One Week Of Lunch Recipes For Healthy Lunchboxes

Another school week is looming and that means coming up with five delicious homemade lunch recipes that are healthy, nutritious and not too hard to put together.

Perfect lunch recipes have to be tasty, fun and exciting but also good for your growing child – and adventurous too. It’s a tall order, but you’re in luck. We’ve put the hard work in so you don’t have to. These five fabulous lunch recipes are sure to inspire you and there’s not a single sandwich in sight!

A week’s worth of healthy lunch recipes for lunchboxes – coming right up…

Monday

Main: Cheddar, Pea and Broccoli Frittatas

Snacks: Dried apricots and cucumber sticks

The humble frittata is a great healthy lunch recipe to start the week off with. Easy to make and packed with protein and iron-rich veg, simply whisk together three eggs with a tablespoon of flour, add a handful of cheese, some peas and some finely chopped and (pre-cooked) broccoli. Add your batter to a pre greased, lined, baking try and cook for 15-18 minutes at around 180C degrees. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before cutting into rectangles.  Hey presto!

Tuesday

Main: Roasted Vegetable Couscous

Snacks: Blueberries and raspberries

This lunch recipe is a great way to gets some veggies into your little one but it’s also a handy lunch recipe for using up the odds and ends that are in your fridge. Roast a selection of diced vegetables; courgette, aubergine, sweet potato, butternut squash, red onion and tomatoes work well. Add some garlic cloves and a sprinkle of cumin seeds for more flavor.

While your vegetables cook, pour the couscous into a bowl, cover with hot vegetable stock and leave for 10 minutes before using a fork to ‘fluff’ it up. Then all that’s left to do is to add the veggies and mix. Served hot or cold, this lunch recipe always makes for a delicious meal.

Wednesday

Pitta pizzas

Snacks: Apple slices and raisins

Pitta pizzas are a great lunch recipe for getting hidden veg into your kids. Fun to make and fun to eat, they’re always popular and taste great hot or cold. Why not get your children to help you make them? You’ll need pitta bread, tomato sauce, cheese and a selection of toppings. Use the pitta as your pizza base, add the tomato sauce, then add anything from sweetcorn and olives to peppers, mushrooms and roasted veg. Sprinkle with cheese and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

Thursday

Main: Lentil nuggets

Snacks: Olives, Pineapple chunks

Kids love eating with their fingers which makes nuggets a sure fire hit! So why not make a vegetable and protein rich version with our handy lunch recipe for lentil and vegetable ones? You’ll need a cup of red lentils, two slices of bread (for breadcrumbs), a grated courgette and a grated carrot, and some frozen vegetables (peas and sweetcorn or chopped green beans make a good mix). You’ll also need some grated cheese and a sprinkle of mixed herbs.

To make the nuggets, soak your lentils for at least 4 hours. Use a food processor to mix the lentils with the grated courgette and carrot. Then add the breadcrumbs, cheese, mixed herbs and frozen veg and mix by hand.

Shape the mixture into around 15 balls on a baking tray and flatten with a spoon.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, turning them after around 12 minutes. Allow to cool, and serve with humus or tomato salsa!

Friday

Olive loaf with salad

Snacks: Cucumber sticks and cherry tomatoes

Olive loaf cake is absolutely delicious and makes for a hearty but healthy lunch. This lunch recipe makes one small loaf but it should give you a good few days worth of slices that you can send your child to school with.

To make it, you’ll need;

100ml olive oil

250g asparagus spears (steamed and chopped into small pieces)

200g self-raising flour

1 tbsp thyme

3 large eggs, beaten

100ml milk

Handful pitted black olives

100g chopped sundried tomatoes

100g grated cheddar cheese

The method is simple too. Mix the olive oil, flour, eggs and milk together until it resembles a smooth batter. Then add the olives, tomatoes, cheese and cooked, chopped asparagus. Grease a loaf tin, add the mixture and bake at 170C for 40mins (until a knife can be removed without any trace of batter). Allow to cool and serve slices with salad.