This post is an ad in association with Brennans Bread
I don’t know about your house but here we don’t go in for new beginnings with the dawn of the new year. I find myself so fatigued by the end of January by all these offers of new diets and new fitness routines, urgh, just not for me, I am more about moderation and healthy, sensible eating all year round. That said I do find January a nice time to reassess what we already do, life is busy and sometimes we find ourselves stuck in a rut when it comes to food and routines so it’s a good time to take stock and look at how we can be sure to be good to ourselves for the year ahead!
In the girls schools, and I think many schools around the country, the amount of time they get to eat their snacks and lunch is really short so that they get time to get outside for fresh air too. My ladies are dreamers and chatters so I always worry when, some days, a good portion of their lunches come back uneaten. So, in our house we have come to the conclusion that the girls (well actually all of us really!) have to be firstly set up really well for the day ahead with a good breakfast and then we try to make their lunches as filling and healthy as possible.
Firstly, when it comes to breakfast we don’t allow sugary cereals midweek focusing more on the filling, slow release foods like porridge and Weetabix. Lately I have found we started to get really boring and just gave the girls those two cereals on repeat. So, in an effort to mix it up and make sure that they are constantly open to new foods I’ve started to make a bit more effort with their breakfasts. My husband has eggs every morning to start his day so I’ve started making them scrambled eggs which actually take the same amount of time to prepare in the microwave as the porridge does.
Paired with a couple of slices of the Brennans Be Good Wholegrain or Wholemeal bread, which I personally love because for me it’s got less calories but it doesn’t mean the girls lose out on any nutritional element that they need so its bread for the whole family. I also like to grate some cheese on top so that the ladies have a healthy dose of calcium to get them ready for the day ahead.Depending on the morning (I’m only human, I like my lie in’s too!) I do like to get the girls involved in helping with simple things like putting on the cheese or cracking the eggs. In general, I think it’s a great way to develop a positive relationship between kids and the food they eat.
For the ladies then heading off to school we always send them off with a sandwich (well almost always, some days they have wraps but they’re creatures of habit so sandwiches are the big hit!). Again, we always use wholemeal or wholegrain bread because we want to make sure that what they do eat is filling and good for them. We’ve tried to mix up the sandwich fillings but to no avail, so it’s usually cheese for the middle lady and ham for the eldest.
My husband often ‘sneaks’ in the salady bits but they usually toss those out. He keeps adding it in so fingers crossed someday soon they’ll oblige him and eat their salad!What do you do to set the kids up for a good day ahead? Any tried and tested breakfast recipes that work for your house? I’m always open to more suggestions, it’s good to give kids a big variety of foods to try out.
We have awful trouble with the short breaks too, my daughter will eat healthy food but she’s a dawdler! I do think maybe we give her too much in her lunchbox too though, and when faced with a choice of fruit or sandwich she will always choose fruit so the sandwich is ignored. I’m with you on the “no resolutions” thing but like you say, it’s a good time to re-evaluate. Sugary cereals have definitely crept in here, and the offer of a “treat” for eating meals is something that’s become an everyday thing and I’m really not happy with it.