Life: School Holidays – Food

I think my children eat more in the holidays than when they go to school. I have no scientific proof, it is all anecdotal evidence, but… in the holidays it feels like I am constantly having to hand out crackers and cheese and the fruit bowl is forever empty…

Here are some ideas about how to keep on top of the nagging ‘Holiday Hungries’… Food should be fun and fresh: kids love that kind of thing… The key is to be prepared – very prepared!

NOTE:

• We don’t eat a lot of sugar in our house, so these ideas are low on sugar and healthy
• I don’t buy a lot of prepackaged things – we eat as much whole food as we can
• Get your kids involved in making the decisions about what to eat and how to prepare it and you will find them more excited about eating it! {Don’t quote me on this – all children are different!}
• Give your children the opportunity to help prepare meals – be safe with knives and things though…

Breakfast

• Buy a ‘treat’ breakfast cereal, one you don’t tend to buy normally. I let my children choose Nutri-Grain or Milo cereal {I will never ever ever buy Fruit Loops or the like – I am mean like that}
• Fresh fruit, yoghurt, a sprinkle of muesli
• Bacon and eggs  {bring it to the park if you are feeling brave!}
• Eggs: anyway you like them! I offer boiled, scrambled, omelette, poached and fried
• Pancakes

Lunch

• Salad and chicken pita pockets
• A little sausage sizzle with sauce and bread – usually outside
• DYO sandwiches, let the children build their own sandwiches – salads, cold meats, spreads
• Pita bread/split muffin pizzas
• Toasted sandwiches

Dinner

• Make your own hamburgers
• Turn your dining area into a pizza restaurant and have a pizza night – I will write a blog post about this soon – so much fun!
• Have a mexican feast – tacos, burritos, enchiladas etc.
• Rice paper rolls – find my recipe here
• Anything on the bbq that you can ring dad in to help with!

Snacks

• Popcorn
• DYO fruit kebabs – cut up fruit {oranges, apples, bananas, strawberries, pineapple} into chunks, give out kebab sticks or toothpicks and let your children create {I have been known to slip in some marshmallows too}
• Crackers and cheese
• Cold meat, cheese and some sao biscuits or cruskits
• Make some biscuits and then eat them – see recipes below
• Make some pikelets – eat them while they are still warm!
• Make smoothies with fruit, yoghurts and some milk

If you are stuck for cooking ideas here are some of my recipes you might like:

Ugly Pasta

Home Made Pizza – using a bread maker

Rice Paper Rolls

Condensed Milk Biscuits

Butterscotch Melters

Orange Drizzle Cake

Yesterday I wrote about the importance of Planning for the School Holidays…