J starts big school on the 31st of January, and I’m almost as excited as she is. We are counting the sleeps, labelling clothing and packing her bag (yes already!). I’ve also been preparing food for the freezer to make packing her lunchbox each day just a little bit easier.
Today I salvaged a whole load of woody carrots from the garden by turning them into carrot and pineapple mini muffins. It worked brilliantly!
The recipe was from the Coles website here
I didn’t ice them. I simply made them according to the recipe then threw them into zip lock bags and straight into the freezer. They will go with some blueberry muffins I made earlier. Hopefully I’ll have time to make quite a few things that I have planned (including savouries) so she can have a bit of variety in her lunchbox from day to day.
The ideas I have so far are:
Freezable
Blueberry (and other sweet or savoury muffins)
Cheese and bacon scrolls
Cheesymite scrolls
Zucchini slice made into muffin trays
Home-made muesli bars
Mini quiches
Pikelets
Brownies
Corn and Zucchini fritters
Fridge-storable
Hard boiled eggs (could boil a dozen at a time and leave in the shells in the fridge)
Veggie sticks for dipping…
Does anyone else have any good recipes for kids’ lunch boxes? I’m hoping to avoid lots of packets of things and the rubbish that goes with it.
500m2 in Sydney 
How would you unfreeze stuff like scones and muffins so they’re good to go in a lunchbox? Would it just go in the fridge the night before?
I just throw them in frozen and they will defrost by lunchtime. Generally keeping things cold is more of a challenge during summer. Snacks intended for morning tea may need defrosting in advance, but J’s school has fruit break first, then lunch at 11.30.
Thanks 😀 I’ve always wondered.
I did a whole year of lunchbox baking recipes in 2010. They’re here: http://witcheskitchen.com.au/category/uncategorized/baking-recipes/. They had to be based on what was in season, healthy, easy, and robust enough to stand up to school bag jostling. I had half a dozen kids of various ages as reviewers to keep me on the straight and narrow of school-acceptable. This time of year, some of the favourites are Mango Lunch Box Cake, Passionfruit Cheesecake Slice, Chocolate Beetroot Brownies, and Pumpkin Tarts.
That is just wonderful Linda! I’ll have a look/experiment.
I highly recommend vegemite sandwich and an apple thrown into box at 8:45…someday carrot sticks as well…..
Liz I think J would wither up and die on such rations. This girl eats! Today she has cereal for breakfast, a piece of bread followed by a large bowl of yoghurt mid-morning because she was ‘staarrving..’ two sandwiches for lunch, a banana and blueberry smoothie and some cherry tomatoes from the garden for afternoon tea, Now (at 5pm) I’m being hassled for dinner.
I do agree that its likely that my level of organisation will decline rapidly after week 1.
Oh she is good! Fortunately Miss 6 saves her biggest meal for dinner thus my organisation is called into question rarely….unless of course I forget to make dinner…..
Don’t forget popcorn – very good snack. Here’s the method I was using on the weekend to cook it without burning:
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/perfect_popcorn/
Thank you for this good recipe.