One of the hardest things I have found since having the kids home is knowing what to feed them! I’m used to having my eldest at school 5 days a week and she has 5 hot meals a week. Her sister is at nursery and has 3 hot meals too and her evening snacks. The little man needs all his meals but we can manage that. Now I’m having to think of healthy lunch time meals for the kids and this can be really tough! Mine end up being a bit boring and have the same thing quite often.
I obviously want to have some form of variety, as well as keeping them healthy and full. Now we are filling our days with home schooling, play and going out for daily walks to the woods, my girls and the little man are always hungry! They drive me pretty potty, asking for food or trying to pinch mine.
I have some easy, healthy meals up my sleeve for lunch but I also asked my blogging community to help a Mama out and they gave me some great ideas too.
Healthy Lunch Time Meals
Mexican Pizza
This by far is one of my most easy recipes. Mexican pizza is called that as combines a tortilla wrap with passata and cheese. It is so easy to make and myself, my eldest and the baby love it!! Great way to get some protein and a little veg into a fussy little one.
You can see the recipe here.
Tuna Pasta Salad
This one is brilliant for a really healthy source of protein and you can add as many veggies as you want. My eldest isn’t a huge fan of lots of salad veg but will have some cucumber and sweetcorn. My middle daughter will have a bit of carrot too. Even my little man enjoys some tuna and sweetcorn (and makes the biggest mess ever with it!)
The recipe is really easy but you can read it here too.
Bits on a Plate
Bits on a plate, or as we call it a “picky lunch”.
We do what we call “Bits on a plate” which the kids love. We just put a selection of different things in small amounts on to a plate. We often include some cheese, some cold meet, crackers, Pita bread, bread sticks, vegetable sticks, olives, malt loaf, dips and fruit. We find it easier to give them a balanced lunch that way than it is if we make something like sandwiches.
Ham, Soft Cheese and Spinach Wraps
This very easy idea from Nadine from Then I Became Mum who has ham, soft cheese and spinach wraps which are so quick and easy to make.
They give a great balance of protein, carbohydrates and veggies and soft cheese is lovely for little ones who are weaning.
Soup
Whilst this is going on Natalie from Meme and Harri is eating a lot of soup. We all make it together and then have it for lunch. Good way to get some veggies down them which is something she struggles with!
I agree! It can be so hard to get a mix of vegetables into your kids and soup is a perfect way to do this.
Home-made Flatbreads and Dips
Jane from Hodgepodge Days has this easy blog post to follow.
Flatbreads are great as you can have them with some delicious dips! Maybe hummus or tomato salsa? They are also lovely to use to make pizzas. Just add some cheese, tomato and toppings of your choice and 10 minutes in the oven! Voila!
Boiled Eggs and Soldiers
This is one of the easiest things to make and my eldest will always have it. Eggs area fabulous source of protein and if you pick a wholegrain bread, you are packing in some fibre too!
Everyone cooks their eggs differently but I boil the kettle, pour onto the egg into the pan. Then when the water starts to boil in the pan, it’s 6 minutes for a large egg and 5 minutes for a medium! Perfect.
If you love eggs you may like my Baked Eggs recipe too!
Peanut Butter Sandwich and Salad
My girls are really fans of a simple peanut butter sandwich and some salad bits. Peanut butter provides protein and essential fats and team it up with a wholegrain bread for some fibre.
We also have some salad veggies on the side, like sweetcorn, cucumber and carrot sticks.
A Cheese Toasty – Healthy Lunch Time Meal Ideas
Who doesn’t love a cheese toasty? We are all fans of a cheese toasty. My girls are quite simple and either have a mozeralla or cheddar toasty but I like mine with some pesto, rocket lettuce and tomato. We always choose wholegrain bread and it is a healthy, filling lunch! Delicious.
French Toast – Eggy Bread.
This is by far one of my baby boy’s favourite recipes and something he has a couple of times a week and has done since weaning.
You can find the recipe here but it is a perfect tasty recipe, again packed with protein and fibre. A good one if you are worried about your little one wanting a bit of healthy, comfort food and soft for teething weaning babies.
So there you have it! Some tasty, healthy recipes for you and your kids when you are stuck in a home this lockdown.
Thanks to all the bloggers who contributed to this post and hope you can find something your kids will like too! Since I started this post all of my children have gone back into some form of childcare and this has meant they are getting some of their meals again! It is such a huge help and I can fall back on some of these ideas for when they come home.
Let me know if you enjoy any of the kids healthy lunch time meals in the comments!
What fab ideas. We’ve got to the point now where we are sick of sandwiches for lunch. The Mexican Pizza sounds delicious and I love boiled eggs is soldiers x