As I have documented hundreds of menu plans on the blog, I can go back to a similar time of year and copy weekly menu plans and easily build a monthly plan in minutes. These plans are four to five years old and as such even come with the shopping lists I created in my now obsolete menu planning app – I loved that functionality! There are some meals in this month’s plan that I haven’t cooked in some time so that will be a nice change and there are plenty of kids favourites in the meals as they helped create these menu plans back then. If you are after more information on the process I use for ..read more

Chocolate and white chocolate chip cookies is a super easy cookie recipe that will be a hit with the kids. This recipe is versatile and makes 42 so perfect for the weekend bake up to make a sweet treat item for the lunch boxes. If your kids would prefer plain biscuits, omit the cacao powder. If they prefer dark chocolate chips, substitute those for the white choc chips. Print Chocolate and white chocolate chip cookies Course Snack Keyword biscuits Servings 42 Ingredients 250 grams butter 1 cup caster sugar 1 cup brown sugar lightly packed 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 egg 2 tablespoons ..read more

Some delicious fruit and veg coming into season at the moment! Melons are already flavour of the month for us! November Seasonal Fruit And Vegetables Fruits: banana, berries – strawberry, cherry, grapefruit, loquat, lychee, mango, melons – honeydew – rockmelon – watermelon, orange – valencia, papaya, pawpaw, pineapples – smooth – rough leaf, starfruit. Vegetables: artichoke, asparagus, avocado – hass, beans, choko, cucumber, lettuce, onions – salad – spring, peas – green – snow – sugar snap, spinach, sweetcorn, tomato, watercress, zucchini flowers. You can see a full list of seasonal fruit an ..read more

This post should have been up a couple of weeks ago! While I planned out our meals, converting them into a format for the blog, takes a little time and I could only get to it now! Better late than never . Below you will find some ideas for the kids’ lunches and our next four weeks of menu plans! Weekly prep ideas Of a weekend the minimum I like to prepare for the kids is: one savoury item for the lunch boxes one sweet item for the lunch boxes Here are some simple recipes for a sweet and savoury combo you might like to try: No back oat and choc chhip balls – a simple recipe using basic ingr ..read more

This recipe is quite similar to the popular Banana Oat Balls recipe on the blog. This recipe however makes more balls (30 – 34) so lasts a little longer across the week! They are easy to make and it is a good recipe to get the kids in the kitchen and help you with the school lunch box food preparation (just see tips for rolling). My kids describe them as having a similar taste to a muesli bar. All but one loves them. The other child doesn’t like anything oaty so didn’t expect he would eat them! No bake oat and choc chip balls   Print Author:: PlanningQueen Recipe type: Lunch box S ..read more

Over the 13 years I have had kids at school, I have tried many different lunch boxes. Some with great success, others that didn’t really work for us. Through out the testing, I have inevitably come back to some core essentials that I have used for the bulk of the school years with the kids. But different kids like different things and different schools run their lunch times differently, so I have included a short write up of the lunch boxes we have tested including the pros and cons. Some that didn’t work for us might still work for you! We have had all of these lunch boxes for over a year, s ..read more

Need some menu planning ideas? Then this post is for you! I have been menu planning for over 15 years and documenting a lot of it here on the blog for the last 12. You can see a whole range of menu planning ideas in my archives here. I have developed a very simple process to menu planning for a month and if you would like to try it out and have success with menu planning like 1000’s of others have, you can find the process and free templates to use here – The Planning With Kids Menu Planning Process. Below you will find menu planning ideas for November along with lunch box ideas for the kids ..read more

Lockdown lunches for the kids are one element of lockdown life that you can add some variety to! There is such a repetitiveness to lockdown life that even small changes like what the kids have for lunch can have a positive influence on how the day goes. I have put together lockdown lunch ideas for kids in two categories. The first has an emphasis on quick and easy lockdown lunch ideas for kids. The second category uses leftovers from evening meals where you make double batches of meals or make something extra on the weekend. These lockdown lunch ideas do require some pre-planning and work on ..read more

As I have documented hundreds of menu plans on the blog, I can go back to a similar time of year and copy weekly menu plans and easily build a monthly plan in minutes. These plans are four to five years old and as such even come with the shopping lists I created in my now obsolete menu planning app – I loved that functionality! There are some meals in this month’s plan that I haven’t cooked in some time so that will be a nice change and there are plenty of kids favourites in the meals as they helped create these menu plans back then. If you are after more information on the process I use for ..read more

Some delicious fruit and veg coming into season at the moment! Melons are already flavour of the month for us! November Seasonal Fruit And Vegetables Fruits: banana, berries – strawberry, cherry, grapefruit, loquat, lychee, mango, melons – honeydew – rockmelon – watermelon, orange – valencia, papaya, pawpaw, pineapples – smooth – rough leaf, starfruit. Vegetables: artichoke, asparagus, avocado – hass, beans, choko, cucumber, lettuce, onions – salad – spring, peas – green – snow – sugar snap, spinach, sweetcorn, tomato, watercress, zucchini flowers. You can see a full list of seasonal fruit an ..read more