Nourishing Little Warriors

18/05/2024

Bread

Bread, delicious bread!

When choosing bread how do we choose the most nutritious option?
1. Wholegrains are best
2. Look at the amount of fibre
3. Notice how much sodium the bread contains.

Guidelines:
1. Wholegrains should be listed in the first few ingredients
2. Ideally fibre should be >7g /100 or at least 5g/100 if 7 is too restrictive
3. Sodium content should be

08/03/2024

Pack a nutritious lunch box with wholegrains, dairy, protein-rich foods, fruit, vegetables and water.

02/03/2024

Before we start going into each component that makes up a great lunchbox, I thought this may be helpful for a jump start.

https://lunchbox.healthyfood.com/winners/ -and-alternatives

The Healthy Food Magazine is a wonderful resource. It is written by Dietitians, has great tips & recipes. Can be found online or in any supermarket or newsagent.

Our dietitian did the hard work for you, analysing hundreds of supermarket brands to find healthy and tasty products that deserve a place in your lunchboxes.

23/02/2024

Ice Bricks

I’m very impressed with this ice-brick from MontiiCo. After 7 hours of being in the insulated lunch bag it still was frozen in the middle.(approx 1/4 of the surface area).
It was a 40 degree day for us today.

This is the medium size, it also comes in a large.

This would be really handy for eskies too

PS No ulterior motives; just a happy customer.

18/02/2024

Labels.

The labels from Bright Star Kids are my choice. They have a large range of design options & are really great quality.

Ensure your bottle & lunchbox are clean & dry before putting the sticker on

www.brightstarkids.com.au

18/02/2024

B.Box Snack, Mini & Lunchbox

18/02/2024

MontiiCo Bento 2 & 3

18/02/2024

Lunchboxes
Many online retailers are having sales at the moment so it's a great time to buy some lunchboxes if you need any spares.
My lunchbox choice is: Bento from MontiiCo. The ones shown are the Bento 2 & Bento 3; I also have the Bento 5 on it's way.
www.Montii.Co they are currently having 40% off on some of their lunchbox options.
B.Box a very popular brand, readily available from Woolworths & many online retailers.
Other lunch boxes that I liked the look of were the Nudie Rudie stainless steel lunchbox & the Go Green. They weren't the perfect fit for my bunch as they are quite large, heavier & more expensive; they do however look be amazing quality though.
Anna from Lunchbox Mini has a fantastic page & website, & does a lot of reviews & comparisons if you're looking for options for your family. I also found her reviews of insulated bags for the lunchboxes very helpful. Lots of inspiration to take from the lunchboxes that are packed.
www.lunchboxmini.com
I'm currently doing the Lunchbox Tribe course from One Handed Cooks, helping me be more prepared & more organised for the lunchbox packing. This course is currently closed but they will re-open it later on in the year if you are interested.
www.onehandedcooks.com.au

17/02/2024

Intro

14/03/2023

CARBOHYDRATES (CHO)

We are going to spend a few sessions discussing carbohydrates as they are so important in your child's lunchbox.

Carbohydrates should be the main component of your child's lunchbox.

There are two types of carbohydrates: complex and simple.
When looking under a microscope, a chain of carbohydrate looks like a long pearl necklace. The length of the necklace depends on what the carbohydrate is; it varies from many pearls to thousands.
examples include: bread, wraps, potato, sweet potato rice, pasta, grains, lentils, legumes etc

Simple carbohydrates consist of just two pearls.
Examples include: sugar, fruit, dairy, honey, syrups etc

Why are carbohydrates so important?
CHO get broken down into glucose. Glucose is the fuel the muscles, heart (because it's a muscle) and brain uses.

Kids need A LOT of fuel at school, they are constantly on the go & their brains are working constantly.

Complex CHO are digested slowly, provide sustained energy and are a really important choice to include in your child's lunchbox.

Fruit & dairy are wonderful additions to the lunchbox too. The protein in the dairy allows the CHO to be digested more slowly & keeps the tummy fuller for longer. The skin on the fruit provides fibre and therefore, also allows for fruit to be digested more slowly than fruit juice for example.

Have you given your child a fruit juice 'popper' or soft drink & they are bouncing off the walls or get the 'zoomies'? This is because the glucose is immediately released into the bloodstream & they have all this energy, it is very short lasting though. We will discuss fruit & dairy in future sessions

Next we will be looking at carbohydrate (complex) choices to include in the lunchbox. Stay tuned for ideas...

01/03/2023

What should you include in your child's lunchbox?

Kids are at school for a large portion of the day therefore are away at least 1 meal & 1-2 snacks. It's a great idea to include the following for a balanced nutritious meal.

- Carbohydrates
- Protein
- Dairy
- Vegies and fruit
- Water

Over the coming weeks we will be looking at each of these food groups & giving ideas of what to include.

The purpose of these posts is to give ideas, perhaps choosing some healthier alternatives but I completely understand kids have their own minds too & they will eat what they want to eat.

I am at the 'Let's give you a nutritious lunchbox’ stage and not an 'Instagram' worthy lunchbox stage. I have a colleague who is a graphic designer & dietitian & her kids lunchboxes are rather spectacular, she was getting some 'dislike' posts as others felt she was setting the bar too high. It's not a competition. Everybody is absolutely doing their best where they are at, with what they have & the time that they have available. So the pictures I will provide are to provide ideas; it's absolutely not to make anybody feel guilty. If you are creative & your kids get to eat your creativity; well done parent, if you are providing a less creative but nutritious lunch box; well done parent!

I look forward to sharing some ideas with you in the coming weeks.

27/01/2023

It has been a while…

During my hiatus we welcomed our new baby girl & I’ve been spending my time nourishing her, as you can see from the photo it has been time well spent.

In Australia, school starts for many students on Monday & Miss 4 is now a pre-schooler.

I hope you’ll join me as we explore all things to do with lunch boxes.

For pre-school I know it’s important for the kids to be able to open & close their lunch boxes by themselves. I have decided to go with a morning tea snack box & a separate lunch box.

For Master 2, I use a different system that fits into a cooler bag.

What lunch box do you use?