10 Quick and Free School Lunchbox Tips For Busy New Zealand Mums

Hands up if you love making school lunches...I thought so. If your like me it's not the work but the fact kids often don't eat them and if they do they don't really like them. Sometime you feel like they think it's hospital food. You don't like it but you have to eat it. So you will love our 10 Quick and Free School Lunchbox Tips For Busy New Zealand Mums as it will offer some much needed variation and hopefully make those school lunches fun again.

10 Quick and Free School Lunchbox Tips For Busy New Zealand Mums

1. Start by writing out a weekly meal plan for the family including school lunches. Write your shopping list and stick to it. Buy enough food for the whole family for one week. 
2. Invest in some great lunch boxes. The ones with separate compartments are best as you can eliminate the need for plastic wrap. Better for the environment.
3. Get the kids to help pack their own lunches. This way they are more likely to eat it as they’ve chosen the ingredients themselves.
4. Bake a batch of muffins and freeze them. Pull them out when needed.
5. Cook a little extra at dinner time and use the leftovers for school lunches. Chicken drumsticks are very popular and leftover pasta made into a salad is a great non sandwich alternative.
6. Prep everything the night before. Great time saver.
7. Packaged snack foods are horribly expensive and they are loaded with sugar, salt and nasty additives. If you want to pack a treat, try making some naturally sweet apricot balls instead. They are easy to make and best of all, they are a fun activity for your children to try at the weekend.
8. Name your child's lunchbox.  You will be surprised how many lunch boxes go missing. 
9. Make lunches fun. Cut fruit into cool shapes like stars and melon balls. Leave little notes in for the kids.
10. In the summer months freeze their water bottle and use this to keep their food cold.  Food left out all day in warmer weather will spoil and possibly give your child an upset stomach so keeping it cool is a must.

Please let us know in the comments if you have anymore tips and hints.  And for our collection of kitchen utensils and hand kitchen aids click here.