How to Lunchbox Like a Pro with Thermomix

Great news – school is back! Bad news – school is back, which means you’ll have to start making lunchboxes again! Ugh, I know. I feel you. I have two primary schoolers as well. But have no fear, Thermomix® is here, and I have some pro tips that will turn your lunchbox nightmare into a delightful affair! Let’s begin.

Think of lunch boxes as meal prepping and I have a secret formula you can follow in any order you like except shopping, which comes last. But make sure to use it to avoid buying more items or getting overwhelmed with cooking too many meals.

Meet the LISCS formula.

1. List: Jot down your kids’ favourite foods or what you want them to eat.
2. Inventory: Check what you already have in your pantry.
3. Search: Type those ingredients into Cookidoo® for recipe ideas.
4. Collection: Create a “Lunchbox” collection in Cookidoo and save your finds. You can even create separate collections for “Snacks” and “Drinks.”
5. Shop: Add the missing ingredients to your shopping list.

1. List: Kids’ list: pizza, meat barbeque, chicken nuggets, potatoes, gummy bears, smoothies, waffles, cookies, muffins, yoghurt, bananas, mangoes, orange juice. Mum’s list: vegetable, whole grains and high fibre, high omega 3 and protein food.  

2. Inventory: Flour, milk, yoghurt, banana, orange, chicken, potatoes, and butter. 

3. Search: Here are the recipes I can make with my current inventory. I’ve also added others that my family would love.

4. Collection: I’ve organised those to Lunchbox, Snacks, and Drinks collections.

5. Shop: I added the recipes to my shopping list and removed the ingredients that I already have.

When preparing meals during the school week, I always look at what I could make in advance to save time and effort each day. What do I mean by this? Let’s take waffles, for example. I make a batch of batter and cook only what we’ll eat for the day, storing the rest in the refrigerator to cook later in the week. Alternatively, I can cook them all at once, freeze the extras, and reheat them in the toaster, saving more time. Serving them with milk and fruits, and that’s breakfast done for that day.

This approach applies to many breakfast recipes that can be frozen or stored in the refrigerator for several days. If you have any free time at all on the weekend, it does not take so much time to get at least started on the basics like homemade cereals or granola, jams, healthy cookies and other staple snacks like bread rolls.

I follow the same procedure for proteins. If I plan to make two chicken dishes that week, I prepare and cook two portions of chicken breasts or thighs in advance, either by steaming in the Varoma or grilling in the oven. Dishes that need to be consumed immediately, such as barbecued chicken, are eaten on the same day of cooking. The remaining portion can be refrigerated and used for a salad or pasta later in the week. 

You can also prepare your cut veggies, like carrots and cucumbers, ahead of time and store them in a jar with water so they stay fresh and not wilted. This way, you do not need to cut veggies daily – even better if you have a Thermomix® Cutter – it’s one and done!   

This method can save significant time and prevent the morning rush and stress. It’s an excellent way to make preparing lunchboxes easier and maintain your sanity!

Now, let’s enjoy the cooking! Take a look at what a day of meals for a family of four: two working parents and two primary schoolers.

Kids: banana oat pancakes with flax seeds, walnuts, dried cranberries and strawberry milkshake. We’ve replaced the ice cream with Greek yoghurt and added some honey.

Adult: simple granola with honey, fresh fruits, yoghurt with orange zest on top and a spiced matcha latte replacing sugar with a date.

Kids Snack: fruit gummies and butter cookies (made in the Thermomix®) with fresh berries.

Adults Snack: sourdough with butter and mixed-berry jam, all made in the Thermomix®.

Kids and Adults: baked chicken nuggets and Jersey potato salad.

Kids and Adults: fish tacos using leftover veggies in homemade wholemeal flour tortilla.

Planning is the key to cooking on school and work days (I do this on the weekend while lounging around instead of doom-scrolling). It will keep you from being frantic and exhausted mentally and physically. Believe it or not, thinking about what food to make takes up so much mental energy. Please leave it to Cookidoo® and free up some storage in your brain. 

Be strategic in your recipe choices. Eating the same proteins (or other key ingredients) a couple of times a week is okay. You can keep it interesting by incorporating them into different dishes. 

Batch cooking is gold. I cannot overstate its importance enough. The freezer is your friend; use it. I even freeze smoothies when I make too much. When you batch-cook ingredients, you mostly assemble the meals instead of cooking everything each time. Can you imagine how easy your life becomes? Take a look at our “Easy Meal Prep YouTube Episode” if you need more convincing.

Finally, use your Thermomix® and Cookidoo® all day, every day, if you can. It has saved me from having many mental breakdowns in the kitchen—that is a fact. It gives me back my time and makes me a Mum cook extraordinaire, if I may say so myself. The whole family has gotten so used to a restaurant-quality meal because of it. 

I hope you found these tips helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments, and I’ll be happy to answer.

Happy Cooking!