BACK TO SCHOOL LUNCH IDEAS

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Over the years our four children have been at school or eating out at lunchtime they have had their fair share of packed lunches. I don't know about you but it is quite difficult to come up with different ideas to keep lunches interesting.

Our kids like sandwiches but they still get fed up with them after a while' So, what to give them instead of sandwiches, that is easy to do and won't break the bank. Here are some of our back to school lunch ideas. Why don't you add your ideas too.

I have always found it easier to prepare lunches the evening before. I prepare then place food into air tight containers and then store the packed lunches in the fridge until the morning.

To keep lunches cool during the morning I either pop in a frozen ice block or freeze a bottle of juice or water. I then place this into the lunchbox; it keeps the food cool and then is a nice cool drink to enjoy at lunch.

A lunchbox will generally consist of a savoury item, a sweet such as a yoghurt, and a drink and piece of fruit.

Add some of these veggie crisps as a treat

Vegetable crisps

Place these finely sliced vegetables onto a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Try beetroot, sweet potatoes, carrots, celariac etc. Bake in oven on medium heat until crispy; when cool pop into an airtight container ready for use

Roasted vegetable soup

On cooler days why not try sending your child to school with soup in a flask for lunch. My kids love the roasted vegetable soup you can find on our easy kids recipes page.

Lettuce roll ups

• Large lettuce leaves
• Cream cheese
• Ham
• Tomato
• Cucumber

• Rinse and dry lettuce leaf
• Lay it out flat and spread a layer of cream cheese onto it.
• Spread a piece of ham onto the cheese followed by thin slices of tomato and cucumber
• Roll up then wrap in clingfilm ready for your childs packed lunch

Back to school lunch ideas - Pasta salad

My kids always loved this.

• Cooked colored pasta
• Tuna or hard boiled eggs or ham
• Finely sliced red cabbage
• Grated raw carrots
• Chopped spring onion
• Chopped celery
• sliced tomato
• Mayonnaise

• Make up a bowl of the ingredients above and combine well
• You can also include things like sliced mushrooms and tinned sweetcorn if your children like them

English Muffins Pizza

• Tomato sauce
• Pepperoni
• Red peppers
• Grated mozzarella cheese
• Basil
• Oregano

• Cut muffins in half
• Spread tomato sauce on each half
• Add other toppings then cheese.
• Put in hot oven for about 10 minutes until cheese is bubbling
• Allow to cool then place in a lunch bag yum!

Back to school lunch ideas - Cream cheese dip

• Pitta bread
• Cream cheese or hummus
• Carrots
• Cucumber
• Tomato
• Raw veggies like broccoli

• Spread inside of pitta bread with cheese or hummus, cut into strips
• Cut carrots and other veggies into strips or smallish pieces.
• Put some cream cheese or hummus into a small pot for dipping veggie into

Back to school lunch ideas - Potato Sandwiches

• One boiled potato, mashed;
• 1/4 tablespoonful of thick cream
• 1/4 tablespoon olive oil
• One hard-boiled egg yolk
• Pepper
• Salt,

• Mix the mashed potato with salt and pepper, cream and olive oil
• Mash the egg yolk into a smooth paste and add to potato mixture

Back to school lunch ideas - Roll ups

• For wraps: sliced ham or chicken or lettuce or floured tortillas.
• For filling: hummus, cream cheese, peppers tomatoes, beetroot, onions.

• Choose a wrap then spread with cheese or hummus.
• Add chopped peppers, tomatoes, beetroot.
• Roll up then wrap in plastic wrap or put in a ziplock bag

Back to school lunch ideas

• Cheese
• Grapes
• pepperoni

• Cut up cheese into cubes
• Slice pepper into smallish pieces
• Wash and chop grapes in half
• place in a small sealed container ready to eat

CHICKEN SALAD

• 1/2 cup of cold chicken, cut in small bits.
• 1/2 a hard boiled egg, cut up.
• 1/4 cup chopped celery

FRENCH DRESSING

• 2 teaspoonfuls of oil.
• 1/4 teaspoonful vinegar.
• 1 pinch of salt
• 2 shakes of paprika

• Put ingredients into a small jar, pop on screw lid then shake bottle well to combine everything
• Pour dressing over the chicken, egg and celery.
• Mix well then pour into an air tight container
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Egg Salad

• 1 hard boiled egg chopped
• 1/4 stick celery chopped
• 2 cherry tomatoes quartered
• 2 slices cucumber cut into quarter
• 2 slices raw zucchini chopped
• 1 small piece red pepper chopped
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise

• Mix all ingredients with the mayonnaise
• Pop into a container with a lid

Cheese and Biscuits

• Slices of cheese
• Crackers
• Cherry tomatoes
• Pickles if liked
• Ham sliced

• Simply place different ingredients into seperate containers or wrap in foil or plastic wrap
• Children can assemble this themselves at lunchtime

Sweet lunches

For sweet back to school lunch ideas why not try this delicious banana bread. Tinned fruit in fruit juice popped into a small pot is great. Yoghurts and no sugar jellies also go down well.

Fresh fruit is great; for younger children I find they prefer fruit like apples to be cut up then wrapped in plastic wrap to prevent browning. Dried fruit is also excellent

Drinks

Pop in a bottle of frozen water which will defrost by lunchtime. Fresh fruit juice is refreshing however I water it down to make a nice long drink.

Milk is good if it can be kept cool and smoothies make a nice addition; as well as being tasty it is one way to make sure your child is getting some of their 5 a day.

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