Healthy Back-To-School Lunchbox - By Brent Sinclair

It’s the second week back to school, and while we love that our routine is in place, many of us already feel stuck for healthy lunchbox recipes. Inverloch 3996 sat down with Brent Sinclair to put together some healthy kids’ lunchbox ideas that are fun, easy, and practical.

It’s quite obvious, with a quick stroll down the perilous middle aisles of any supermarket store, that a lot of food marketing targets children—and not always with the healthiest options. Getting your kids to eat healthy food requires creativity with the lunchbox, so why not try these home-made creative ideas next week. 

Apricot Muesli Balls

Ingredients:
2 cups toasted muesli
1 cup dried apricots
¼ cup honey
60g butter melted
¾ cup shredded coconut
 
Method:

1. Place muesli, apricots, honey (warm), melted butter in food processor. Process for 2 – 3 minutes or until well combined.
2. Place coconut is a shallow dish. Roll individual tablespoons of muesli mixture into ball. Coat balls in coconut. Set aside in fridge for 1-2 hours before serving.

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Easy Zucchini + Rice Slice

Ingredients:
5 eggs
250g pkt microwave long grain white rice, cooked
¾ cup cheddar cheese, grated
2 zucchini, trimmed and grated
½ cup frozen peas
3 spring onions, chopped

Method:

1. preheat oven to 190C or 170C fan-forced. Grease and line 20cm square pan.
2. lightly whisk eggs in a large bowl. Add rice, cheese, zucchini, peas, and spring onions and combine. Pour mixture into prepared pan, smoothing top with a spatula. Bake for 30 – 35 mins, or until set.
3. Let cool in pan. Cut into pieces and wrap ready for lunchboxes.

 
Top Tip: can use other grated vegetables as well.

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Pumpkin Muffins

​Ingredients:
570g pumpkin, grated
5 eggs
¾ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
2 pinches of ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ ground ginger
3 tablespoon coconut oil melted
300g almond meal
1½ tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
 
Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160C and line a 12-hole muffin tin.
2. Combine the pumpkin, eggs, salt, garlic, onion, nutmeg, ginger, pepper, pepper, and coconut oil in large bowl. Add almond meal and baking powder and mix well.
3. Spoon mixture into the muffin tin and sprinkle the top with pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Bake for 20 – 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.

Remove from oven and cool slightly before removing from tin.

​The muffins can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

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Fruit in the lunchbox doesn’t have to be a boring … and these nude food lunchbox ideas prove it

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​Hearts & Stars Fruit Salad

You can serve this fun fruit salad with yoghurt, put it on top of pancakes, or just pop into lunchboxes with a fork. The kids will love helping to press out the shapes before eating them.
Ingredients

• 1 seedless watermelon, whole
• 2 punnets strawberries
• 2 punnets blueberries

 Method

1. Slice the watermelon in half and lay it cut side down on a chopping board. Carefully create thin slices and then use cookie cutters to cut your shapes. Place in a serving bowl.
2. Cut the tops off the strawberries and slice remainder. Place with the blueberries into a serving bowl. 
3. Gently toss and serve with a nice thick dollop of Greek yoghurt and a sprinkle of muesli.

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Homemade Apple Chips

These homemade apple chips are super healthy, and making them yourself at home will save money. It doesn’t get any simpler than this.
 Ingredients

• 4 Gala apples
• cinnamon

 Method

1. Preheat oven to 150°C fan-forced. Line two baking trays with baking paper and set aside.
2. Using an apple corer, remove cores. Slice into 2mm slices and lay on the baking trays. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
3. Bake for 2 hours, stopping after the first hour to turn the slices over. Cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container when cooled.

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5 MINUTES WITH BRENT SINCLAIR

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Brent Sinclair has been a foodie all of his life; he has a vision and mission to deliver world-class food using the best available produce from a range of local suppliers. Brent has a well-deserved reputation for presenting exceptional food that is both delicious and nutritionally balanced. Today he has proven his worth by inspiring us with lunchbox ideas for the kids. We wanted to know more about what inspired him to become a foodie in the first place…

1. What was your favourite lunchbox item as a kid?

I loved muesli bars, hence my remake with a healthier version such as Apricot Muesli Balls.  The challenge with a lot of lunchbox staples is that you don’t know the ingredients. However, when you make them yourself, you always know exactly what your kids are eating.

2. How can we keep our kids inspired with their lunchbox meals?

I think there is a lot of competition with supermarket store isles, but getting kids and people involved in the process always helps. If it’s not a veggie patch, it can be as simple as cooking together. Apple chips, for example, are super easy; and by involving your kids in the process, they feel that extra pride and knowledge in eating food they made themselves.

3. Do you think Australia has its own unique cooking/food style? If so, what stands out to you the most? 

Yes, Australians really love their fresh ingredients--good food, fresh, and local. In the Bass Coast region, many people have their own veggie gardens and love to cook things from scratch. This is really one of the healthiest ways to live.
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4. What would you eat for last meal on earth?

As a foodie, my tastes are changing all the time. To be honest, it would probably depend on the time of year: something fresh, delicious and seasonal.
 
5. What are the top ten ingredients that are always in your pantry/fridge?

This is a tricky one because, as you know, I've got a huge herb garden. So whereas most people would say buy garlic, onions, etc., I just have to walk outside and retrieve them at certain times of the year to get all my fresh herbs. It remains to have basic stuff on hand like olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, good quality Italian tinned tomatoes, flour, farm eggs of all kinds, various vinegars (balsamic, red wine, white wine, cider), various mustards, good quality butter, sugar -  in other words, the staples.

​6. What are the goals of your business?

• to be creative with a flexible approach
• to inspire our clients and be inspired by them.
• to support local produce
• to create a point of difference
• to be stylish, accessible, energetic, and passionate--all good old fashion values!

GET IN TOUCH WITH BRENT SINCLAIR CATERING