Labour of Lunch..

I just finished making 6 lunches.. an entire loaf of bread, packet of ham, 3 tomatoes, 1/4 block of cheese, 1/2 kilo of yoghurt, packet of shapes, 4 muffins, 4 pikelets and 7 pieces of fruit later I have a mountain of Tupperware ready to go in the morning! Not to mention storing it all takes up pretty much the entire fridge..

However, I find I like to prepare the lunches in the evening (with the exception of the cut up fruit..) because it gives me the time to 'create' something special for each of us.. something to look forward to at break time. It is pretty depressing when at work or school, counting down to break time to be greeted by a Vegemite sandwich and a muesli bar (although it could be much worse...) So I like to think of some tasty things to pack the lunchboxes with..

Last week when working in schools I found it pretty disheartening to see what some kids have in their lunchboxes, some children don't bring any food at all! I know snack foods can be expensive and sometimes the things the kids ask for can be outside of the budget, however, there are many different ways around this - baking, buying larger boxes and packaging your own into containers/bags etc, utilising cheaper alternatives and keeping an eye out for bakery specials. Today I got 20 pikelets for only $2.00!

Sometimes I feel like the kids have 'boring' lunchboxes because theirs aren't filled with all of the commercialised products we see advertised on TV, but then I consider that these items, aside from flashy packaging aren't much more that that..

For example tomorrow the kids have;

• Ham, cheese and mayo sandwich on grain bread.
• Cherry tomatoes, cheese stick and kalamata olives cut up
• Shapes crackers
• Mango yoghurt &
• Piece of fruit.
• (the older two also have a fruit muffin and lettuce mix added to their sandwich)

All of these items didn't cost all that much in comparison to the commercialised products, because when you are packing lunches for a large family, boxes of such products usually only last one lunchtime ( 6 Le Snacks = 1 box etc) I sometimes make my own versions of the products and put crackers alongside cheese spread or if I do buy a commercial product such as LCM's, I will cut up 1 LCM and dice it into bite size pieces - it then becomes LCM bites for 2 kids instead of 1 etc..

Instead of poppers, I pack drink bottles of water and a smaller drink bottle with cordial or juice in it, once again minimising packaging, providing a longer lasting option and saving money.. Its a win win situation.

What type of things do you pack into your child's lunchbox? Is it something you would be excited to see when you open the lid?~*Daily Note to Self*~ Participate in Project Life Tuesday tomorrow :-)