By Lauren Stephen
Making a packed snack/lunch for Preschool last year was something new for me & I enjoyed putting together food combos & some fun themes I knew Blair would enjoy. These are a few of my favorites to make school lunches more fun to do, not only for you, but your kid will get a kick out of it too.
It’s hard working around the ‘no nuts’ policy & now the no processed/smoked meats, crackers, muffins, pastries, juice boxes & obviously no chocolates, chips etc. is a challenge so I like to make it fun by using cool tools & containers.
I like to use stainless steel lunch boxes, especially in summer! I sent Blair with a plastic lunchbox for an outing & she came back with a melted mess. All I could think of was her food sitting in hot plastic & it got me searching for better options. I found Lunchbots! They are life changing! Everything stainless steel & boy can they take a beating & still look sleek. I buy from https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/s//ref=mw_dp_a_s?ie=UTF8&k=LunchBots.
Their leakproof tubs are perfect for her applesauce (Blair’s new fave) or hummus, any dips or yogurt etc.
Her new water bottle this year is a Klean Kanteen Kid bottle, which is from Yuppiechef. It’s a stainless steel bottle wide enough to be ice friendly & best of all no plastic straw to clean & assemble (whoop whoop) also you can buy replacement lids for the bottles (say what?)
I also use a variety of sandwich cutters, cookie cutters, food picks, food pens, punches, rice moulds, silicone cups & sandwich presses. These add fun & can be useful for holding food together or separating & adding colour. I find these at a variety of shops & online.
Lunch bags & coolers with non-toxic gel ice packs are great for keeping food cool & I have kid friendly thermal double walled stainless containers for keeping food warm in winter.
I get lunch inspo from instagram & Pinterest and try out my own ideas to see what works. It’s not as hard or time consuming as it looks sometimes (sometimes) but it’s great knowing she has a healthy lunch with some extra fun added at times.
Mom Lauren & sisters Blair 👧🏼 and Lexi 👧🏻, and husband Darryn.
Honours degree in psychology, practiced only on the family
I like doing things myself including baking, building, art & my own nails (when I get a chance)
Unqualified hairdresser
Love fishing, junk food & comics
We live in Cape Town
Fashion, food & fun are what we are about.
Blogger at this link.
A version of this article can be found at: https://laurenstephen1.wordpress.com/2019/01/17/lunch-tools/
Just love that unicorn sandwich cutter 😍🦄