Kids Lunches

I used to make just sandwiches for my kids school lunches until my eldest told me she was bored with them. I could relate to that, I mean, I don't like to have the same thing over and over for lunch, who would? So I asked my kids what they

To add variety to the kids lunches I started buying a variety of bread - pocket bread, wraps, brown bread,  normal rolls, turkish rolls, etc. When I do my weekly grocery shop, I buy some of these, varying which ones each week, and put some in the freezer (then I can take out what I need as I need it).

For fillings I put sandwich meat (again varying each week) & salad - lettuce, baby spinach, grated carrot, grated cheese, sprouts, cucumber - just use whatever your kids like. Some days I'll just do meat & cheese, or put some of these salad things on one day, but not the next. That way, the taste is a little different. (To make things easier I prepare what I can the night before, such as slice the cucumber, grate the carrot, etc).

Other lunches my kids enjoy are bacon & cheese rolls, pizza rolls, container of salad, mini quiches, chicken strips (I make my own using breast fillets - the kids like them cold on or off a bread roll), left-over pizza (personally, I don't like it cold, but many people do, my eldest being one of them).

I believe a variety of drinks is good, too. Each time I buy cordial I make sure it's a different flavour & I buy different flavour juice boxes. Sometimes they just take the cordial, other times a juice box, in the warmer weather they often take both (I don't pack water as they have the bubblers at school for that). In the hot weather I freeze their drinks (as most people do) but I don't freeze a full bottle. I freeze about half, then in the morning I top it up (still leaving room for expansion as the frozen drink thaws). The reason for this is that sometimes the kids might want some of their drink but it's still too frozen - by freezing half & topping it up, they have some drink ready to consume.

My eldest told me that her friends say they are jealous of the wraps I make for her. One of her friends started to make her own. I think that sometimes, as busy parents, it's easy to not give a thought to what the kids really want. A lot of parents make the same old sandwich day in, day out. It's just the way things have always been.

Take the time to ask your kids what they really like & add variety - it can mean the difference between your child eating & not eating their lunch.