Becoming plant-based: part 2 - plant-based lunch box ideas for the family

By Vivienne & Poornima, Co-Founders of Plantier

In part 2 of this series, we provide some suggestions for plant-based packed lunches for children, and even yourself. Parents are often faced with the daily struggle of packing lunch for their young, and even older, children. These lunches need to be easy to make but also satisfy the taste buds. This can be a challenge, and we get it. So here are some easy recipes that can be made quickly, easily, using simple pantry ingredients. Some handy tips are to creatively use leftovers from dinner the night before, and to make larger batch quantities of staples like rice and pasta to be stored in the fridge, ready to use for a quick meal. Also, using a thermos helps to keep the food warm.

Sandwiches and Wraps

These are often the most appealing to children as they are easy to handle, and very easy for a parent to put together in the morning rush. Ensuring these sandwiches are plant-based, healthy and substantial are also easily achievable with these quick ideas. The below recipes use bread but can easily be adapted to wraps by replacing the bread with tortilla wraps. Place the ingredients on the wrap, roll and cut into two.

 

Spinach grilled cheese sandwich

Ingredients:

Handful of baby spinach, washed and finely chopped

Slices of wholewheat bread

Plant-based cheese, grated  (we use Violife, available in many supermarkets)

Plant-based butter (we use Naturli’, available in many supermarkets)

 Method:

  1. Spread butter on the slices of bread.

  2. Place cheese and some of the chopped spinach. Cover with a slice of bread.

  3. Grill on a pan or sandwich toaster with butter on both sides until cheese has melted.

  4. Cut into squares/ triangles and pop them into the lunchbox.

 

Hummus and cucumber sandwiches or pita pockets

Ingredients:

Cucumber, sliced thin

Slices of wholewheat bread or pita pockets

Homemade or store-bought hummus

 Method:

  1. Spread hummus on the slices of bread or inside the pita pocket.

  2. Place cucumber. Cover with a slice of bread.

  3. Cut into squares / triangles and pop them into the lunchbox.

 

Nut butter and jam sandwiches

Ingredients:

Nut butter of your choice

Jam

Slices of wholewheat bread

Method:

  1. Spread nut butter on the slices of bread.

  2. Add jam if desired. This is optional

  3. Cut into squares / triangles and pop them into the lunchbox.

 

Mushroom quesadillas

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil

1 cloves garlic, crushed

100g button mushrooms, sliced

Violife plant-based cheese, grated

1 whole-wheat wraps

 Method:

  1. Heat the oil. Add mushrooms. Cook until soft and dry.

  2. To assemble, put the mushroom mixture on one half of a wrap, add grated cheese and fold over.

  3. Warm up on a flat pan to melt the cheese and make the wraps crisp.

  4. Cut into 4 wedges.

  5. Pack in lunch box.

Rice and Pasta

For those days when you have rice or pasta left-over from the night before, or if you have a few extra minutes, these easy rice and pasta recipes will give the young ones a substantial and nutritious lunch. If packed in a thermos, they can even stay warm. Although fresh pasta cooks in only a few minutes, it does contain pasteurised egg so opt for dried pasta.

Carrot fried rice

Ingredients:

1 tsp oil

1 small carrot, grated or cut into small cubes

½  cup of cooked and cooled brown or white jasmine rice (use leftover rice from the night before)

1 tsp soya sauce or to taste

Salt, to taste

 Method:

  1. Fry carrots in the oil.

  2. Once the carrots have softened, add rice and soya sauce. Mix very well. Adjust salt by adding more soya sauce or salt to taste.

  3. Serve in a thermos or lunch box.

Easy pomodoro

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

1 carton / can of chopped Italian tomatoes

½ tsp of fresh or dried basil

Salt, to taste

Boiled pasta, boiled following instructions on the packet

 Method:

  1. Fry the garlic in the olive oil.

  2. Add the tomatoes, salt and basil. Cook on low to medium heat for about 10 minutes until tomatoes are very soft. You can leave the sauce as is or blend using a hand blender if preferred.

  3. Add the boiled pasta and heat through.

  4. Serve into the thermos or lunch box.

Variations: Add grated zucchini or chopped red pepper to the tomatoes for added vegetable intake.

Veggie pesto pasta

Ingredients:

2 heaped tsp dairy-free pesto (we use Urtekram)

1 tbsp frozen peas

1 tbsp frozen sweetcorn

Boiled pasta, boiled following instructions on the packet

 Method:

  1. Add the peas and sweetcorn to the pan of pasta during the last few minutes of cooking.

  2. Drain the water through a sieve / colander and put the pasta back in the pan.

  3. Add the pesto and stir until all the pasta is coated.

  4. Serve into the thermos or lunch box.

Variations: Replace with any vegetables of your choice. Can be served warm or cold as a pasta salad with cucumber, pepper and tomatoes.

Mixing it up

We hope this has given you some ideas for the constant challenge that is the lunch box! There are so many food bloggers out there who have recipes for sandwiches, wraps, salads, soups and the list goes on. Pinterest in particular is a great source of visual and recipe inspiration, it takes the hard work out of thinking of new ideas, so get pinning.

 

Vivienne Robinson