The Lunchbox Ideas List – a work in progress

Love ’em or hate ’em, lunchboxes are an unavoidable necessity. Parents have an important role to play when packing a lunchbox. Learning is hungry work! To fuel children for a day at school, pack a nutritious main lunch plus snacks from the five food groups. Pack to suit your child’s appetite. Keep food safe by packing lunchboxes in an insulated bag with an ice brick. Include a water bottle.

Kids love to help! Get the kids involved in planning and packing their lunchbox. Try making the following recipes together.

KIDS COOKING LUNCHBOX IDEAS*
Puff pastry scrolls
Filo pastry triangles
Cornish pasties
Zucchini slice
Lasagne cups
Potato & veg bake into cupcake liners
Fritters or corn cakes
Pikelets
Left over cold pasta bake or macaroni cheese or bake in muffin tins
Dip & veg sticks or crackers
Quesadillas
Rice paper rolls
Sushi rolls
Wraps
Scrolls – savoury or sweet
Pasta or noodle salad
Mini pies or potato pies
Mini quiche
Frittata in muffin cups or a rectangle cut into squares
Mini pizzas
Calzone
Meatballs
Tuna or salmon fish cakes or balls
Falafel balls
Mini hamburger
Sausage rolls or vegetarian sausage rolls
Savoury muffins
Hard-boiled eggs
Stuffed potatoes or sweet potatoes
Mini sausages baked in puff pastry
Corn chips and avocado dip serve with cheese sticks and vegetable sticks
Savoury or sweet flavoured popcorn
Potato or sweet potato salad with bacon
Home-made baked beans with toast soldiers
Leftover fried rice
Fresh, frozen or dried fruit
Cold dogs
Pizza subs
Egg & bacon pies
Mini meat loves wrapped in bacon
Homemade crumpets with butter & honey or Vegemite
Noodle salad
Cornbread served with butter cheese & relish
Cherry tomatoes to snack on
Dry cereal or toasted muesli (as long as there is no nuts) or dried fruit and seed mix
Cold roasted vegetable wedges with sour cream dip
Lettuce cup filled with favourite mince & or salad mix
Pumpkin, carrot, spinach and ricotta cheese triangles
Savoury scones
Fruit sticks with cream cheese dip
Silverbeet and cream cheese quiche
Ploughman’s lunch – cheese pickles vegetable sticks cold ham/salami
Home-made potato cake
Pasta salad
Home made yoghurt and stewed fruit or vanilla bean paste

Fillings for sandwiches, rolls & wraps
Avocado and egg
Chicken avocado and spring onion
Roast beef with beetroot dip
Cheese with relish, hummus or pesto & salad
Tuna mayonnaise and lettuce
Curried egg & Mayo
Cucumber dill & Mayo & cheese
Ham cheese and mayo
Vegemite cheese and lettuce
Butter banana and cinnamon
Crispy bacon and egg
BLT Bacon lettuce tomato
Strawberry honey and cream cheese
Cheese and tomato bread and butter puddings
Fresh pineapple and cheese with lettuce
Apple cheese and ham
Lemon butter

Keep sandwiches interesting – try varying the fillings or cut sandwiches into different shapes.
3 layer sandwich – club sandwich
Pinwheel or spiral sandwich
Different shapes using a cookie cutter; little mini sandwiches can also put put onto a skewer
Rectangles
Squares
Triangles
Fingers
Open sandwich
Different types of bread, multigrain, brown, white
Try making your own wraps

Add to the dough – seeds, or a bit or veg to colour the wrap, beetroot for pink spinach for green, carrot coloured etc.

Or use lettuce leaves like Dani Valent’s Chicken Lettuce Cup Lunchbox Recipe
Try different types of rolls, different shapes & flavours, Turkish bread, baguette, hamburger bun, multigrain, wholemeal, sourdough etc.

Lunchbox Bakes

Brownies
Weet-Bix slice
Muesli bars
Apple teacake
fruit or chocolate chip muffins
Banana bread
Chocolate chip cookies
Kiss biscuits
Short bread
Gingerbread men
Too easy chocolate cake
Chocolate balls or lemon balls
Home-made doughnuts
Cupcakes
Fruit and jelly cups
Jam drop biscuits
Scones with butter and jam
Rock cakes
Anzac biscuit or slice
10 sec coconut bread
30 sec orange cake
Coconut macaroons
Cheese biscuits
Smartie cookies
Fruit buns or fruit bread
Carrot cupcakes
Soft scented apple cakes
Strawberry tart
Portuguese tarts
Jam tarts
Madeleines
Friands
Avocado chocolate mousse
Marble cake or cupcakes
Fruit leather
Apricot and coconut squares 

* If your school is nut-free, either omit the nuts or substitute a mix of seeds in recipes that contain nuts. Try pine nuts (a seed, not a nut), linseeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds or chia seeds.