Lunch ideas:

It is just as important to prepare a balanced lunch along with a balanced dinner. Lunch is the second main meal of the day and an important time to get alot of our recommended daily vitamin and mineral intakes. We get many of these from our vegetables so always try to pack in at least 1-2 cups of vegetables at lunch. This can be steamed veges, a salad, leftovers, vegetable soup or platter with diced mixed vegetables like carrot, cucumber and celery sticks.

Some options below:

Wholegrain sandwich with salad and protein (see protein sources below)

Wholemeal pita bread with avariety of salad ingredients and protein source

Open sandwich (one piece of bread) with vegetables/salad and protein source

Wrap with lots of salad and protein source

Salad with protein source.

Left over dinners e.g. stirfrys

Sushi - a great option when you are on the go.

Wholegrain crackers like Ryvitas, Vitaweats or Multigrain corn thins with hummus, sliced tomato and cucumber or beetroot and asparagus, tin of tuna or cottage cheese. Try get in a large salad too.

Homemade vegetable soup (lovely to add lentils or chickpeas as protein source or stips of grilled chicken)

Vegetable quiche or the home made muffin/ quiches- see recipe on recipe page

Protein provides the building blocks for cell renewal and growth and is important to get 1-2 serves in your daily routine to provide a number of essential amino acids and nutrients to the body. Protein also keeps you fuller for longer.
(protein needs will depend on age, gender, physical activity level)

Great protein sources to add variety to your lunch:

1. Chicken loins or Chop Chop chicken in spring water
2. Tinned tuna or salmon (if you are watching your calorie intake then go for flavours not based in too much oil. Always read the energy content on the nutrition panel. For example Sealord savour onion has 524kJs or 125cals however the cracked lemon and pepper flavour has 874kJs or 209 cals.
3. Cheeses like feta, Edam or Cottage cheese or low fat varieties like Mainland low fat
4. Falafels. You can either buy them premade from frozen section in some supermarkets but usually health supermarkets or should find a fresh premix (meaning you have to roll the balls themselves and pan fry) in the hummus section of supermarket or a dry mix usually in the pasta/ rice section. Just ask your local supermarket
5. Four Bean mix or individual beans like chickpeas, red kidney beans, black beans to name a few. Great in protein and high in fibre.
6. Ham (preferrably from a butcher not the deli at supermarket -typically butchers don’t add the sodium nitrates to the meat to preserve them (these can be harmful in large amounts).
7. Tofu
8. Eggs
9. Any of your red meats like beef, lamb, pork.
10. Fresh fish of course and seafood.

Kids Tasty lunchbox and snack ideas!

Be adventurous with the lunchbox ideas. It is always good to provide a range of nutrients like calcium, protein, carbohydrates, fruit, vegetables and good fats like nuts and seeds.  Try to maintain a balance.

Some helpful tips and ideas:

1) Aim for 2 serves of dairy per day. This can be acheived by milk in the cereal in the morning but also taking a pottle of yoghurt with them for lunch (look for yoghurts that have less than 12g sugar per 100g). You can use yoghurt as a dipping sauce with carrot or cucumber sticks when they come home. Add cheese to their sandwich or making pita pizzas with cheese and tomato.

Muffins are a great way to stick a whole lot of nutrient boosting ingredients into one place and you can’t really go wrong! Try making fruit muffins like my chocolate and peach recipe or savouryMexican muffins (good protein boost with the beans).

Healthy chocolate apple muffins

Add dry ingredients together like :

2 cups self raising flour
2Tb cocoa powder
1tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup flaxseed meal or wheatgerm or 1/4 cup Chia seeds (these add a nice crunch) all while adding protein and omega 3 good fats to muffins.

Then add wet ingredients together:

1/2 cup trim milk
1 egg
3T honey
1 tin of diced apple
1/2 cup shredded coconut (optional)
1tsp vanilla essence (optional)

Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until there are no dry spots and put into muffin tray and bake for 15mins on 180 degrees. Do test with knife to see if cooked- stick a knife into the centre of a muffin and if it comes out clean it is cooked. Avoid overcooking these though as they can go dry.

Flaxseed, Wheat, and Bran Muffins

INGREDIENTS
1 C.flaxseed ground
1 C whole wheat flour
1 C. Oat Bran
1 C. Brown sugar
2 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp. Cinnamon
1 1/2 C. shredded Carrots
2-3 Apples, cored and chopped up or shredded
1/2 C. Chopped nuts (optional)
1/2 c. Raisins (optional)
3/4 C. trim milk
2 Eggs, beaten
1 tsp. Vanilla essence

DIRECTIONS
Mix flour, flaxseed, bran, sugar and dry ingredients together. Shred carrots and apples and add these along with optional raisins and nuts to dry ingredients. Mix well. Stir together milk eggs and vanilla and stir this into batter until well moistened. Fill cupcake or muffin trays until 3/4 full and bake at 180 for 20 minutes.
Makes 24 med muffins.

Oat balls

Homemade oat balls: Add two cups of rolled oats to a mixing bowl. Add ¼ cup of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and sultanas, cranberries or sliced dates to mixture. Add 3 tablespoons of soft honey and about 1/4- 1/2 a cup of water and combine altogether. The mixture should be neither too wet or dry, just sticky. With hands, role tablespoon size of mixture into a balls and place on plate. Should make around 12 depending on size. Place in fridge for 30mins to set. You can also flatten balls to make cookies and bake at 180 degrees for 15mins for  healthy chewy biscuits. Instead of seeds you can add about 3T of peanut butter.

More coming soon!