Seven Tiffin Box Ideas to Help Your Child Look Forward to Meal Times

Are you a parent trying hard to make your child’s tiffin box filled with variety, in an effort to make them eat something at least? Don’t worry. It is possible to pack simple yet tasty meals that your child will look forward to eating during tiffin time. 

Here is a meal pattern that has enough variety yet not overwhelming to the child: 

• One main dish.

• Chutney/dip/sauce needed to go along with the main dish.

• One side dish.

For the side dish, choose from healthy options that do not require cooking time. Nuts, raisins, makhanas, Gur Chana, cut fruits/banana are all no-prep options. 

For the main dish, stock on the basics required for the dishes mentioned here. Mix them with vegetables/sprouts/paneer to make a wholesome meal.

1. Idli Batter: Idli is a healthy food that a lot of kids love eating because it is simple in taste and convenient to handle. Plus, the recipe is easy. Two cups rice to one cup urad dal, soak them separately overnight and grind them in the morning and mix. Let it ferment outside for 7-8 hours (depending on the weather). Tada! Now you can plan multiple dishes with this batter.

                             a) Get an idli stand and make steamed idlis. 

                           b) Dice veggies into the batter and make vegetable uthappam. Onion, onion tomato, spinach, fenugreek, capsicum, cabbage. Basically any vegetable you can lay your hands on. 

                            c) Get an appam pan. Dice veggies into the batter and drop them into a well-oiled appam pan. Cook well on all sides. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside appams are ready! 

Once you know how to make idli batter well, you can replace the rice with other flours to try variations. Ragi, Jowar, Bajra, Brown rice, all work great and provide a variety of nutrients. 

2. Roti Dough: Methi, Aloo, cabbage, dal, paneer....the list is endless with stuffed paranthas. And kids love them with a little curd or chutney. Keep some roti dough and parantha filling ready at night. Stuff the filling, roll out and cook. 

Kathi rolls: Make thin roti/parantha, spread some chutney, add cooked vegetables/sprouts/paneer and make rolls. 

3. Rice-Based Dishes: For kids who love rice, there is a huge variety possible. Khichdi, pulav, fried rice. Add rice, vegetables of choice/mushrooms/sprouts/paneer/soya chunks, add herbs and spices of choice (I choose between jeera, cinnamon, asafoetida, clove, bay leaf, oregano, parsley, basil), add water and give 2 whistles. Vary the herbs and spices each time to make a new dish. You can also add puree of spinach or tomato instead of cut vegetables to make spinach rice and tomato rice. 

4. Pasta Based Dishes: Whole wheat pasta with vegetables can be a healthy and tasty meal. Boil the pasta till al Dente, cook and puree vegetables (you can vary between tomatoes, pumpkin, spinach and mixed vegetables). In a pan add some oil, mix the two, add seasoning and cook till the flavours blend into each other. Or saute cut vegetables and add pasta and seasoning. 

5. Upma/Poha/Dalia/Millets: Suji, Dalia, Millets, Poha mixed with vegetables and seasoning are great options. 

6. Savoury Muffins: A batter made with suji or whole wheat flour, mixed with vegetables and seasoning can be made into yummy savoury muffins and stored in the fridge. On days you are pressed for time in the morning, this can be a saviour as all you need to do is heat it up a bit and pack.  

7. Cupcakes: You can make a variety of sweet muffins like ragi banana muffins, whole wheat apple muffins, whole wheat mango cake, oats banana muffins etc. Make it with egg or eggless as per your preference. A sweet with healthy ingredients!

If you like the ideas above, be sure to try them with your little one!

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