Whether you are looking for a healthy snack for yourself or ideas for the kids lunchbox, it is important to choose nutritious foods that aren’t just going to fill a hole but will boost your child’s energy naturally, stabilise their moods, improve their concentration and feed their brains!
Fruit Salad Cups
Nearly every time we go shopping my kids go wild for fruit salad tubs! Perhaps it’s the mixture of colours, the bite size pieces, but they always look so inviting. They would work out quite expensive if you were to buy 
them every day, so why not make your own! Just get their favourite container and every morning or evening, chop up loads of fruit (melon, strawberries, pears, peaches, apples, madarins, grapes etc) and not only use them for a fruit salad cup for school, but when they come looking for something sweet, you can give them another bowl. Or indeed take one yourself!
Healthful Tip: To avoid fruit turning brown, add some lemon juice and mix well.
Kebabs
A very simple but fun alternative to sandwiches. All you need is some imagination and kebab sticks (don’t forget to blunt the edges)
Just add:
Ham, chicken, beef, cheese, cherry tomatoes, cucumber shavings, apple, grapes, pineapple, olives or avocado (the options are endless!)
Healthful Tip: Why not involve the kids in choosing their own!
Mini Pancakes
Who wouldn’t love bringing pancakes to school as a treat? And using buckwheat flour, you don’t have to feel guilty that the kids are getting enough nutrition as buckwheat is high in both protein & fiber and is packed with antioxidants and nutrients. Include some plain natural or coconut yogurt and some chopped up bananas, mandarins and berries.
Think Outside The Bread!
Roll deli meat such as ham, chicken or turkey around hummus / cream cheese, lettuce, grated carrot and cucumber shavings. Cut into chunk size pieces.
Healthful Tip: Why not pack with some wholegrain crackers, celery sticks and chopped fruit.
Leftover Dinners
Making extra dinner the night before and keeping it for lunch is a great way to add variety to kids lunches but also saves time in the morning not having to make something new.
Cold Pizza – You either love it or hate it, but cold pizza is great alternative to plain sandwiches and better again, requires no work in the morning! Of course it’s important you choose a healthy pizza, so why not try my Red Lentil or Quinoa pizza base. It’s not only great fun to make with the kids, as they can choose different toppings every time, but it is highly nutritious and is a great alternative to monotonous sandwiches.
Pasta Salad – There are so many variations for this by changing the pasta, sauce or veg included. Why not try shell shaped pasta, sweetcorn, chicken, cucumber, peppers and mixed seeds. Try it plain, with hummus, blitzed vegetable sauce or pesto sauce. There are huge options when choosing pasta – wholegrain, corn, brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat, chickpea and more. By choosing a pasta made from a protein source such as quinoa and chickpea, you are reducing the GL of the pasta and getting some (or possibly all) of your required protein for that meal.
Healthful Tip: Keeping your child’s lunch in a cooler bag will help prevent upset tummies with food going off in hot classrooms.