The summer school holidays are met with dread by many parents, and with good reason – a house full of kids all day every day can be a shock to the system after 12 months of relative calm.
But for me, the prospect of six weeks without the arduous task of making school lunches makes every moment of chaos well worth it.
I’m one of those mums that make the sandwiches on a Sunday night in order to avoid the task for the rest of the week. And all lunchboxes are thrown together the night before to reduce the morning rush.
Problem is, my kids generally get pretty much the same average lunch. Every. Single. Day.
I’ve purchased the odd cook book aimed at children, but the prospect of dedicating an hour of time to combine a dozen different ingredients for one lunch that will most likely be left uneaten is simply too much for my head to handle.
The same applies to many blogs – Elsa shaped Sashimi just isn’t going to work for my kids. Or me.
So I took to Pinterest and while it is a minefield out there, with some careful hunting and culling, there are a few gems that offer fantastic food tips to help create healthy and creative lunches, without all the fuss.
Here is our top six.
Easy Lunch Boxes.
As the name would suggest, the focus for this pinner is on easy which is what makes it so appealing.
Think ham sandwiches, fruit and homemade baked goods presented in a fun – but realistic - fashion.
There are also great tips for great at-home snacks as well as general parenting and back to school tips.
Bunches of Lunches.
There’s a wide variety of ideas of suggestions here with a strong focus is on non-bread options.
You’ll find plenty of creative but simple lunch choices like ham salads, simple pastas and yummy wraps and pinwheels.
It’s easy to follow to which is always a bonus!
My Lunchbox Dad Meals.
Lunch box dad is stacks of fun. It does appear a little fancy at first glance but once you look a little closer you’ll see his lunches are fairly simple and convenient, making plenty of use of easy to grab snacks like sliced cheese, lunch meats, fruit, popcorn and ham sandwiches – they’re just a little more creative in presentation.
Back to School Ideas and Tutorials.
A fantastic pinner focusing on all things back to school with links to informative blog posts including tasty and convenient lunch box ideas, tips for saving money on school lunches, organisation tutorials and workstation set ups.
It’s got your entire school situation covered.
Lunch Box Love.
With lunch box ideas for kids and adults alike, Lunch Box Love has a focus on healthy but simple foods. It has some great, easy tips for making lunch fun – from drawing a face on a banana to creatively cutting off crusts a ham sandwich.
It’s the concepts that make this one great, so if you’re not one for home-making everything, you could easily substitute many of the ingredients for store-bought options, making these ideas super easy, healthy and fun.
Healthy Kid Snacks and Lunches.
For food tips and ideas that go beyond the classroom you can’t go past Café Mom.
With stacks of information from healthy school snacks and make-ahead lunches to fussy eating tips and holiday goodies, this pinner offers a huge range of ideas without requiring any special talents or investing crazy amounts of time.
Get Pinning, people.
What's your got-to school lunch?