I feel incredibly lucky that my children have taught me to appreciate and embrace getting outside. They truly are “Outdoor Kids”. It calms them, and at the same time it invigorates them. I think the best part of all is because we are uninterrupted by dishes, the washing, or TV, we are learning about each other, and of course our world.
To have happy children outside though, I must carry an arsenal of snacks! Children are always snacking, am I right?!
So to save sanity and money, I try to take everything with us and be prepared. I’m going to share with you what I pack for an adventure with my kids, and some of the how’s, whys and tips as well.
Firstly a few notes…
- my children are 2 and 3 1/2 so lots of ‘little food’ things work well.
- I base my selection on a combination of Carbs/protein/treat/veg/fruit. not necessarily in that order!
- Yes always vegetables even if it doesn’t always get eaten, I want to teach my children that vegetables are a part of every (ok most!) meals.
- We use Planetbox Rover lunchboxes, leak-proof Camelbak drink bottles and reusable Bumkins snack bags all from Little & Loved. The snack bags are perfect to have up your sleeve when you are in need, popcorn and cruskets are my go-to here.
Some sneaky tips
- In a rut? Cut things differently, sounds simple but grating cheese instead of slices makes my kids excited. Put the fruit onto kebab sticks. Easy but it works!
- Smoothies in Kai Carrier pouches are something a little different and a great way to get veg in too.
- When I bake I try to freeze half the batch so that the kids have variation available as even chocolate muffins seem to get boring three days in a row (go figure?!)
Right! Over to actual lunch box favourites
FRUIT You guys know what your kids like but our staples are: apple – sometimes spread with peanut butter, banana, mango cheeks, orange (we LOVE the twisted citrus oranges) pineapple, watermelon, kiwifruit & berries. Sometimes I make fruit salad and add passionfruit pulp, and fruit kebabs are also a winner.
CARBS ,sandwiches, Farrah’s wraps, mini bacon and egg pies, pastries, pasta, rice, crackers, pizza, sushi, rice balls, croissants, filled buns/sliders, potato salad, fruit bread or fruit loaf (IE banana bread) bagels, toasted sandwiches, crunchy bread sticks,
TREAT
fruit leather, dried fruit, muffin, scone, rice bubble slice, popcorn, bliss balls, banana cake, sausage rolls, pikelets,
EXTRA
Nuts, hummus, smoothie, ice blocks – for these I give them just as we are getting in the car. Helps my kids with the journey as they are not great fans of the car. We use the Zoku machine from Little and Loved
VEG
carrot sticks, roast veg, cucumber, steamed broccoli, edamame, sweetcorn, snowpeas, cherry tomatoes, mini kebabs of a selection of these is quite appealing,
PROTEIN
cheese, egg, ham, chicken, sausage, roast meat, salmon, tuna. These things I do either alone or as sandwich/wrap fillers. Or ham with pasta, chicken with sushi rice for instance.
I hope that has helped you with compiling some lunchboxes for your kids.
I’d love to know what favourites of yours I missed so please drop me a DM on my instagram page @the_macpherson_diaries and let me know.
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