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20 Nut Free Lunchbox Snacks

January 15, 2015 · 10 Comments

20 Nut Free Lunchbox Snacks

A nut free lunchbox is a requirement in a lot of Australian schools.

The incidence of fatal allergies has meant we need to keep kids safe. Nut-free snacks are really not that hard to do!

If you want a recipe that uses nuts, there are lots of alternatives. Sunflower seed butter or tahini can be used in place of peanut or nut butters. Dried fruit or seeds can be used where nuts are in a recipe.

 

Australia's best Range of Lunchboxes

 

Here are 20 nut free lunchbox recipes to get you inspired.

Have you got a recipe? Leave us a link in the comments!

 

1. Gluten Free, Nut Free Muesli Bars 

2. Sweet Potato Chocolate Cake

3. Apricot Coconut Slice

4. Date Muffins

5. Easy Seed Crackers

 

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6. Carrot, Apple and Oat Slice  (pictured)

7. Chewy Choc Banana Cookies

8. Blueberry Pancakes 

9. Strawberry Yoghurt Muffins

10. Zucchini and Pepita Muffins

 

11. Vanilla Bean Cupcakes 

12. Chocolate Zucchini Loaf

13. Little Golden Oat Biscuits

14. Cranberry Oat Cookies

15. Pumpkin Scones

 

16. Easy Coconut Biscuits

17. Chocolate Muffins

18. Sunflower and Sesame Crackers

19. Coconut and Strawberry Slice

20. Tahini, Orange and Date Muesli Bars

 

Want more? 

Check out my 30 Super Healthy Lunchbox Snacks – most of them are nut free or can easily be nut free.

 

Filed In: FOOD / Tagged: allergy friendly, healthy snacks, lunchbox snacks, nut-free, school, snacks

Best ever healthy lunch box tips!

January 23, 2014 · 16 Comments

Best ever healthy lunch box tips!

There are so many great resources out there, I just had to round them all up for you to have a read! Please leave me links and comments with your top tips for healthy lunch boxes.

nude-food

Join the nude food revolution over at Down to Earth Mother.

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Find out how to reduce lunchbox stress in 7 easy ways with Brenda Janschek.

   Muffins_RolledOat-Bars-300x225

 Louise at Meal Planning Your Way shares her

back to school lunchbox formula.

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Your solution to boring lunchboxes from Melissa at Frugal and Thriving.

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The Organised Housewife with some tips for packing a healthy lunchbox.

pinterest

And make sure you are following my Pinterest board, Back to School!

Filed In: FAMILY, HOME / Tagged: health lunch box, kids, lunch, lunchbox, school

12 Tips for a Stress-Free Back to School

January 13, 2014 · 14 Comments

12 Tips for a Stress-Free Back to School

Whether your kids are heading to school for the first time, starting high school or changing schools, it can often be accompanied by a little bit of stress and anxiety.

I am not just talking the kids here either – many of us mums feel very anxious and a bit teary about sending our precious bundles off the school!

I feel like a veteran school mum with one child heading to Year 12 and the other in his third year of uni. Where does the time go?

Here are my top tips to make back to school calm and stress-free!

1. Be positive 

Whenever you are talking about school, keep a positive attitude. Kids will quickly pick up any anxiety or negativity you might be feeling about it. Talk about all the fun things you used to do at school and all the friends you made.

2. Pack a yummy lunch

Pack something your child loves to eat for the first day so they are looking forward to it. 

3. Do a reccy (reconnaissance mission)

If you are able, get permission to visit the school in the holidays. Hang out on the swings, stroll around the buildings, find the toilets and get familiar with the layout before the big day. Most places will have an orientation day, but visiting when its quiet can make a difference.

4. Aromatherapy oils 

Put a drop or two of essential oils on a hanky for your child to sniff if they are feeling a little anxious. Try 123 Nourish Me’s Calm Down and Confidence roll ons specifically designed for kids! 

Mums, don’t forget to do the same for yourself!

5. Buddy up

See if you can find someone who will be in your child’s class. Have them over for a play date before-hand to get friendly and chat about school. Encourage them to look out for each other on the day.

6. Keep it simple

Make sure bags, bottles and lunch boxes are easy to access for little fingers. It’s not much fun struggling with layers of clingwrap to get to your lunch! Try these brilliant, reusable sandwich and snack pockets that have velcro closures.

7. After-school fun

Although they will most likely be exhausted, a small treat to look forward to after school can be something to get them through the day. A visit to the park or reading their favourite story perhaps?

8. Love note or magic banana

Write your kids a cute little love note, jokes or pop some stickers in their lunchbox for a nice surprise! For the ultimate in cool and eco-friendly, write a message on a banana with a skewer. By lunch time, it will have magically appeared.

magic banana

9. Have a morning routine

 A set time to get up and a routine to follow will keep that morning chaos to a minimum and keep everyone calm. Use checklists and have a central point for the all school stuff.

10. Play school

Have a fun day at home where you play ‘school’. Get up, get ready, get the uniform on and have brekky in real school time. Go outside for lunch and practice opening the new lunch boxes.

11. Crystals

Let your child choose a few crystals to carry in their pocket. Agate is calming and comforting. Calcite helps alleviate fear and can reduce stress. Aquamarine can calm nerves and help banish fear and phobias. My kids have always loved doing this!

12. Flower Essences

Alisha at Naughty Naturopath Mum has an amazing Back to School pack containing four flower essence blends for kids (and parents) to help with back to school emotions. Find them here.

What tips do you have for a stress free back to school? 

Filed In: FAMILY / Tagged: aromatherapy oils, back to school, bushflower essences, kids, lunch, lunchbox, school, stress

Healthy Lunchbox Ideas

April 16, 2012 · 52 Comments

Healthy Lunchbox Ideas

 

Does the whole school lunch thing drive you mad?  It’s a complicated business – we have to make sure it’s healthy, doesn’t go soggy and won’t give anyone salmonella! Then throw into the mix a fussy kid or two and a school policy on nuts and it’s the mums who are going nuts!!

 

My kids are a 14 and 11 and usually take a sandwich, two pieces of fruit and something else. They take filtered water to drink.  The Natural New Age Dad also takes a packed lunch every day, so there is always lots of lunch making going on at our place!

 

♥ Let’s talk about sandwiches first. I try to make sure that the sandwiches contain protein and salad on a good quality grainy bread or wrap. I often make our own bread – we like Cyndi O’Meara’s bible bread and Tania’s GF  Chia and Almond Bread. Sorj or Mountain Bread are the best brand of wraps I have found that contain no artificial stuff.

 

As far as protein goes, we gave up deli meats long ago. They just contain too many chemicals and are heavily processed. Find out some more here. Occasionally, I will buy some organic ham, as this one doesn’t contain sodium nitrates.

 

What I do instead is cook up large joints of roast beef, pork, lamb, chicken or corned beef, usually in the slow cooker, every week or two. Woolworths stock an organic corned beef now that is free of chemicals. It’s really tasty and not very expensive. After cooling in the fridge, the meat is sliced up or shredded in the thermomix. Then I freeze, label and date it in portions to suit two days worth of lunches. It’s easy to just pull out a portion the night before to let it thaw in the fridge.

 

To add a bit of variety, I also use boiled eggs with my homemade mayonnaise or tinned salmon or tuna (in springwater only) with mayonnaise. Sometimes the kids just  feel like having my homemade nut butter – in which case the veges are ‘on the side’ in a little snack pack. We sometimes use organic butter but never, ever use margarine. Organic avocado is our choice of spread on sandwiches. It adds lots of other nutrients as well!

 

Sometimes they like to mix it up and take something else, besides a sandwich. Here are our other favourite healthy things that don’t involve bread.

 

♥ Fruit is an easy one. We try to eat mostly organic fruit. If we can’t, we give it a good wash off before eating! Fruit salad in a container with yoghurt on top is nice for a change.

 

♥ Something else – is not always so easy!  My normal routine is to bake a couple of large batches of healthy muffins, cakes and slices, loaded with fruits, nuts and seeds. They are all portioned up and frozen. They thaw out by lunch time in the lunchbox. Here are some ideas:

 

Six Healthy Biscuits for Lunchboxes

Really Healthy Anzac Biscuits

green pancakes

Green Pancakes

 

What about choc-hazel bliss balls, carrot, pineapple and zucchini muffins or healthy cake?

 

If haven’t baked treats, then the kids (and the big kid) take things like:

Home-made airpopped organic popcorn (use Herbamare to keep the salt content down)

Vege sticks and cherry tomatoes with homemade dip

Cheese and crackers 

Dried fruit and nuts (make sure your dried fruit is safe)

Sometimes a packet snack sneaks it way in there for a treat. You can find some good packet snacks.

 

There are loads of ideas around the web too. You could try Vegie Smuggler’s amazing Cheese Puffs, Mamacino’s Really Easy Banana Bread or Feeding Fussy Kid’s Iron Booster Balls.

 

I always think it’s a good idea to get the kids involved in the lunch making too. The more input they have and ownership they take for their lunches, mean it’s more likely to get eaten. What doesn’t get eaten for lunch, gets eaten for afternoon tea at our place! Quality, organic food is not cheap and I hate waste.

 

I would love to hear what your lunch box ideas are. Leave me a comment and let me know!

 

Vegie Smugglers

Filed In: FOOD / Tagged: deli meats, lunch, lunch box, lunchbox, roast, sandwiches, school, school lunch, school lunch boxes, sodium nitrates

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