Olympic picnic fun by the Lunch Box Lady

She’s back with another gold medal post that we can all enjoy and take advantage of over the next couple of months, the Lunch Box Lady aka Caroline Job brings us her second great picnic post for all BritMums. Go find that rug and take the kids out for a picnic 😉

Any budding Olympians in your brood?

I know in our household their love of sport changes with each competition. Throughout Wimbledon, tennis was the sport of choice. They’d be out in the garden, tennis net assembled, rackets in the hand, all three aspiring to be the next generation of Champions.

Now the Olympics has arrived and as a special treat, we let the kids stay up and watch the spectacular Opening Ceremony to further inspire and excite them in the world of sport. And so their favourite sport now changes daily: tennis, sailing, beach volley ball, swimming, rowing and now diving.

When the athletics kicks off, they’ll be setting up hurdles with flower pots and sticks and running laps round the garden! Jumping in the sandpit… Maybe rigging up a high jump!

We learned during the Beijing Olympics the vast diet Phelps, Olympic swimmer with 14 Gold medals has and the huge number of calories he consumed a day to maintain his peak fitness in the run up and during the Olympics. Somewhere between 8000-10000 a day. This year, it’s the turn of Ben Ainslie, 3 time Olympic Gold medallist in Sailing who eats the equivalent to 5 roast chickens a day!

So what diet should we be feeding our budding Olympians?

How about holding a mini Olympics in your back garden, inviting friends to tea, laying on a picnic spread…
Why not include a taster of the diets the real Olympians consume:
Pasta salad – loaded with essential carbs (carbohydrates to us laymen) – cherry tomatoes, ripped basil, pasta, broccoli or courgette or cucumber chunks, pine nuts, tuna chunks or chunks of cheddar, in a dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper

Protein rich dishes such as roast chicken – cut up into drumsticks and wrap in kitchen towel so kids can eat on the hoof – to build muscle and aid recovery

Yoghurt Smoothies and milk shakes – full of protein and goodness, again for hydration and to aid recovery

Water – to help rehydrate during the recovery phase (ie after racing!)

Bananas – essential snack for just before racing or to aid recovery after racing – you could even chop up a selection of colourful fruits, including sliced apple, oranges, strawberries and sliced kiwi with banana chunks and create that colourful fruit salad – again perfect for grazing. Don’t forget to add those essential drops of lemon juice to stop the apple from going brown and remember that handful of grapes too…

And oats, essential to all athletes of every discipline – why not bake up a batch of flapjacks – perfect for that slow release of energy.

So string up the bunting, boil up some eggs for the egg and spoon race, get some old pillowcases for the sack race, gather together all garden toys including hoola hoops, skipping ropes, mini golf sets if you have them, tennis sets and put together an obstacle course. You could grab a hat, scarf and gloves for each lane too, so they have to put some clothes on as an extra twist, or if a cold day, a thick coat too! Get the parents to join in and just have some FUN!

And if you fancy making your own three podiums for gold, silver and bronze and your own medals, then go for it!

For more picnic ideas, hints and tips and recipe ideas, do check out the Lunchbox World website.
So how are you inspiring your budding Olympians this Great year of Britain?
The Lunch Box Lady x

Caroline Job, aka the Lunch Box Lady, set up Lunchbox World back in 2009 following an online search for a washable lunch bag for her own kids school packed lunches. Lunchbox World with its one aim to help you put the FUN back into packed lunches has become a one stop shop for anything lunch box related, covering tips, hints, recipe ideas for packed lunches, picnics or just lunch for work, school or days out.

There are two blogs with lots of lunch box ideas too – The Lunchbox World Blog and 365 Lunch Box Challenge – where every post is a new lunch idea. You can follow her @lunchboxworld on twitter or why not like herFacebook page and keep up to date with all the latest. You can share your lunch on http://www.pinterest.com/lunchboxworld/ and this summer starts the new My Lunch Box Linky, so do join in the fun!

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