Cross-cultural lunch box ideas
Do you get stuck for new ideas of what to put in your children’s lunchboxes? I tend to do the same things every day – it gets boring. Trying to balance healthy and nutritious with appeal and treats is no small feat. My daughter is vegetarian so her lunch box is very different to my two sons’ lunches. I sometimes use Annabel Karmel’s book Family Meal Planner which has a section on lunchboxes. I’ve found it pretty useful, especially her suggestions for sandwich fillers. She’s also done a book specific to lunch boxes called Annabel Karmel Lunchboxes which looks great, but slightly scary to the regular working mum who has limited time to shop and prepare lunchboxes.
I came across an article called ‘Forget cold-cut sandwiches: these packed lunches have cross-cultural flair’. Very interesting. We used to eat Kimchi at home when I was growing up but I never had it in my lunchbox! I did, however, have rice on the days we fasted in order to send money to Africa. The article gives some good ideas and also touches on how kids might be embarrassed by having ethnic foods instead of ‘regular’ sandwiches. My daughter, Anna Grace, would be thrilled to have an entire Mexican or Indian meal in her lunchbox but actually being able to achieve this, as her mother, I’m not sure. She also loves having American style cookies and banana bread and stuff like that. Read this article, it will make you smile and maybe give you some good lunchbox ideas.
http://www.straight.com/food/418196/forget-cold-cut-sandwiches-these-packed-lunches-have-cross-cultural-flair
My kids eat fish but no meat so always tricky coming up with exciting lunch ideas. And our school is nut free so no hummus (sesame seeds) or almond butter (staples in my house!). I bought a small thermos for each child and they usually take leftovers – quinoa with peas, lentils, chickpea curry, soups, etc.
Oh great idea Gail. Anna Grace is vegetarian so hers is more tricky but a bit more fun. She can’t have nuts either which is a shame because she loves peanut butter which is perfect for her as a vegetarian. Love your ideas! Thanks for posting.