Disclaimer: We received a discount on these items but all opinions are our own.
About a month ago we got the terrible news that Erin’s nursery, and the school it was attached to, would be closing down and today is that day. Currently, Erin has a hot lunch for each of the 3 days she’s at nursery with pudding and fruit being available each day as well. with Erin being quite a fussy eater at home having lunches sorted 3 days a week was a real relief and I was so happy knowing that she was eating something different.
Erin will be starting at her new nursery in January but unfortunately they don’t offer hot lunches. Previously, we had to do packed lunches during school holidays but as it wasn’t very often it wasn’t such a big deal. Erin was allowed to have whatever she wanted for lunch as long as it was balanced and without too many unhealthy options and it always worked really well for us. Now though, the new nursery encourages healthy options and would prefer for things like crisps to not be included.
We have always used a Yumbox for Erin’s packed lunches and up until now we have used the Yumbox Classic and it has done what I needed it to do. Now though, having to do packed lunches 3 days a week for every week that Erin is at nursery means that I need more supplies to make the whole thing easier for everyone.
With the help of EatWell-UK we have purchased 2 new Yumboxes and a set of monochrome Stix to make Erin’s lunches more exciting and we were kindly sent a Montii insulated lunchbag as well.
Although we love the Yumbox Classic it doesn’t really work well for every day lunches. The compartments are all on the smaller side and it’s hard to fit in a decent sized sandwich. So, with this in mind we chose to go with the Yumbox Panino instead this time. The Yumbox Panino had 4 compartments inside with 1 larger compartment on the left hand side, 2 smaller on the right and 1 really small section in the middle.
Where we struggled before to give Erin a decent sized sandwich, roll or wrap for lunch we now have plenty for space for this. The larger compartment gives us space for making nice/ fun shapes sandwiches too and this wasn’t something we had space for before.
In the other sections we are able to put a couple of smaller options such as fruit, veg, crisps, yoghurt etc. but really the possibilities are endless. We’ll be showing Erin’s lunches on Facebook in the New Year so if you want some inspiration then be sure to pop over and give us a like!
Something Erin’s new nursery needed along with a packed lunch was an insulated lunchbag. The Montii Insulated Lunchbag is made from durable fabrics and comes with a self contained gel ice pack (it goes in a separate pocket) to ensure that the food stays as fresh as it should be. The bags come in funky designs and they have loads of room inside for everything a toddler could possibly need for a packed lunch.
To help encourage Erin to eat more fruit and other exciting new foods I decided to try Stix. We haven’t ever used these before but I think Erin will get excited about seeing her food in a different way. A pack of 7 monochrome Stix cost only £2.50 so they’re a great price if you fancy trying something a bit different.
I feel much more prepared to start doing packed lunches 3 days a week, every week apart from in school holidays. Now I just need some inspiration for what to put in them each day!
oh these look great, what a fab idea to keep little ones interested in their food. I know my girls prefer it when we make lunch exciting!