hard boiled eggs
  • frittata

dairy

  • yoghurt (frozen or to be eaten at first break)
  • cheese sticks. The pre-packaged sticks can be expensive, but you can cut your own from a block of cheese and wrap them in foil.  They keep for a week in the fridge, so I do a week’s worth on Monday morning.

fruit

  • apples
  • pears
  • mandarins
  • grapes
  • bananas. Bananas don’t fit into many lunch boxes. I pack them separately and label them (or write a ‘secret’ message in the skin) using a skewer. The air reacts with the peel and your writing becomes visible after a few minutes.
  • mini pears

vegetables

  • snow peas
  • cucumbers (and mini cucumbers for novelty)
  • cherry tomatoes
  • carrot sticks (cooked if your day care doesn’t allow raw carrots)
  • corn

sweat treat

  • chips
  • rice crackers
  • dry cereal
  • sultanas
  • cake
  • nut bars (if your school allows nuts)
  • muesli bars
  • biscuits
  • brownies
  • popcorn
  • trail mix (choose a seeds only option for nut-free schools)

I’ll be thinking of all the mums farewelling their babies tomorrow. I hope you find someone to give you a cuddle and hand you a cuppa. The time flies between drop off and pick up, I promise. x

a question for the seasoned lunch box packers:

what do your kids eat first?
what always comes home uneaten?

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Filed Under: pondering, printables Tagged With: printables

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