BACK TO SCHOOL, BACK TO LUNCHBOXES

21 Apr

I love the school holidays. I love having my children at home more (note: this is not without its juggling act, all be it nowadays, just that little bit easier as they are that bit older). But I’ll be honest, what I also take enormous delight in is the break from making packed lunches every morning Monday to Friday during term time. My eldest daughter, Grace is now 18 and from the age of 2 ½ yrs attended a preschool where you had to take your own packed lunch as there was no option of catering. Two more daughters, Ivy and Dot at the same preschool, then primary, highschool, now 6th form college for Grace, and sixteen long years later, means that I have now assembled more packed lunches than I care to truly imagine.

Over these years, I have hard boiled eggs, I have made hummus, I have bought hummus, I have wrapped and rolled so many different types of sandwiches, I have packed pasta pots, cut vegetables to size, I have baked pizzas at first light (madness), I’ve dressed all types of noodles and I’ve warmed many, many thermos flasks in the wintertime, kettle on for that first cup of tea, radio on and still in my pajamas. I am a packed-lunch-making machine; a conveyor belt of lunchboxes, all packed and good to go in 3 separate lunchboxes before 7.15am. Then the breakfast shift begins, also spelling test practice, last minute science homework, “where is my hairbrush?”, “where is my p.e kit?”, “where is my piano book?” - delete where appropriate!

With this in mind, and remember, I am packed lunch making tornado, I have no hesitation here in issuing a stark warning; if you are prepared to undertake the years-long-slog that is making packed lunches then you will definitely need some help. Whether you are at the very beginning, when hard boiled eggs were an easy and inexpensive option, or perhaps in your middling years of packing lunches, or even, dare to imagine, or at a point when your kids and teens pack their own lunches, I am here to help. Over the years, and with my phone in hand, I have sometimes posted a quick snap on my instagram stories of what I have assembled for my kids to take to school that day. Someone will always, always comment, “recipe please”, which I take to read as “HELP ME!”

I asked my 15 year old daughter Ivy to help me come up with these suggestions for original lunchbox ideas for this new series on my website. I tend to always run recipe ideas past my three kids for things like this. They are the best at quick voxpops and I am lucky to have such an opinionated resource in them as my recipe writing soundboard. Especially now, with years of practice in recipe ideation and recipe testing, these three girls are practically pro. 11 cookery books in, and with many more recipes posted on my instagram page, my kids have had enormous input, and impact, on thousands of my recipes.

Here are 6 new packed lunch recipes. Of course, there are 100s and 1000s of other options out there on Planet Packed Lunch, these are just some of our current favourites. All recipes have been road tested in recent school lunchboxes and I love that my youngest daughter Dot will almost relish the more out-there lunchbox options as her most favourite. I am also very thankful, though to be honest, this is something I have ‘trained’ them in, that some of the best lunchboxes are made from leftovers from the night before. A big wedge of spanakoptia, to eat cold for lunch is my daughter Dot’s number 1. packed lunch. Surplus pasta or pulse and grain based dinners can be dressed again with yet more olive oil or citrus or yogurt, more herbs or cut veg to become a lunchbox salad of sorts. Make a big batch of spiced beans for dinner, save some and then rework these beans the next morning fried in a wrap as a quesadilla or chimichanga (honestly, as quick as making a sandwich), maybe with some extra cheese. Over the years, and only if you’re game, this type of packed lunch offering will become second nature.

A final word from me, the topic of school dinners is complex and emotive. My kids attend state school, this is important, and over many years I have given this topic a lot of thought; the nondiscriminatory issue of statutory school dinners and banning packed lunches altogether was mooted, also more generally, packed lunches Vs school dinners and those who can and do bring lunchboxes and those who can’t and have to have school meals, for many and various reasons.There was even the one year when my husband and I volunteered to cook school lunch for 500 pupils at my daughter’s primary school. We opted for a vegetarian menu to save on the cost of buying meat and then be able to buy better quality ingredients. We are both chefs, so this wasn't too mad an idea, and the lunch was enormous fun to cook for, the children all engaged and a brilliant bunch to feed. I really thought we could be part of the change (like many other chefs and food writers who have also attempted, some with more success than others). We didn’t get further than the one lunch, which we did to prove a point to the school provider, that better could be cooked for the same amount of money, ultimately we both work full time and the exercise was fairly fruitless. To close, and very much in my opinion, if school dinners run as a business with profit making at the core, food standards will always be squeezed. It shouldn't be like this. There should be a clear and fair provision for all children to be fed well in U.K schools.

And in the meantime, here are some packled lunch ideas from Ivy and me. There are many, many more over on @5oclockapron instagram for inspiration but you’ll have to scroll as there are so many! As for these recipes, make them your own, use them, riff on them, you have my blessing. Power to you and your lunchbox years, I still have a good few left to battle through.