Back to work and school means getting organised for lunches. If you have kids, depending on their ages, you can get them involved in purchasing and packing healthy options.
Here’s some tips to get you get back into the swing of things.
Firstly, purchasing a bento box for snacks and lunch can be a great investment (remember to label it if you have kids!). It makes it easy for you to plan snacks and lunch whilst balancing the family's needs for fat, fibre and protein during the day. You can get the kids involved in choosing which items to go in each compartment (with your supervision).
Secondly, fruits, chopped veggies, hummus, crackers, dried banana chips, jerky, buckwheat puffs, pickles, olives, roasted seeds, nori seaweed, lentil chips, roasted chickpeas are all great snack options. Some people I work with prefer salads, soup, fried rice for lunch (the kids actually eat it!) instead of sandwiches. Have a think about your family's preferences are and remember many of these options can be prepared in advance (yay for saving time in the morning!).
Finally, when it comes to packing lunchboxes, it's about planning and preparation. When my older kids were in primary school, we got two “lunch” containers for the pantry, one for each of them. On a Sunday afternoon they used to package up 5x their crackers, muesli bars and other snacks into their containers (enough for each day) and put them in their containers in the pantry. That way in the morning it was an easy routine for them to grab their snacks, fruit and make their sandwich. Have a think about what's going to work best in your household.
Here's to some very delicious and nutritious work and school lunches this year!
Vanessa Vanderhoek is a functional medicine nutritionist specializing in the gut microbiome, biochemistry and nutrigenomics. She helps people to regain their health by taking a “food as medicine” approach that's unique to their body.
Whilst based in Canberra (Australia), Vanessa sees clients around the world in her virtual clinic. To get started book an initial consultation by clicking here.