Vegetarian Lunch-box Ideas for 5 Days of the Week

Amongst the thousand chores that parents [read ‘mums’] achieve every day, packing lunches for school kids is one of the most significant—ah, yes—healthy lunches ofcourse!

The challenge is to pack not only an appetising and a delicious lunch but also a nutritious one.

When my kids first started going to preschool, I was quite nervous and overwhelmed about packing lunches every day. What would I pack in their lunch? Will they eat it? How much time will I need to allocate in the morning to pack their lunch-box? I was not even sure if my son would be able to open his lunch box independently, let alone eat it.

Well, after the first six months of school, I felt like I had finally got it and could pack their lunches without a huh! sigh. Few lessons I learnt along the way:

• Don’t underestimate the value of left over curries, veggies or dal from the night before. You could use them as delicious fillings in pastry sheets to make yummy pasties or knead them along with atta (wheat flour) to make the softest paranthas.
• Pack lunches the night before, as much as possible, to save precious time in the morning.  My mind works better, faster and more productive when I am not in that morning rush.
• Include a variety  of choices to ensure your little munchkins don’t get bored with ‘everyday’ food.
• Divide food into categories to include in the lunch box every day. Not only does it make life a lot easier, it also ensures a balanced lunch. Besides, you would never run out of ideas and think, ‘What more should I put in the lunch box?’

I broadly divide my kids lunches into the following categories:

• Main item
• Fruit
• Vegetable
• Snack

I have put together some simple, tasty, and mostly healthy lunch box ideas, following the categories above. Feel free to integrate them into your routine or mix and match the snacks and mains to create more interesting options:

Lunchbox idea #1:  Three-layer sandwich, strawberries and grapes, carrot and cucumber sticks, cheese stars and healthy, banana-oat muffin

The three-layer sandwich has a layer each of coriander chutney, tomato chutney and butter.

Lunch box idea #2a: Pasties from left-over veggies, strawberries and sliced nectarine, cucumber sticks, and coconut-apricot balls;

Or you could keep the same main item and change the snacks and fruit for variation and variety.

Lunch box idea #2b: Pasties from left-over veggies, grapes, chocolate milk and crackers

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Lunchbox idea #3: Chillas (savoury lentil pancakes), sliced green and red apples, cherry tomatoes, puffed rice and corn, and healthy banana-oat muffin

These chillas  are super healthy and delicious. Just grind soaked moong and chana dals along with ginger and spinach leaves. Add desired spices to this batter and spread it out on a non- stick pan. Click here for full recipe.

Lunch box idea #4: Fried rice, mandarin, yellow bell pepper and cucumber sticks, and choc -chip cookies

Lunch box idea #5: Parathas from left-over veggies, sliced pear, cherry tomatoes, and veggie straws

I often knead my dough along with left-over curries from dinner. It does not take more than 10 mins and parathas remain very soft when kids eat them at school. I pretty much knead any left-over curry  into my atta such as matar-paneer or palak or kaddu or dal, etc.

Hope these ideas help make your life a little easier when you think about packing lunches. You can mix-n-match or rotate these ideas through the week for variety.

Do you have any favourite lunch box menus/ideas? I would love to hear your solutions. I am sure other mums reading this space would like to hear from you too.