Lunchbox for kids

Menus for week 2:

Monday

French crêpes filled with sweet potatoes and spinach curry, or roasted red peppers and goat cheese; tomatoes cherry; pear with cinnamon and dried almonds

 Tuesday

brown rice topped with a stew of tofu, chickpeas, celery and carrots, steamed sweet potatoes sprinkled with sesame, apple and homemade granola (made with oats, dried apricots, shredded coconut, almonds, tahini, coconut oil and fruit sweetener)

Wednesday

homemade veggie burger (lentils, brown rice, onion, garlic, basil ant tomato), raw chestnut mushroom and fresh mango

Thursday

leftovers of Wednesday's veggie burger (this time shaped as mini-balls), quinoa and cauliflower gratin (with coconut milk), pear, almonds and dates

 Friday

Fish pie mix (from sustainable or organic source- white, salmon and smoked fish), steamed potatoes, French beans, pear and homemade cocoa cookie (with butter)

Voilà for week 2!

As you can see I always use the leftovers (if not eaten at dinner) and try to incorporate them in a new way. I never throw food away. No waste please, I hate that:)

You can find all my bento shared on Instagram under the hashtag #melimelobento

Lunchbox for kids

At the beginning of this month, our son has started to go to school, and I started to pack a lunch for him, 5 days a week.
Although here in the UK, lunch is free at school the first two years, I prefer feeding him with my own organic cuisine:)

I have been sharing his daily bentos (japanese-inspired lunchbox) on my Instagram feed, and I will give you more details of the process here:

To be successful (read consistent and organized and effectively doing it every day), I plan the weekly menus in advance (before I do the grocery), and then I stick the menu list on my fridge so I can check the day before what I need to prepare for the next lunch.

Planning the menus, I try to have a balanced diet on a weekly basis. Because sometimes I want to pack more sugar, or meat or gluten, and I just can't make the "ideal" lunch everyday.

I do my best to cook from scratch, with fresh organic ingredients and possibly seasonal. I also avoid refined sugar.

As I explained in my about page, I am not an expert in nutrition so, please, don't take these ideas as "ideal" healthy lunches.I don't even know if an ideal diet exists. It depends on your knowledge, beliefs and where you're living geographically.

Anyway,  I think my cooking style is decently healthy because we avoid processed foods, we eat organic (vegs, fruits, meat, bread, grains, EVERYTHING), and we avoid refined sugar. But of course, there is always room for improvement, and if you have any advice, please don't hesitate to leave a comment!

For today, I am sharing the menus of week 1:

Monday

french beans, homemade pizza with roasted aubergine and peppers, tuna and goat cheese, grapes

Tuesday

wholemeal couscous (and rest of pasta) with red peppers and soy/sesame oil sauce, cheddar and breadsticks, black olives and chocolate soy yogurt

Wednesday

maki sushi (brown rice) with omelette, cucumber, camembert and tomatoes

Thursday

mashed potatoes, organic sausages, steamed carrots with sesame seeds, apple and rhubarb compote with cinnamon

Friday

roasted sandwich (cereal and wholemel bread) wih ham and camembert topped with garlic and mushroom, hummus, cucumber, dates, almonds and grapes

Tip: When you plan your menus, keep in mind what your kid usually has for breakfast and what you plan to have for dinner, so you can balance the three meals together

You can find all my bento shared on Instagram under the hashtag #melimelobento