The chaotic daily breakfast routine is in full swing. One child is doing her last minute school reading out loud in between mouthfuls of cornflakes. While the other has decided that he will now only eat fruit for breakfast. He says, “Sports candy is all that Sportacus (off CBeebies’ Lazy Town) eats.” Meanwhile, the baby is busy tossing marmite soliders to the dog lying under the high chair. They are totally oblivious to their mother barking, “Eat up. Put your coats on. Have you brushed your teeth?” Finally, once everyone is ready, strapped into the array of car seats, a small voice says, “Mummy, where’s my lunch box?” The deranged mother then tears back to the kitchen to frantically rummage through the larder, spread pieces of Hovis Best of Both, cut off crusts and slice cheese.
A friend tells me there is an art to the preparation of a lunch box. “You have to be well-organised and put a menu planner together at the start of the week. I cook a few good wholesome dishes in advance which they have cold in their lunch box each day,” she says. However, such military-style planning may be too much for some.
According to recent research, one in five parents in the UK include ciabatta and focaccia in lunches while three per cent include sushi and smoked salmon. Most parents I know in Dorset would not go to this extreme, but some do trawl supermarket aisles searching for novel healthy snacks. Whether it be yoghurt covered cranberries, organic fruit sticks or even olives, there is pressure to steer clear from the vast array of crisps and chocolate biscuits that most children long for. Every afternoon, we are told about the contents of other childrens’ lunchboxes. “Sarah had Smarties and James had Monster Munch today.” Eventually, we decide that Friday’s lunch box can contain a few treats - funnily enough it comes back looking as if it has been licked clean.
Perhaps we do need to get more organised and plan ahead, so our mornings are less fraught. But I will not be replacing sandwiches with sushi.
