lunchbox Archives - Mummy's Little StarsMummy's Little Stars

Flora have recently carried out research into the contents of children’s lunchboxes and the results have shown that only 1.6% of children’s lunchboxes meet school food nutritional standards. Based on this they are now trying to encourage and inspire people to make healthy packed lunch creations that children will enjoy.

Look out in the supermarkets as currently a double pack of Flora comes with a free lunchbox. My children love these lunch boxes as they look fun and there is a also a little space for their name on it. Pack lunches and picnics are something my children have always been fond of and love the idea of their food packaged up and having a selection of little things to eat. But ultimately they do get bored if it gets too repetitive so we try to change up the contents regularly to keep them interested and keen to eat.

I find that even the same thing on two consecutive days gets boring for little ones so it’s crucial to change it up everyday. Whether it’s a piece of fruit or a sandwich, I try and give them a different variety each day. So for savouries you could change up a sandwich for a roll, wrap, pitta or a pot of rice, pasta, couscous etc. And don’t just add ham or cheese, add a few thinly sliced cucumber slices to a sandwich or diced vegetables to the rice and pasta pots.

For snacks, we always include a vegetable such as cherry tomatoes, or carrot sticks with a little pot of houmous or a bunch of colourful pepper sticks.

For dessert we normally include a tube of yoghurt for ease and a small treat such as a box of raisins or a little biscuit snack. I try and avoid chocolate at school as there is plenty of time for special treats like that on the weekends with the family.

By encouraging healthy eating during the week, it will become habit and your child will see it as their normal way of eating, which hopefully will follow through as they grow up into adulthood and become a way of life. So think about what you put in your childs lunchbox as habits that are instilled in them when they are younger tend to stick with them for many years onward!

This post is an entry for the #FloraLunchbox Linky Challenge, sponsored by Flora. Check out their lunch planner and recipe ideas HERE.

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With two children at school I’m always thinking about lunchtime ideas, particularly for school lunchboxes and days out. I aim to keep them healthy so that I know what they are eating and then can treat them at home when they are with me. Hartley’s is a familiar brand that we often have at home, jelly is something both of my two love and being a low fat dessert is ideal to use for the kids.

My top 3 tips for packing a healthy kids lunchbox that children will eat are:

Keep it familiar – when children are away from home, if you give them the unexepected they are less likely to eat it, give them foods they eat at home and then you’ll know they’ll eat them when away from home.
Add colour and texture – Keep children interested with various colours and textures in their lunchbox, this is easily done by adding fruit, vegetables and Hartley’s Jelly which all brighten up and add colour to lunchboxes.
Keep it fun – try to make food look interesting, cut different shapes, add fun pots of salad, fruit etc to keep children intrigued as to what they will be tasting next.

In supermarkets now, Hartley’s are offering the chance to collect 12 special edition green lids from across the No Added Sugar Jelly Pots (115g), to claim a free Hartley’s lunchbox and stickers. You can claim their exclusive lunchbox by heading to the Hartley’s website www.hartleysfruit.co.uk. Each one comes complete with a sticker sheet of Hartley’s much loved characters and a sticker alphabet for children to personalise their lunchbox.

As you can see 5yr old Mister B loved personalising his lunchbox and he is really excited to take it back to school in September. He has also asked for jelly to be included everyday as he thoroughly enjoyed devouring the Hartley’s jelly pot that we tried out!