Hi, guys. Welcome back to my channel and to another video this week. It is back to school,
so I thought I would do a lunchbox ideas video. This has been highly requested by you guys
because a lot of schools, because of the current situation, are asking parents to provide packed
lunches rather than doing hot dinners, so some parents that haven't needed to do this
before now do. I have so many great ideas for you in this video, alternative ideas to
sandwiches. I'm also going to share with you some really nice healthy snacks. I'm even
going to show you my viewer's recommendations. I reached out to you guys on Instagram, and
you guys had some amazing ideas, so I hope you really enjoyed this video. With all that
said, let's get into my lunch ideas. The National Health Service in the UK suggests
that when you're packing your child's lunch box, you include foods like starchy foods
such as bread, potatoes, rice, or pasta; protein foods like meat, fish, eggs, or beans; a dairy
item like cheese or yogurt; and of course, vegetables and a portion of fruit. Of course,
sandwiches are a fan favorite when it comes to pack lunches. Some of my kids' favorite
sandwiches are cheese, cream cheese, tuna mayo, egg mayo, and deli meats as well, but
today, I'm going to show you seven alternatives to sandwiches to give you some ideas.
The first alternative to sandwiches I wanted to show you is a bento box. I'm sure some
of you guys know this already. It's basically like a lunch that is made up of lots of little
picky bits. This is my son Caleb's ultimate lunch and also great for toddlers as well.
I've got this little lunch box. It's a young box, but there are loads of different ones
available. It's got little compartments, and you can literally just put in whatever you
have in your fridge and store cupboard and make up a really nice lunch.
The little bento box that we have actually has prompts that are written in the little
sections. In the grains, I'm putting in some breadsticks. I'm also adding in some hummus.
In the protein, I'm putting ham. For fruit, I'm adding in some oranges and chopped up
grapes. For veggies, I'm putting in some cherry tomatoes and cucumbers, and for dairy, a little
Frube fits into this compartment. You could literally put anything into this lunchbox
that you know your child will love. To give you some more ideas, I'm putting in some rice
cakes for grains, some cubed cheese for dairy, some sugar snap peas, a portion of fruit,
some cooked chicken, which could be leftovers, and then for dessert, I'm adding in some really
sweet dried mango. This next recipe is for turkey and vegetable
bites. This is the kind of recipe that you can make ahead and meal prep, and it'll keep
in your fridge for four days, or you can also them. They're super healthy, packed full of
protein. I'll show you how to make them. This recipe, it's similar to the sausage rolls
with hidden veggies that I showed in my fussy eaters video, but first off, I'm going to
blend together all of the wet ingredients. I'm going to beat up an egg. I'm going to
add a tablespoon of soy sauce or tamari, and then a tablespoon of Dijon mustard. This gives
it a really nice flavor, and it's not a spicy mustard so kids, they don't mind it. Then
I'm adding in some chopped up spring onions and lean turkey mince. I'm just going to mix
that together with my hands before adding in a grated carrot and half a grated courgette.
Then I'm going to give that a really good mix and then add three tablespoons of flour.
I'm using whole meal, but whatever you have. Again, just mix that up. It's basically like
making these little turkey burger patties that are bite size.
What I'm going to do is put some oil into a pan, and then I'm going to take a tablespoon
of the mixture, just flatten that into like a tiny little almost like a burger shape,
and then stick that straight into my pan. Then I'll leave that to cook for three to
four minutes on each side or until they're just fully cooked. That is basically it. You
wait until they get brown. They're really yummy. They're easy for them to just pick
up and eat. Then you can add these to your child's lunch box with some of their other
favorites. Mine would have three of these for lunch. They're super healthy, packed full
of the veggies. Then I've also added in some cucumber, oranges, pretzels, and a Babybel.
Another great idea is to use leftovers or things that you have in your fridge. I'm going
to show you how to make a very simple pasta salad. Obviously, you just want to cook the
pastor as you normally would. Then today, I'm going to add in some cooked chicken, some
sweet corn, and some pesto as well. Any leftover pasta is great for lunch, but if you wanted
to make this up, I'm just adding some pasta, some cooked chicken, some sweet corn, and
then one to two tablespoons of pesto. Then I'm just going to give that a really good
mix. There you have it. That has made loads of lunch for the boys. I just add it into
a lunchbox like this, which is sectioned off. This one's really handy because on the top
of it, it also has a little spoon and a little fork, which are really easy for the kids to
access. I'll link this lunchbox down below. I think I found it on Amazon.
Another great idea, which can also be a veggie option, is to send in the quiches. Now obviously
you could buy a quiche, cut it up and you're done, but I'm also going to show you how you
can make simple little quiches at home and send them in for lunches.
In my last lunchbox ideas video, I showed you how to make egg muffins. This is another
option, but they are also really simple, so definitely go and check out the video as well.
I've got this quiche molds, but if you don't have these, then a muffin tin works great
as well. I've just rolled out a pre-made shortcrust pastry. I'm going to grease my molds, and
then cut out some circles just using a cup or the molds themselves. I'm just going to
kind of like put the pastry into the molds. If you run out of pastry, don't worry. It's
really simple to flatten back out and cut some more. It's very forgiving and easy to
mold. While I make the filling for the quiches, I'm actually going to stick that into the
fridge to set. The filling is so very simple. All I'm going to do is beat up two eggs and
then also 120 mil of milk. Then I'm also going to add in some salt and pepper, but if your
kids don't like pepper, don't add this in. Then all I'm going to do is just beat that
up. Once that's all combined, I'm going to add
that to the pastry with any other veggies or ham or cheese or whatever you'd like in
a quiche. First off, I'm just adding in some more sweet corn and peppers, but as I said,
you can add in little bits of meat or some cheese, or if you want it completely plain,
that's fine as well. Then I'm going to add in the egg mixture. I'm only doing about three
tablespoons into these little quiches because the egg mixture will actually rise up so you
don't want to fill it all the way to the very top of the pastry. You need it to have a little
bit of room. Then you can stick them into your oven for about 20 to 25 minutes or until
they're nice and golden brown. That is it. They are done. My child would probably only
have one of these big ones for lunch or two of the smaller ones. Then you can just add
in anything else that they would like. Another great alternative to sandwiches, but
also still very easy, and the kids still love them, is to do wraps. Obviously, there are
so many different variations that you can do, but I'm going to show you a simple cream
cheese and ham one today. My kids love wraps. As I said, they're so quick and easy to make.
All I'm doing today is spreading on some cream cheese to a wrap, adding some ham. Then I'm
going to roll that up and cut that into more bite sized pieces, or if your child prefers,
like sometimes Caleb, they'll just have the one big, long roll because it's really easy
to hold. Then I'm going to add that into their lunchbox with some other favorites. This is
really simple and fills them up as well. You can do so many different things in wraps.
Another really nice and easy idea, which is similar to the bento box idea, is to make
kebabs or skewers. I'm going to use these little toothpicks today. They look adorable,
and they're super quick to make as well. I feel like this lunch idea looks a little bit
extra, but in reality, it is so quick and easy to do. All I'm doing is adding on some
rolled up ham, some cucumber, cherry tomato, melon, cheese, and some grapes onto the little
toothpick. It just looks really impressive. Sometimes it's all about the presentation.
I would love that for lunch. This next idea is another great way to use
up leftovers, and that is having a picnic lunch. My kids love to have a picnic dinner.
Sometimes we'll put on a movie, put out a blanket, and then we'll eat picky bits on
the blanket. This is like a lunch version of that, so you can put in things like just
anything you would take on a picnic like chicken drumsticks, veggies, fruits, any salads you
have leftover. I'll show you how I do it. Again, this is a great one for leftovers.
I feel like some of these ideas sound a little bit lazy, but if you have leftover potato
salad, pasta salad, chicken drumsticks, little cocktail sausages... These are actually the
vegan scotch eggs... veggies... I've just sticking in some cut-up veggies. Mine really
love to eat pepper. I'm always surprised when I add veg into their lunchboxes, it always
comes back having been eaten. It's never left. Then I can also add in the potato salad there.
You can put in some cheese or some raisins. That's a picnic lunch.
I also have some healthy snacks ideas for you. As I've mentioned, I reached out to you
guys on Instagram and said, "Give me your snack ideas," and some of you had some amazing
ones that we've actually never tried, so I wanted to show you some of our favorite snacks
and also some of my viewers' favorite snacks. I've laid them all out here. Hummus and breadsticks,
so many people recommend it. Also, you can do carrot sticks and hummus or other veggies
as well. Pretzels was another popular one. Also, just cubed cheese or Babybels. Yogurt,
I love these Suckies ones because there's no nasties in them. Also, Actimels. Fruit
yogurt tubes was another one that came up lots. These are great because you can actually
freeze these, and then they act as an ice pack in your lunch but are thawed out by lunchtime.
Then a very interesting one that came up. You guys are recommended that your kids like
to eat seaweed, so I'm going to give it a test out or my boys, see what they think.
Obviously, fruit is such a great, easy snack. Lots of you said sugar snap peas as well.
Granola bars are great. Natural Valley bars or other little easy Naked bars, stuff like
that. Rice cakes was a popular one. My kids love the salt and vinegar ones or the caramel
ones. Mini Cheddars came up a lot. Popcorn is a great healthy snack. Soreen Malt Loaf
came up a lot. My kids personally love the banana flavor. Also, Barny Bears is a great
dessert to put into a lunch or as a snack. Then dried fruit came up a lot. Also, figs,
apricots, medjool dates are super sweet and yummy. Obviously, raisins, kids love raisins.
Also, things like dried mango and dried raspberry as well came up.
I hope you like those healthy snacks ideas. Thank you so much to you guys for recommending
them as well. I must admit, as a nut allergy sufferer's parent, it did terrify me a little
bit how many people were recommending nuts and peanut butter and things of that nature.
I probably wouldn't have thought about it before my son had an allergy, and he goes
to a nut-free school, but something to consider maybe when you're packing snacks. Right, this
is it for this video. I really hope you enjoyed it. If you have any more suggestions, I would
love to see them in the comments below because I'm sure everyone would really like to read
them. I really hope that back to school goes well for you guys. I'll be thinking of all
of you. Thank you so much for watching. I'll see you in my next one. Bye, guys.