Menu

a collection of

Kerrygold Moments

Back to news
17/01/20

Lunchbox 101: Tips, Tricks & Recipes Perfect for Work or School

It’s the question on everyone’s lips and a dilemma to solve each day – what’s for lunch? We know that a lot of thought goes into what to put into a lunch box, whether it be for adults or kids. So to help you master this mid-day meal, we’ve created a helpful blog post filled with lunchbox tips, tricks, and recipes that are perfect for work or school.

Lunchbox Tips & Tricks

Here are our top tips and tricks for preparing and packing lunchboxes.

  • Our number one tip is to pre-cut, pre-portion, and pre-pack as many things as possible so they are easy to grab on the go. Pre-packed snacks such as nuts and dried fruit can be kept in a designated drawer or cupboard, while pre-packed fruit and veggies can be kept fresh in the fridge or freezer.
  • Another similar idea is to set aside some time on a Sunday to prep all your lunchbox snacks for the week. Simply place the daily portions into individual reusable sandwich bags. Some of our favourite snack ideas are pretzels, crackers, dried fruit, cheese, nuts, raisins or trail mix.
  • For snacks such as fruit and veggies, stick to easily packable options like cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, cucumbers, grapes, berries, and small apples.
  • Apples may be notorious for going brown in lunchboxes, but we came across this simple solution from easylunchboxes.com: Brush or dip the sliced apples in a little bit of lemon juice! This will help slow the enzymatic reaction which is responsible for turning sliced apples brown.
  • To encourage picky eaters to make healthier choices, keep things interesting by cutting your fruit and veggies into different shapes. This is an especially great idea for the little ones. For the adults, we recommend storing fresh ingredients in glass mason jars – not only will they look more appealing, but its also a more convenient way to enjoy a quick salad at the office.
  • Another way to make fruit and veggies look more enticing is to place them in small, colourful containers such as silicone baking cups.
  • Keeping fresh ingredients cool is another big lunchbox struggle, but the solution couldn’t be easier: use frozen yoghurt tubs or fruit salad cups! These are two convenient alternatives to large ice packs and they’ll be ready to enjoy by lunch.
  • As much as we love a good sarmie, they do become a bit boring after a while. Keep things interesting by trying other alternatives such as pitas, paninis, tortillas or taco shells. If sandwiches are an absolute must, slice them into squares and pop them on some colourful skewer sticks for a fun twist.
  • Because nobody likes a soggy sarmie… Spread a bit of Kerrygold butter on both sides of the bread before piling on other ingredients like lettuce, tomato, mustard or mayo. This will help keep the bread from going soggy before lunch.
  • Try to include a variety of options when building your lunchbox. As a good rule of thumb, always include at least one option from the following five groups:
    • Whole grains and protein e.g. tuna wrap
    • Fruit e.g. sliced apple
    • Veggies e.g. baby carrots
    • Dairy e.g. cubed cheese
    • Other e.g. mixed nuts
  • To make even the simplest of lunchboxes more special, print and cut out a couple months’ worth of lunchbox notes and place a new one in your loved ones’ lunchboxes each day.
  • Last but not least, invest in good quality lunch boxes with lots of compartments or some colourful silicone baking cups which you can use to create separate spaces for smaller foods such as cubed cheese, mixed nuts, raisins, etc.

Lunchbox Recipes

Next time you’re at a loss for lunchbox ideas, give these delicious recipes a go.

For something sweet:

For something savoury:

For something healthy:

***

Do you have a great lunchbox tip, trick or recipe to share? Please share it with us over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.