- Hi guys, welcome back to my channel.
In today's video, I'm going to be
sharing with you some lunch box ideas.
And this video has been so highly requested,
so I'm so glad I'm finally filming it for you.
So, in today's video, I'm gonna share with you
five alternatives to sandwiches for lunch,
and I'm also gonna show you
three lunch boxes that I really love.
If you're new to my channel,
then my name is Emily, and I'm a mum of three boys,
and I would love for you to subscribe and stick around
because I post lots of videos like this,
and I would love to have you as a viewer.
According to the NHS in the UK,
a balanced lunch box would ideally include
the following foods: starchy foods
like bread, rice, potatoes, or pasta,
protein foods like meat, fish, eggs,
or beans, falafels, chick peas,
a dairy item, or calcium-rich foods
such as cheese or yogurts,
and vegetables or salad, and a portion of fruit.
So, first off, I'm going to show you
three lunch boxes that I love.
There are some great lunch boxes and bags on the market
that will make packing your kids' lunches
more fun for you and the kids.
So, the first one is this one by Sistema.
It's great, it has lots of compartments,
a big one at the bottom for their main meal,
maybe a sandwich, something like that.
And there's two other compartments for sides.
And the final compartment has a little
refillable water bottle in it, which is great
because it's a healthier, cheaper, and more
environmentally friendly way of adding
a drink to your child's lunch box.
And this whole lunch box was just five pounds.
I think it was a bit of a bargain,
and I will, of course, link all of the lunch boxes
that I show you you guys in the description down below.
I also really like these lunch boxes,
and I've seen them so many places,
in supermarkets, and online as well.
There's a nice big compartment in there,
and it's also insulated, and then there's
a place for the drink on the side.
And the last lunch box I wanted to
show you is called a Yumbox.
It's basically a bento box, and perfect for kids
that like snacky lunches, like my son Caleb.
When you open it up, there are little compartments
that also have really handy reminders in them
of things that you should include in the lunch box.
So, there's one that says dairy.
There's one that says fruits, veggies, grains,
and protein as well, and there's also
a little, tiny pot in the middle,
which you could put a little treat into,
or hummus, or dips, something like that.
This lunch box is a bit more pricey,
but we get so much use out of it
'cause it's perfect for toddler lunches,
but also my eldest son Fraser
loves helping me to make his own lunch.
With this, he gets really excited about
adding the bits to the compartments.
So, for my first lunch suggestion, I'm going to show you
the kind of things that we would
put into this little bento box for lunch.
For my first bento box, I'm putting some rolled ham
into the protein compartment, some Ritz crackers
for the grains, then I'm putting some cucumbers
and chopped up cherry tomatoes in the veggie bit,
some satsumas and blueberries into the fruit section,
and some long slices of cheese in the dairy or calcium bit.
And then the tiny bit in the middle is perfect
for a few little treats.
And there you have it.
I love how colorful and exciting this lunch looks.
For the next one, I thought
I would show you a veggie version.
So, for the protein section in this one,
I've just added a hard-boiled egg.
This is so quick and easy to do.
You can just boil it while you're making breakfast.
For the grains, I'm putting in some breadsticks.
For veggies, I'm adding sugar snap peas and cut-up peppers.
These are some of my kids' favorite veggies,
but obviously, you can put anything into this.
And then for the fruit section, adding chopped-up grapes
and raspberries, and for pudding, today I'm actually
going to decant the yogurt right into that compartment.
This seals really well, so you can actually do this,
and then I'm gonna also add a few raisins on top of
the yogurt, just to add a bit to the pudding,
and 'cause I had them.
And then for that little, tiny one in the middle,
I'm gonna put some hummus in there for dipping.
My kids love hummus and breadsticks,
and it's a great source of protein.
But these are so versatile,
and they don't actually take long to do.
You could just chuck your leftovers,
or anything you have, just picky bits.
They're really great for days out with the kids,
or for school lunches as well, just something
a bit different to the traditional sandwich,
and something that bit more exciting.
Next up, I'm gonna show you
how to make these mini fritatas.
These are so quick and easy to do.
They're great for breakfast or lunch.
You can batch-cook them,
and actually freeze them for ease as well,
and you can adapt the recipe however you want to.
Add whatever you want into these,
but for today, I'm gonna fry off some red peppers,
just to soften them.
Then I'm also gonna add in
a handful of spinach, and soften that.
Then, I'm going to whisk up about four eggs,
but you could make a much bigger batch, if you wanted to.
I've added a tiny bit of milk,
and I'm also adding in some grated cheddar cheese.
Then, I'm gonna take my pepper and spinach mixture
and add about a tablespoon into each muffin-case thing.
I've actually greased them so they'll pop out a lot easier,
but you could also use muffin case papers, if you wanted to.
Then, I'm going to pour over the eggy-cheese mixture
over these, not all the way to the top,
'cause they will rise a bit.
Then, I just put it into the oven at 180 for about
10 minutes, or until they look done, and that is it.
They are so easy and so delicious.
Pasta is a great alternative to sandwiches.
Leftovers is probably the easiest way
to send it in with your kids,
but if not, this is a really simple pasta salad.
All you have to do is take
some cooked pasta and add some pesto.
I've added two heaped teaspoons here,
then I'm also gonna add a squeeze of mayonnaise,
and then you can add in
any other ingredients that your kids like.
I'm adding in some veggies, and a little bit
of protein as well, in the form of ham.
Sweet corn, cucumbers, and tomatoes,
but whatever your kids like.
If they just want it plain,
or if they just want ham and cheese,
or if they only like tomatoes, whatever you want.
You can be really versatile with this,
and it will give them a really hearty lunch.
Little wraps is another food that my kids love.
Sometimes they don't want loads of
starchy bread for lunch, so wraps is a great one.
Again, you can add pretty much anything you want into these.
Today I'm making little roast chicken salad ones.
So, I've put some mayo in, I'm adding some
roast chicken slices, some cucumber and salad,
but as I said, you can do anything in these.
You can do hummus and chicken,
or just ham and cheese if you want to.
You can add anything, and what I do
is actually cut it into threes.
I don't know why, but any kind of mini food
appeals more to my kids, and it looks really cute.
So, yeah, that's another really easy one.
Similar to wraps is pitta pockets.
You basically just cut a pitta in half,
and then add any contents that you want.
Today I thought I would show you a veggie version,
so I'm adding some hummus, some falafel,
and then some salad as well,
but again you could put anything into these.
If your kids are fussy, and they only want ham and cheese,
or if they only want cheese and tomato, whatever it is.
And something really cool about this is that
you can actually put these into the toaster,
if you want to warm them up.
Just put the sealed side down obviously,
and stick it into the toaster and it will melt,
and it will kind of toast a little bit,
and they're really yummy.
Right, so those are my lunch box ideas.
I really hope you liked them.
Please give this video a big thumbs-up if you did,
and I'll know to make more videos like this.
Let me know in the comments which one was your favorite.
I thank you so much for watching.
I'll see you soon.
'Bye guys!