Back-to-school lunchbox snacks

I always feel a little bit torn at the end of the holidays. I do love having the kids at home more, but the summer holidays are so. very. very. long.

But then I think of the uniforms I’ll need to wash and the lunchboxes I’ll need to pack.

I can’t do anything about the uniforms but I can do something about the lunchbox situation. And that is to keep it simple.

10 simple lunchbox snacks

We do the bento box thing (we use Stuck On You bento boxes) and while I would love to be the mum who bakes all my kids snacks, I’m not. I’m more the hot mess type who is throwing food in the lunchbox five minutes before we are leaving for school.

If you’re like me, here are 10 simple lunchbox snack ideas to help get you on track:

Welch’s® Fruit Snacks. My kids love these. I love that fruit is first ingredient on the list and that they don’t have any artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. They are also gluten-free if that’s a concern for your family. There are three flavours – Mixed Fruit, Superfruit Mix and Tropical Fruits and all come in boxes of eight individual pouches. Yum! Qukes baby cucumbers – for one of my kids I need to peel these as she doesn’t like the skin, for the other one I just throw them in whole. Easy! Apple pikelets – I know I said I’m not into baking loads of things for lunchboxes but these are super easy. I do a double or triple batch and then freeze them. If I’m making pancakes for breakfast and have a little leftover batter I also make pikelets with that. Boiled eggs – you can even get those fancy boiled egg molds to shape them if you want. My kids don’t love the yellow of the eggs so I usually cut the eggs in half and scoop out the yolk before I put it in the lunchbox. Veggie sticks – I cut up carrot and capsicum and store it in the fridge for lunchboxes. This is also what I have for snacks so I’m killing two birds with one stone. Grated carrot is also a good, fast alternative if your kids don’t like the crunch of the veggies. Mountain bread – if I have a bit of extra time up my sleeve I will make mountain bread chips, otherwise I just spread it with a bit of butter or vegemite and roll it up. Cold sausages – if we are having sausages for dinner I cook an extra one or two and then cut them up for the lunchbox. It never comes back home in the lunch box so they must like it. Beans/chickpeas – depending on your kids this might not be something they will eat but they are a great source of protein. I love that I can just open a can, drain, rinse and then pop them in the lunchbox. Cheese sticks – I find that when I send cut cheese in a lunchbox it sweats and the kids don’t eat it so I usually buy cheese sticks and keep the wrapping on. Cut fruit – depending which child I’m packing the lunchbox for, they will have watermelon, apple, strawberries, mandarin, grapes or cherries. My kids actually love having mango in their lunchbox so I will usually give them one cheek each.

Happy back to school and happy lunchbox packing!

 

The post Back-to-school lunchbox snacks appeared first on Kid Magazine.