Lunch Box Tips

The lunch box is the nightmare of many a parents daily life experience, and I agree its tough to always come up with something new especially if you have toddlers, children with sensory issues, or children who just like to change what they like often enough to drive you insane trying to get them to eat.

I have 3 kids with varying tastes at different stages of their lives 2 are adhd and its tough, I sometimes finding myself staring at the cupboard trying to figure out what to do next especially at the end of the month so here are a few tips and tricks I have learned along the way to make this a bit easier for me.

Alternate your selection

I usually have 2 or 3 set types of items that I include in the lunch boxes; a yogurt, a fruit (my kids eat a lot of fruit so one fruit in their lunch is fine) and a small handful of crisps or pop corn, the other items I tend to vary between crackers and cheese ( my youngest loves the cheese wedges the most), a sandwich or a savory muffin, I will also add in a biscuit or crunchie if I have or a packet of nuts or raisins, I find changing up what I put into the boxes keeps my monkeys happy and not bored of what they eat they also tend to eat everything in the lunchbox which I found was not happening when I packed in the same thing every day.

Bare in mind my toddler gets a full lunch and snack at school so for him a fruit, yogurt and cheese wedge with some chips is more than enough, my eldest has two breaks as he finishes later so I have to pack more.

Cookie cutter.

Purchase yourself a set of cookie cutters I got mine from crazy store and made sure that they were big enough to cut a sandwich without wastage, I got a heart, a star and gingerbread man and the kids love getting a sandwich surprise, it also cuts the crust away so I don't have mans and groans from Gabriel who seems to have an aversion to anything with a crust.

 

Notes

When Loghan was going through a tough time at school I made mini foam speech bubbles with notes on them that read you are amazing, or make friends today or you are our amazing do not forget!

These notes are very encouraging and also a nice way of showing your kids that you put love and thought into what you made and that you are thinking of them during the day.

You could even hand write these to make them even more special =)

 

Input

If you are sitting with a lunchbox half full at the end of the day ask your kids why maybe its to much or maybe they don't like a certain something you have included I'm not saying let your child dictate but it does save you wasting the stuff at the end of the day.

Treats

I insist that the kids have their healthy items if I see that they are not eating them I take out the chips or the biscuit the next day, I also try to do a treat day on Fridays or a tuck-shop day if I can afford it and behavior permitted.

 

Include utensils

For a while I could not understand complete blonde that I am why Gabriel was not eating his yogurt when I asked him he was like well mommy you didn't put a spoon in duh, so now we have a few plastic utensils that I keep on hand for the lunch boxes, that way if they get lost its not a train smash and its quick and easy, you can find these utensils for cheap at the crazy store as well.

 

A sturdy lunchbox 

I have gone through too many lunchboxes to count and often the character ones that the boys choose are expensive and small and break easily so now I use a standard large square Tupperware type container that holds everything and will not break if mishandled, its cheaper and last longer.

 

I hope you found this interesting, with these tips and tricks I have found that lunch boxes do not have to be a nightmare and can actually be quite an enjoyable part of my day =)