After each holiday period, routines return and the best thing is to get organised to deal with them! One of these routines is the preparation of the children's lunch boxes and ours too, as parents concerned about the good nutrition of everyone.
The ideal meal box should contain vegetables, proteins, starchy foods and/or cereals, it should be healthy and therefore organic, but above all it should make you want to devour or taste it and finally come back empty.
To avoid racking our brains every day to come up with the same "original" recipe of a slice of ham between two pieces of bread accompanied by a leaf of salad and a spoonful of mayonnaise or ketchup, we thought about it.
We put ourselves in the shoes of the child, the teenager and the parent. We asked ourselves what could fulfil all the objectives of a successful lunch:
Good - Healthy - Easy to prepare - Varied and get everyone involved
Contents
What if our fridge looked like this?
Getting organised in a smart way
List of foods to give you ideas
How to organise the cooking and cutting
What if our fridge looked like this?
It would be simple and motivating to prepare a dream dinner every day.
We made it and in 45 minutes with what we had in our cupboards and in the fridge!
We share our ingenious organisation.
1. Getting organised in a smart way
One tier for each essential component of a balanced meal: proteins, vegetables, starchy foods or cereals. Everyone should take at least one product from each tier for their healthy menu.
Choose from what you have in your cupboards and remember to restock during your weekly shopping.
Think of seeds, dried fruits and nuts on the shelf to supplement the protein, fat and fibre intake.
Use the leftovers from the evening meals or even prepare a little more to enjoy at another time of the week in the lunch box.
Prepare a bottle of vinaigrette or yoghurt sauce and some herbs (from the garden)
The "must-haves" in your cupboard: rice sheets for spring rolls, pitta bread, fajitas.
Take a picture of the creations to share and give ideas to others, to congratulate and encourage the children for their beautiful creations, to keep a souvenir and to share on the KissPlanet networks!
Optional: Prepare a series of buckwheat cakes and keep them in the freezer.
2. List of foods to give you ideas
| Vegetable proteins | Animal proteins | Vegetables | Starch/grain | Optional |
| Soy protein | Meat | Leafy vegetables (salad, cabbage, spinach) | Rice | Nuts |
| Mushrooms | Cheese cubes | Fruit vegetables (tomato, avocado, cucumber, pepper) | Pasta | Herbs |
| Beans, lentils, chickpeas, corn, peas | Hard-boiled egg or omelette | Condiments (olives, capers, gherkins, onions) | Potato | Sauce and dressing |
| Tofu, tempeh, seitan | yoghurt | Root vegetables (grated carrots, radishes) | Sweet potato | Seeds |
| Malted yeast | Charcuteries | Semolina | Fresh or dried fruit | |
| Spirulina flakes | Quinoa |
3. How to organise the cooking and cutting
Take an hour out of your weekend to turn your fridge into a veritable Alibaba's cave of gastronomy. Take the opportunity to get the whole family involved, as children love to mix, taste and pour.
Let them roll the mini meatballs or falafels, cut the chicken into small pieces with scissors to make it easier to cook, mash the avocado with lemon juice like guacamole, make a yoghurt sauce or a dressing. Preparing together rather than helping, gives another dimension to everyone's role at home. From week to week, new ideas will be added to the menus.
a) First, start cooking the starchy foods and proteins
Do not forget to marinate the tofu or tempeh for a few minutes before cooking.
b) During cooking, cut up the vegetables and herbs, drain the condiments
Remember to sprinkle lemon juice on raw mushrooms and avocados for a long shelf life. Add olive oil and herbs to cubes of feta cheese, turmeric to the rice cooking water to give it a nice colour, curry powder when cooking chicken or soya protein.
c) Choose transparent containers for easy selection in the refrigerator at the time of compounding
The day before, everyone chooses and prepares their lunch for the next day. This allows you to express your tastes and creativity. This ensures that you return with an empty lunch box. Don't hesitate to use different materials and containers, buckwheat cakes, fajitas, a piece of baguette, rice paper or simply a jar.
We will give you ideas in our next articles, don't forget to share yours with the KissPlanet community on our Instagram or Facebook.
Up to you now...
