Are you tired of seeing half-finished lunch box of your child? Are you running out of dishes to cook for them? Well, worry not. You are not alone. Every mommy out there has to face this challenge every day before packing their kid’s lunch box.
The challenge, actually, is not cooking, but it is cooking something that will make your kids finish the food and bring home the empty box. In this post, we present to you some exciting lunch box ideas that are not only easy to cook, but they’re also tasty and look attractive. These dishes will certainly grab your child’s attention.
So, get ready to be that super mom that your kids will simply love and boast about. Let’s see what these amazingly simple and healthy recipes are.
- Rava Dhokla Cheese and Almonds
Although, your kids do not know the names of the dishes you serve them, they definitely know the different shapes. They would love it if their food came in shapes they have learned, the cube-shaped dhokla being one of them.
We are not talking about the traditional dhokla, but the rava and oats dhokla. All you have to do is replace rice and chickpeas from the traditional dhokla with rava and oats. Also, add some vegetables such as carrots. - Potato Sandwich
Kids love potatoes, but that’s usually in the form of fries. How to get them to eat potatoes in a healthy way? Enter, potato sandwich. This is a simple recipe that can be effortlessly made during busy mornings.
All you have to do is make a mixture of mashed potatoes, chili powder, garam masala, chopped coriander leaves, and salt. Smear the mixture over bread, cover it with another loaf and toast it, either on a tawa or a toaster. Can it get any simpler? - Beetroot Rice with Broccoli
Children love colorful food, don’t they? Let’s surprise them with this easy-to-make red and green recipe; the red coming from the beetroots and the green from broccoli. Take cooked rice, either freshly cooked or from the previous day.
Add grated beetroot to it and stir fry. You can grate beetroot the previous day and keep it ready if you do not have time in the morning. Similarly, stir fry some broccoli as well. Place them in separate compartments of the lunch box so that the contrasting colors look attractive. - Rice Pakoda
Rice Pakoda is the best way to finish the cooked rice from the previous day. These are small rice balls which will definitely bring a smile to your child’s face when they see open their lunch box. Take cooked rice and mash it well, preferably with a ladle.
Now, add 2 cups of gram and rice flour each, a chopped onion, coriander leaves, mint leaves, red chili powder, and salt to the mashed rice. Mix them well to create a nice and firm dough. Make small balls, as you would make for normal pakodas and fry them until they turn golden brown. If you want, you can also send a sachet of sauce along with these delicious pakodas. - Vegetable Bread Upma and Cucumber
This is another tasty recipe that your kids will simply love. Basically, you have to make upma, but use bread pieces instead of rava (semolina). You can add vegetables such as carrots, beans, baby corns, green peas.
Although, adding vegetables adds to the nutritional value of the dish, it is completely your choice. Serve it with seasoned cucumber slices for something crunchy to go with the bread upma. - Raw Mango Rice
This lunch box idea is pretty much similar to the beetroot rice we saw previously. It is an easy rice preparation using raw mangoes, but gives you the taste like lemon rice. Heat oil in a pan and add some mustard seeds, urad dal, Bengal gram, red chilies, green chilies, and hing (asafetida).
When dal turns golden brown, add spices such as turmeric powder, salt, and curry leaves. Add grated mangoes and mix well so that the spices are nicely mixed with mango. Turn off the flame and add cooked rice. - Dates and Nuts Ladoo
This ladoo is packed with energy and richness which will keep your young one’s hunger pangs away for quite some time. This is an extremely easy recipe. Take some nuts such as almonds, walnuts, peanuts, pistachios, etc.
Heat them in microwave for about 2 minutes with stopping after 40 second-intervals to stir them. Add dates to this plate, and heat for not more than 30 seconds. While your ingredients are still warm, knead them into small ladoos. You can add desiccated coconut or choco chips for increased flavor. - Chapati Noodles
Noodles are loved by kids as well as adults. If you could come up with an idea to make noodles in a healthy way, won’t that be great? That’s why we present to you this delicious dish, Chapati noodles.
It is basically noodles, with the only twist being that the noodles are made from cooked chapatti. Chop the vegetables you would normally use for making vegetable noodles. Make soft chapatti or kulcha and slice them into thin long pieces. All other process remains the same as that for making noodles. - Paneer Bread Roll
This is a simple snack for your kid with the richness and goodness of paneer and green peas. All you have to do is saute some cumin, ginger garlic paste, green peas, red chili, garam masala, and salt till the green peas is cooked and the raw smell of the masalas go away. Add these ingredients one at a time; do not add them all together. Finally, add crumbled paneer and salt if required.
Smear this mixture on bread slices and apply corn flour paste on the edges of the bread so that the edges stick when the bread is rolled. The paneer bread roll is ready for your little one’s lunch box. - Mini Rava Idli
This recipe will be a welcoming change for your child as opposed to the pale white idlis we usually make. If you have a mini idli steaming plate, pour the rava idli mix to it.
You can use curd for fermentation. It would be a nice idea to throw some carrots in the mix too. After they are cooked, scoop the idlis out from the plate. Accompany it with sambhar or chutney.
It is extremely difficult to hold any child’s interest in food, especially if they are fed the same type of food time and again. Although you can prod them to eat while at home, when it comes to their tiffin boxes, you have no control on them.
That’s when these exciting lunch box ideas come into picture. They provide variety, invoking interest in the young minds. Get ready to see empty lunch boxes each day!!!