Scroggin or schmogle

My friend Sophie never leaves the house without a container of scroggin, and I've started to include it in the regualr lunch line up - it's great for those 'just in case you get hungry' moments. The best part is you can put just about anything into it and adjust it for fussy eaters. Basically it's a mix of any of the following types of food:

sultanas/raisins
chicknuts
banana chips
dried cranberries
dried apricots
dried dates
dried apple
corn chips

This is a nut-free list to get you started - obviously nuts can be added for non-school occassions. The scroggin can be kept in a sealed container in their backpack and topped up accordingly. And isn't schmogle a great word ;-)

Arggghhhh Breakfast!

I don’t know about you, but I find breakfast a bit of a challenge. Everybody wants to get up and have breakfast, nobody knows what they want, and when we do work it out, nobody seems very interested in eating it, but once we’re in the car and on our way to school, everybody is S.T.A.R.V.I.N.G! So this week we are trialing a new breakfast ‘format’. Each day there will be a different a breakfast, and each week will repeat the last – so the initial draft looks like this:

Monday is muesli
Tuesday is toast
Wednesday is Weetbix
Thursday is porridge (I know, it doesn’t flow)
Friday is French Toast

We’ll let you know how it goes!

...several weeks later: Well, the format is working and not working. Each morning they ask what day it is so they can remember what the corresponding food is and then they decide to have something else instead. Although I have to say that they are eating it all before leaving the house - so we're getting there ;-)

Lunch in the evening and Marketing 101 – from Laura

I asked Laura for a lunchbox idea and she sent me this:

The thing that is making my word spin a little smoother currently is to do the lunchboxes while I make dinner (or just as I’ve ladelled it out if it’s left-overs). Honestly, I used to worry that it may taste ‘stale’ if I didnt lovingly cut the bread 2 minutes before Lil’ Guy went out the door, but I’ve realised the benefits of the 5pm lunch box prep are enormous!

This week we are loving lebanese bread with mixed toppings, rolled tight, cut into ‘snails’, and also apple cake* with cream and twofruits in a tupperware pot. Mmm

Laura’s reference to ‘snails’ reminded me that sometimes getting children to try something new is all in the marketing – and animals are always popular!  

*This may not be the recipe Laura uses but I’m sure it would work.