Fabulous Ideas for Make-and-Take Lunches

Making lunches at home and taking them to school or work is one of the most effective ways we can save some money and ensure that our families eat nutritiously. Even if we are at home most of the time, planning ahead can provide much more appetising lunches than might otherwise be available.

My primary school-aged children must take their lunches each day as there is no school canteen, but my husband and eldest son almost always take theirs too.

This year, tired of stinky lunchboxes that had been sitting in schoolbags overnight, I told my children that if they failed to give me their lunchboxes the night before, I was no longer going to make their lunches for them. They would also have to clean out their lunchboxes themselves. To my surprise and pleasure they discovered that they like making their own lunches. Moreover, they are more likely to eat food that they have packed themselves.

Note: Many Australian schools now have nut-free policies because of student allergies so none of the ideas in this article use peanut butter or other nut products.

Use of Leftovers

Leftovers make some of the best lunches.

After our evening meal I package any leftovers in meal-sized portions and freeze them. My husband takes these to work and heats them in the microwave. This way he gets a hot lunch almost every day. They are useful at other times too, such as when I feel like a hot lunch!

Leftover Tips

Plan meals with thought for possible leftovers

• a slightly larger roast will provide extra meat for sandwiches
• soups and stews make excellent frozen meals. If no microwave is available a thermos can be used.
• leftover salads can be packaged in tubs for the next day's lunch
• leftover crumbed chicken or veal makes delicious schnitzel sandwiches
• Some dessert leftovers make good lunch snacks if packaged in a small tub e. g. chocolate blancmange, fruit salad, any canned fruit, jelly, apple or rhubarb crumble. Don't forget to pack a spoon!
  

Cold Lunch Ideas

All these lunch ideas have been trialled in the red house test kitchen and have proven popular.

• try a range of breads including sliced, pitas, tortillas, rolls, muffins, whole wheat crackers, fruit breads
• keep bread in the freezer and use frozen. By lunchtime it will have thawed and will still taste fresh
• children love little tubs of snacks such as yogurt, sultanas, raisins and dried apricots
• try a hard-boiled egg with a tiny paper twist of salt and pepper
• my daughter loves a small tub of hommus with pita bread and carrot, celery and capsicum sticks for dipping. Other kid-friendly dips include salsa and plain yogurt mixed with diced cucumber (a pinch of sugar takes the edge off the acidity of the yogurt)
• Pureed fruit can be used as a dipping sauce for other fruits.
• bake muffins and slices and wrap in individual portions before freezing. In the morning, family members need only to grab one out of the freezer. I baked a double batch of raspberry muffins today with this purpose in mind.
• little children like little fruit. A whole apple might be too daunting but a small child will devour strawberries or melon pieces.
• It's all right to keep some commercial snacks in the back of the cupboard for days when homemade is just not going to happen!

I hope these ideas help you to make your lunchtimes fabulous!

This post is linked to Kitchen Tip Tuesday at Tammy's Recipes.