I’m a mum of 2 primary school children here in Auckland and I would like to begin this blog with a few of my ideas on school lunches and food for kids in general.
To start off with, and I know this may not go down to well with a lot of you; I am appalled at what so many children are pulling out of their lunch boxes. The reason I am writing this blog is to try and create some awareness and sense to parents. Of Course this does not apply to all of you, but I have spent the good part of the last 3 months at my daughters school during lunch, that I think I have a fair idea on the general population.
What I am seeing is children with maybe an apple or banana for morning tea, which is great; but then come lunch they consume 2 pieces of white bread with nutella slapped in the middle. I mean this is just not going to cut it. How is this feeding your childs brain??
Many of you may say, “well, little Tommy won’t eat this and he on’t eat that”, and you’d be right. I would like to say that the 8 out of 10 children that come to play at my house won’t eat the food. Tomatoes, nuts, freshly squeezed juices, homemade soup, brown rice, fish, mushrooms, carrots and the list goes on and on. I think a lot of people are preparing seperate dinners for their children because there are so many ingrediants that their child just won’t eat. Now I know whilst what I about to say may sound very old fashioned and maybe even cruel somewhat, but I am the youngest of 15 children, and my mother taught me this. “if you dont want to eat this for dinner, I’ll pop it in the fridge for later”. Fast forward to later and the same thing would pursue, and so on and so forth, until I did or didnt eat my dinner. There were no options like “oh would you like chicken nuggets or proceesd savaloies”? No no no, It was “here is your meat and 3 veg, hop up to the table”. I mean ofcourse there are some things that you just won’t eat. I hated peas and would feed them to the dog under the table. Anyway, my point is I have been living and breathing what children are eating for the past few months and it concerns me great deal.
So, today for starters, Im going to give you a very cheap and simple lunch box “new” option for your little sprog.
An avocado! Yes, choppped in half, with a bit of lemon juice squeezed on it (if you have ), and some corn chips or simply a teaspoon to scoop.
Last week when I sat with my 7yr old daughter at lunch, several children hovered around us salivating at the “green thing”. Many of them knew they liked it but did’nt know what to call it. And you cannot say they are expensive. I saw them for 69c in westmere yesterday. Buy several at the green stage and ripen them at home, then store them in the fridge. Avocado’s are considered to be an almost complete food. Rich in vitamin A, C, E, beta-carotene, potassium and folic acid to name a few.
Good luck, till next time.
