can anyone recommend a good website that gives ideas for nutrionally balanced lunchboxes?

[MascaraOHara]

Back to school is looming and I need inspriration, I'm also wanting to start meal planning from September 1st..

all lunchbox suggestions welcome..

TIA

[Cappuccino]

oh just stick in a dairylea lunchable

life's too short

[MascaraOHara]

Cap! and risk being ostracised?? LMAO!

I just found healthylunchbox.co.uk which looks quite good

[moondog]

Life is indeed too short. (They will only recommend stuff like carrot and celery sticks which no kid in right mind would eat)
Just make a list of likely things and interchange.

[MascaraOHara]

I'm so bored of ham or cheese sandwiches.. which is all she ever wants.. I can't face another year of placing a piece of nice ham between to slices of buttered bread.. it will drive me to insanity! surely.

[slim22]

Bless you, have been pulling my hair all week at DS's blank look when I asked him what to do for his lunch!

what to do when your child gags at the thought of dairy and any type of sandwiches?

Pasta shells and cucumber sticks ad eternam?

Eagerly await suggestions

[moondog]

Why not?
What's so bad about eating same thing if that is what people like?
Heavens, have eaten same brekkie for about 15 years.

Choice does no equal more interest or freedom. On the contrary.

My fridge isas empty as hell and people have choice of muesli,porridge,eggy bread or cheese sarnie for lunch/dinner.

Fantastically liberating.

[slim22]

We are obsessed with good food in my house. I envy you moondog

[MascaraOHara]

that's interesting actually moondog, never thought of it like that before.

I guess she does eat chicken tikka and coronation chicken sandwiches too

hmmm

[moondog]

Slim,I'm obsessed with goodfood too, but beginning to feel we have tooooooo much choice which aint good.

My perspective coloured by being in Bangladesh at mo where people live on rice, curry and dhal.

[MascaraOHara]

I love dahl

[Saggarmakersbottomknocker]

I agree about choice moondog. dd has chicken or tuna sandwiches - has done for 10 years now. It's all she wants and she ain't dead yet.

[slim22]

dahl is perfectly balanced food. love it. we live in asia too and on pretty much same diet.

My problem is I am obsessed with cooking all from scratch, including seasoning pastes.

Time consuming.

so cold dahl in lunchbox?

I'm going to do samosas and onigiri (rice and seaweed) if that can inspire you mascaraohara

[MascaraOHara]

dd would love samosas, are they complicated to make?

could I just buy them or are shop bought ones full or fat and salt?

[Aitch]

don't knock the persistent ham sandwich... means you can make them on a sunday and whack them in the freezer to take out every morning. no tomato, though, you'll have do do a bit of veg stickery for yourself.

[slim22]

I actually make pasties rather than samosas.

do a simple filling of any browned meat or fried tofu with grated veg and garlic/onion/your choice of spices.

(You can make a batch of different fillings and rotate)

Fill middle of shortcrust pastry disk. Fold in half moon shape. Bake 15mn. freeze.
Thaw in fridge overnight.

Sweet fillings of soft tofu and grated apple/cinamon - or else- also good.

[MascaraOHara]

you freeze your sandwiches?? WOW.. I've obviously missed this.

what about if the bread has already been frozen?

[MascaraOHara]

oh slim tell me more. bake at 180?

[slim22]

yes.

when they go brown (about 15mn) remove from oven and let cool completely so they go crisp on the outside like crusty bread.

If thawed slowly (overnight) and heated in oven in the morning (while you have breakfast) they remain quite crisp.

Make sure filling is quite dry (like mincemeat) to avoid soggy dumplings.

Google "empanadas" that's the mexican name for these pasties. Lots of different fillings.

[Aitch]

doesn't matter, it's only bread. my mum used to make all her packed lunches like that. separate the frozen bread, butter it, ham it, whack it back in.
someone posted a thread on here about it once, mamag i think. loads of mners do it.

[Aitch]

in a bag in the freezer, obv. there is a case to be made that it's fresher on the grounds that the bread or rolls defrost nicely in the morning and are ready for lunchtime.

[housebythelake]

Here is my question....why does it have to be cold food for lunchboxes?
I am from Spain and know lifestyle is different here but, don't they have a microwave at the school for those who choose to bring their own lunches?

[lucysmam]

we never had a microwave at school housebythelake don't think they'd trust kids in case they blew it up or something daft like that (which would have been entirely possible with some of the characters i went to school with)

[Aitch]

i doubt the school guinea pig could have withstood the tension of living in the same building as a microwave...

[WilfSell]

Nigella's lunchbox noodles nice but not sure all kids will eat...

Peanut butter and thai chilli dressing lovely.

[housebythelake]

I didn't mean for the children to use it Lucy but know that's the way it is here.
I found a couple of websites that you might find useful Mascara.
www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2004/sep/lunchbox2#h_2
www.eatwell.gov.uk/ agesandstages/children/lunchboxsect/