The beginning of the autumn school term is upon us and it is time to start thinking about filling lunch boxes once more. We are all aware of the benefits of a good diet for our children and its positive effects on concentration, behaviour and the immune system (but I also understand the difficulties involved in encouraging children to eat healthily!.It is easy to get stuck in a rut with lunch ideas, so here is a checklist which I hope will inspire you:

Bread/cereal

  • Aim to use wholemeal bread for sandwiches. Pitta pockets are ideal, but use non-soggy fillings. Other ideas include soft tortillas, bagels or savoury scones. Cut sandwiches into interesting shapes
  • Use left over pasta, couscous or rice for a salad in a box with chopped up sausages, tomatoes, onions and pepper
  • Mini pizzas or pizza slices
  • Crackers, oatcakes or crispbreads with cheese or hummus
  • Potato salad
  • Digestives, cereal bars, fig rolls

Fruit

  • Fresh fruit which is easy to handle: loose skinned satsumas, small apples, bananas, grapes off the stem, berries
  • Dried fruits
  • Pured fruit
  • Fresh fruit juice

Vegetables

  • Finger food is often favoured: carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, cucumber wedges. All delicious with a dip
  • Small thermos of vegetable soup

Meat or meat alternative/protein

  • Chicken pieces in a sauce
  • Good quality sausages
  • Chicken or pork satay
  • Homemade chicken burgers/meatballs, fishcakes
  • Hard boiled eggs, or cubes of Spanish omelettes, slice of quiche
  • Meat or fish pats
  • Bean burgers, peanut butter

Calcium rich foods

  • Yoghurts or fromage frais
  • Individually wrapped small cheeses
  • Milk drink in cartons

Drinks

  • Ideally a 500ml bottle of water (place in the freezer overnight and it will act as an ice block for the rest of the lunch, it will have defrosted by lunchtime).

Treats

  • A small good quality chocolate bar, cake or flapjack Here is a delicious tray-bake which is ideal for lunch boxes (for both children and adults!). As you will see, the only sugar it contains comes from natural sources: dried fruit, banana and honey, and olive oil is used instead of butter. Oats are a great fuel source, slowly releasing energy throughout the day.

Banana, Sultana and Orange Flapjack

Ingredients (makes 12-14 slices) 150g sultanas 75ml water 150g ripe banana, roughly chopped 250g rolled oats Finely grated zest of 1 orange 75ml olive oil 40g desiccated coconut 2 tbsp clear honey

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 170 C. Line a 30 x 20cm baking tin with baking paper.

2 Place the sultanas in a pan with the water and heat gently for a few minutes, until most of the water has been absorbed. Place the contents of the pan in a food processor with the banana and process briefly.

3 Place the oats, orange zest, olive oil, coconut and honey together in a large bowl. Add the pured sultanas and bananas, and mix everything together well.

4 Press this mixture into the prepared baking tin and smooth over the surface.

5 Bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned on top. Allow to cool in the tin.

To serve

When cool, cut into squares or rectangles and store in an airtight container until required. The flapjack will remain quite soft.

Note The flapjack will keep for up to one week.