Is your daughter going back to school? This means you need to get back to packing school lunches, which we have to say is one of our least favourite tasks. But no matter how time-consuming it might be, we feel it's necessary to send our girls with a nutritious and healthy meal to fuel their bodies and brain.

The energy and time it takes to pack a healthy lunch daily can definitely be exhausting. So to help you out, we present some useful tips for packing your little girl's lunch box. We are sure that following these tips will definitely make your life easier!

1. Prepare Lunch Well in Advance

As much as possible, chop up vegetables over the weekend, wash fruit when you buy it, pack yogurt into individual containers or fill up bottles the night before. The more you prep in advance, the more likely you are to pack healthy meals and avoid the morning rush.

2. Make a Lunch Packing Station

To save frustration and time when packing your girl's lunch box, make a lunch packing station that has all of your lunch bags, lunch containers, napkins, utensils, and other suppliers together in one place. This could either be a cupboard, drawer, or even just a big basket you can bring to your countertop when it's time to pack.

3. Make Sure Your Little Girl’s Lunch Box Is Safe

You should use an insulated lunch bag with ice packs to ensure cold food stays cold. However, if you are planning to pack something warm such as soups, chili, scrambled eggs, or spaghetti, don't forget to warm up both the food and container.

Remember to discard any uneaten chilled food to prevent food-borne sickness.

4. Involve Your Daughter in Food Decisions for Her School Lunch

Involve your daughter in preparing their lunch in a way that's age-appropriate. For instance, if your daughter is young, you can ask her to portion things like trail mix or yoghurt. However, if your daughter is older, you can help her make her own wraps or sandwiches.

5. Think Outside the Sandwich

Sandwiches with lean, low-sodium deli meat are an awesome way to add protein to the lunchbox. However, if you have to break out of the sandwich rut, you can add other protein-rich foods to keep your daughter feeling full all afternoon.

Some of the options you have include hummus, Greek yoghurt, hard-boiled eggs, edamame, beans, cheese, quinoa, lentils, nuts, roasted chickpeas, tofu cubes, cottage cheese, and seed or nut butter.

6. Make Food in Bulk

When you have some spare time on evenings or weekends, bake a large batch of oatmeal cookies or wholegrain muffins and freeze in plastic zip-lock bags.

When you're preparing dinner, make extra that can easily work as your daughter's lunch.

Cooking in bulk won't just save you time when you're packing your daughter's lunch box; it will also add some excellent variety to the ordinary lunch choices.

7. Pack Bamboo Cutlery

Cutlery items are essential no matter what food you're packing in your girl's lunch box!

At My Little Panda, we offer bamboo cutlery sets for kids, which include a bamboo fork, bamboo spoon, bamboo straw, and a bamboo knife with a serrated blade.

The cutlery items are easy to grip and non-splintering. They don't have any varnish or chemical coatings, so they're safe for your daughter and the environment. Moreover, the organic hemp roll-up pouch keeps all the items together and is perfect for slipping in book bags or lunch boxes.

These cutlery sets are available in a wide range of cool and quirky designs, so you can choose one that your daughter likes best!

The best thing about this set is that it's customizable. This means you get your daughter's name or a sweet message engraved in the items!

8. Mix Things Up

Trying to pack a creative and different lunch every day can be quite draining. But kids do get bored of eating the same meal every day, so you have to do your best to mix things up! Some things you can do include:

• Think Snacks: If your daughter loves snacks, pack a "snacky lunch" for her. Instead of a main course like a big sandwich, pack tiny portions of various healthy foods. You can use a bento box makes to make this even more exciting.
• Add a Twist to Her Favourite Lunch: If your daughter loves Peanut Butter and Jelly, you could bake Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins, for example!

Last Few Words

We hope that these tips have given you the extra boost you need to make packing a healthy lunch box a breeze!