Liven up your lunchbox with these easy ideas

If you’re deep into the school term and back feeling overwhelmed at the thought of packing lunch boxes day in and day out and what to pack in them, fear not! We have some top tips to share that will help you feel back in control. Our resident guru, the Lunchbox Lady, Caroline Job from Lunchbox World has your back!
Caroline obsesses on lunch box ideas and with 3 kids of her own, she is a fountain of lunch box inspo, tips and ideas for all ages!

This lunch box idea embraces school days, and uses the theme of notebooks, stationery, pens, and just uses four clever gadgets that help make that lunch box fun!

The four gadgets you need are : A stainless steel straw, a ruler and these clever cake pens, with edible ink in them and a mini star cutter.

If you prefer to watch the video, then click above, but for full details on the full recipe, check out below:

Tools you will need:

• Sharp knife
• Chopping board
• Star cutter
• Stainless steel straw
• Ruler
• Cake pens

Ingredients:

• 2 slices bread – can be brown or white or best of both
• Filling – we used mayo, chicken slice and lettuce leaves
• Cheese string, 2 googly eyes
• Cucumber chunks
• Cherry tomatoes
• Homemade flapjack with star sprinkles on top
• strawberry fruit flakes or some snack

Method:

Step 1: Make the notebook and pencil.

• Make sandwich as usual – here we used mayo, chicken slice and lettuce leaves
• Cut off crusts for neat finish
• With ruler and cake pen, draw margin
• Then draw the lines of the page
• With end of straw, push down and hole punch out the rings as you would a notebook
• TIP: Blow out the hole-punched bits of sandwich as you go along so it does not clog up the straw! If stuck, soak the straw in water and the bread will go soggy and just blow out the debris!
• To make the pencil – use a cheese string. With a sharp knife sharpen the point as you would a pencil. Then draw on the pencil lines around the point and down the vertical lines of the pencil so it looks like a pencil.
• With edible glue, glue on two googly eyes (all found in the baking aisle) and add a quirky smile to finish with the red cake pen.
• Oh and don’t forget to create the crazy hair – this is an ideal point to get the kids involved!
• Simply tease apart the cheese string to create the crazy hair.

Step 2: Cut chunks of cucumber and punch out stars with the cutter – this is a great intro to the lunch box star chart – to help encourage them to eat their lunch. Add cerry tomatoes – chop up if little people

Step 3: Add in a sweet treat – here I had just baked up some homemade flapjack but this could
easily be shop bought if you are short of time. Again I sprinkled over some star shaped
sprinkles.

Step 4: Fill the mini pot area with fromage frais, raisins, small fruit pieces or as here,
fruit yoghurt flakes

Don’t forget to pack an ice pack in the lunch bag to keep the food safe. And remember to pack water to drink – it is essential to keep them hydrated!
In this lunch box idea, I use my favourite yumbox panino lunch box, that has the four
compartments – a larger one for the notebook or larger sandwich, but any compartment
lunch box works equally well.

Caroline Job aka the lunch box lady has been obsessing on lunch boxes since 2009 when she
launched Lunchbox World. More recently she can be found every week on the Lunchbox World YouTube uploading fresh lunch box ideas and she has just launched her brand new
Essential Lunchbox Course that helps teach and equip you with everything you need to know when packing lunches. YOU then stay out of that lunch box rut, you feel you are in control as a parent and the kids are happy and healthy and eat their lunches! So everyone wins!

• so what are your next steps to help you on your way?

1. grab your FREE 7 days of lunch box ideas, make sure to subscribe to the newsletter over on https://lunchboxworld.co.uk 
2. Check out the brand new Essential Lunchbox Course – everything you need to know if starting out packing lunch boxes for your kids starting school! app.mastermind.com/masterminds/28803
3. Use the special introductory Back to School discount code “Britmums20” to get 20% off but hurry, this coupon is only valid until midnight on 10 December 2022.