Lola's Lovely Lunchbox with help from Hartley's

I remember being quite happy with a paste butty and a bag of crisps for a packed lunch back in the 70s when I started primary school, but today’s 'packed luncher' is a little more discerning and now that I have two children who have recently returned to packed lunches after some time on school dinners, I need to think about what they like and what is good for them. I also need to think about the ease in which the packed lunch can be put together, because, there is a small window of opportunity of a weekday evening between falling in through the door with a pile of marking and hurling what’s for dinner in the general direction of the oven when the packed lunch is made, packaged and placed in the fridge for the next day.

So, for me, it is a boon when I am able to place in my child’s lunch box something that has sweetness and is healthy, avoiding the need for something sugary, and a pot of Hartley’s Jelly is just the thing here. And whilst it might be just as easy to throw a piece of fruit in the lunchbox, having jelly feels like a proper pudding, and let’s face it, you could have the fruit and the jelly; Lola does!

And whilst I am looking for a lunch box that is quick and easy, I am looking for food that interests and engages my children, but doesn’t really impinge on a general shortness of time. It might mean using a bagel instead of sliced bread, or a particular favourite that I saw in France that Lola loves: ham and cucumber wheels:

ham and cucumber wheels:

Ingredients:

Two slices of bread (or, better, wraps which admittedly makes for an easier 'roll')

 sliced ham

Cucumber

Method:

Make the sandwich by putting the ham on to the bread, but then cutting the cucumber lengthways. Cut the cucumber quite thinly so that it will bend without snapping. You could also do this with a vegetable peeler, shaving off a couple of slices to put onto the sandwich.

Trim any overhanging filling if necessary, then remove the crusts if you like and cut into three ‘soldiers’

Roll up the soldiers in a ‘swiss roll’ action and secure with a toothpick (or if you wish, place all three on a longer wooden skewer, thus creating a ham and cucumber‘kebab’ and voila, a sandwich, but not as they know it.)

Or, when I am making some of the week’s meals on one of my get ahead Sundays, a frittata is a great way to avoid the uninteresting sandwich. Mostly, my frittata consists of cooked potato, bacon bits and some spring onions, encased in egg, though it can include any manner of sad looking vegetable, leftover ham that is lurking in the fridge. A slice of this instead of butty is a tasty, filling alternative.

And then there is the ‘play food’.  Lola’s regular ‘getting home from school snack’ was slicing a pepper and opening a tub of houmous. She even made it herself. This little snack now often takes centre stage in her lunchbox.

But, whatever you decide to start with, a jelly is a great way of finishing. And even better, In store from July onwards, Hartley’s will offer consumers the chance to collect 12 special edition green lids from across the No Added Sugar Jelly Pots (115g), to claim a free Hartley’s lunchbox and stickers.

Consumers can claim their exclusive lunchbox by heading to the Hartley’s website www.hartleysfruit.co.uk. Each one comes complete with a sticker sheet of Hartley’s much loved characters and a sticker alphabet for children to personalise their lunchbox.

This post is an entry for BritMums #HartleysYourLunchbox Linky Challenge, sponsored by Hartley’s Jelly http://www.hartleysfruit.co.uk/.