Basically the only thing that keeps our week running smoothly is the night before preparation. As I am making dinner I just start filling lunch boxes as I cook. I have talked before about how organisation doesn’t come naturally to me but one thing made all the difference.
Basically the only thing that keeps our week running smoothly is the night before preparation. As I am making dinner (and the kids are plugged in) I have the two lunch boxes open next to me and I just start filling as I cook. I have talked before about how organisation doesn't come naturally to me (in my series, Finding Organisation) and the making-lunch-the-night-before habit has been a really difficult one make, but I think I'm there now. One thing made all the difference.
I bought bento style lunch boxes. You should totally do it too.
When Nestle Healthy Active Kids came to me and asked if I would write about their initiative I jumped on board, mostly because I struggle so much with balancing out my kids' diet and it was a great opportunity to really test myself (and them) on the veggie front. But also because I wanted to spread the word about the amazing competition they are running at the moment, I'll tell you more about that later though.
So, I have put together five lunch boxes, using their guide of one serve of fruit, one serve of protein, two serves of veggies, two serves of grains and one serve of dairy and let me tell you, getting the veggies in was hard! Check out the full guide here.
I have made our serves a bit smaller because the kids are only 5 and 3.
Lunchbox 1
Beetroot dip, bocconcini, popcorn, peaches, yogurt covered cranberries, baked veggies and sausages.
The verdict; the kids ate everything but the veggies. Pretty normal really. The most time consuming part about making this was the popcorn, the rest is basically leftovers or straight out of the fridge.
Lunchbox 2
Broccoli, soy crisps (or shooting stars as my kids call them) tuna and avocado sushi, natural yogurt with honey, watermelon and yogurt covered cranberries.
Verdict; big hit, the kids loved it all, except for the broccoli. Having a serve of veggies, rice and grains in one item really helped my brain too, and it was easy to prepare because the lovely staff at Sushi Train did most of the work for me.
Lunchbox 3
Egg salad sandwich, ham, carrots, beetroot dip, hummus, cherry toms, cheese and a peach.
Verdict; Another winner here. My daughter loves egg salad and anything that's shaped like a star so she was happy. It was super easy to prepare but if you're not someone who keeps egg salad in the fridge then I suppose it's a bit harder.
Lunchbox 4
Ham sandwich, brie, veggies, hummus, strawberries.
Verdict; everything got eaten. Technically this box should have more veggies in it but I was aiming for variety rather than bulk. Taking one square of the sandwich out helped me get the ratios better and they didn't seem to miss it. No difficulty here either, probably the easiest box I made.
Lunchbox 5
Chicken, pesto and bacon pasta, corn, cheese, cherry toms and fruit salad.
The verdict; the surprising winner, they both asked if they could have lunches like this one more often. I was so surprised.
In all, the hardest part of this whole challenge for me has been getting the ratios right, I would usually give them a heap of fruit, a full sized sandwich and a tiny bit of dairy and …. no veggies or maybe a few carrot sticks.
That's kind of the point of the Nestlé Healthy Active Kids program, helping children (and parents) learn about healthy eating and activity in new, engaging ways.They are running a competition right now giving parents and carers the opportunity to nominate their child’s school to win The Kitchen Kart, a fully equipped mobile teaching kitchen valued at $25,000. It would be a total game changer for most schools!
The winning entrant will also receive a $1,000 VISA Load&Go Gift Card for themselves. Because, chicken dinner!
To enter you just need to explain why it is important to raise nutrition savvy kids in 100 words or less. For more details on the competition and to enter click here.
Thanks so much for reading and make sure you get your kids in the kitchen helping out! It's good for their everything, just ask Julia Child.
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We need nutritional savvy kids so they can have healthy functioning bodies and brains so they can grow and save the world! We need fighting fit kids and little winners fuelled to do good in this world!