Whether you’re packing for your child’s day at childcare, pre-school, kindy, primary school or beyond – it’s sometimes a challenge to keep things interesting and healthy at the same time.
Today we have stacks of healthy eating ideas for your child’s lunchbox that will be gobbled up in no time.
- It’s easy to just throw an apple in the bag, but sometimes it takes a little creativity to make sure it gets eaten. Chopping fruit such as apples or oranges into bite sized chunks means they don’t need to deal with peel or seeds.
- Lots of kids will hover near the cheese platter at a BBQ, so why not encourage them to get a hit of calcium for morning tea? A small tub of cheddar cheese chunks cut to the same size as some rice crackers will go down a treat.
- Leftover veggies can be turned into a quick fritter which is a great hand held snack. Take some mashed potato and peas, add some grated cheese, some breadcrumbs and an egg and you’ve got yourself fritter batter ready to be lightly fried until golden.
- Cook extra when you are having meats they also enjoy cold, such as drumsticks or sausages.
- Carrot sticks are nice, but add a little dip to make them fun. Try making your own hummus (there’s a great recipe in our Healthy Kids Cookbook which is nut-free).
- Some kids only really eat their veggies at dinnertime, so why not try and grab them when they are hungry through the day too? Corn on the cob, or some lightly steamed green beans or snow peas are a tasty crunchy snack that will give your little ones the energy they need to power through the afternoon.
- If your child likes sweet potato, some leftover potato wedges with a little sour cream to dip them in might be popular.
- Last night’s pasta can be turned into a quick pasta salad. Just add some freshness such as chopped cherry tomatoes, baby spinach, or a sprinkling of corn.
- There’s no need to offer a sandwich every day when there are so many other options available. Try wraps, sushi, pita pockets, taco shells, English muffins or bagels.
- Protein based snacks are great for hungry bellies. Try a boiled egg or some falafel balls – there’s a great recipe for homemade falafel in our Healthy Kids Recipe Book.
- Many kids enjoy eating something crunchy so you could offer some air popped popcorn or some pretzels instead of potato chips.
- Instead of buying commercially prepared muffins or cakes, try getting into the habit of doing a bit of a bake-up every few weeks. Make double batches of healthy muffins (get inspired with our selection of muffins and cakes in the Healthy Kids Recipe Book), banana pikelets or corn fritters which can be frozen into snack sized portions. Remove from the freezer to defrost overnight before they are needed.
Here’s a sneak peek at one of the recipes from our Healthy Kids Recipe Book for Sugarless Banana Muffins.
Ingredients:
- 2 apples, peeled and grated
- 150g butter
- 2 medium ripe bananas
- 1 1⁄2 cups wholemeal self-raising flour
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp baking powder
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Line a muffin tray with paper cases.
- Put apple and butter in a saucepan and cook for 5 minutes or until soft.
- Peel and mash bananas with the back of a fork (the riper the bananas the better).
- Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.
- Spoon the mixture into the paper cases and bake for 20 minutes.
- Allow to cool before serving
Makes: 12.
You can get your hard copy of Healthy Kids Recipe Book here
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