Product Description

In this indispensable book Annabel tackles the daily task of packing your child's lunchbox. Day in, day out, the contents of the box have to be tailored to suit your child's taste, create a balanced diet and ensure the food can be eaten in the limited amount of time that is made available. Having catered for her three children over the past 10 years, Annabel has packed more than 5000 boxes and so is ideally placed for passing on recipes as well as valuable hints and tips for easing your morning routine. Within this book there are: Ideas for quick, nutritious and attractive packages; Sandwiches, savoury specialities (which includes soups and salads); sweet surprises (cakes and cookies); fruity delights; dairy diversions and drinks. Recipes that assume there is only a limited amount of time for preparation and, where possible, show how they can be made in advance and then kept in the fridge or freezer. With additional yummy extras such as break-time extras and bite-sized foods, how will any child be able to resist the contents of their lunchbox from now on?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17290 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 64 pages

Review
'Annabel is truly amongst the best when it comes to creating tempting and nutritious children's food that would entice even the fussiest of eaters', Great Ormond Street Hospital .'The children's food guru', Daily Express .'The Delia Smith of cooking for children', The Guardian

About the Author
Annabel Karmel is a busy working mother living in London with her husband and three young children. She has written seven previous titles including the bestselling SuperFoods for Babies and Toddlers and Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner. She is a celebrity chef on BBCi, the BBC website and has contributed to the Mothercare.com site. She also writes for national newspapers and magazines including a regular column in Prima Magazine and appears frequently on radio and TV as an expert on children's nutritional issues.

Customer Reviews

Delicious Lunchboxes
I cannot think of the last time I bought a cook book and actually cooked so many of the recipes contained in it the results being absolutely delicious.

I will be recommending this book to everyone.

As for preparing the dishes in advance and freezing them...if only they'd actually reached the freezer! We managed to eat all 12 muffins before they even left the cooling rack.

Super sarnies, tasty treats!
A really good price for this gem of a book. I find it really hard to get decent ideas for sandwiches and lunches, and although this book is aimed at parents for their children (and gives you ways to get the kids involved), it applies to everyone.

There is a huge range of lunchbox ideas obviously, but there is something really key about them all. They're not boring- they appeal to kids and adults alike and stop endless days of ham salad. Since I got this book, I've made up a variety of fillings (some of them I've even been able to freeze to make a couple of days worth at once) on different breads including pittas and wraps (which I'd never thought of for sandwiches before), and it hasn't taken me much longer to prepare (although a little more shopping) but me and my boyfriend have both really enjoyed them.

Its made me feel like I've been having a truly balanced diet, because previously my lunches were all full of processed rubbish like crisps and chocolate. Now at least I feel like my sweet treats are helping my body a bit. I've only had the book for 2 weeks, so I can't say that I've lost any weight, but it has really cheered up my day.

The bottom line is that with clear instructions, colour photographs and at a good price, forget cookbooks, buy this 'inspiration' book.

Not much inspiration here
With my eldest due to start school in September, I took out 3 books from the library on packed lunches and this is the only one I decided not to buy a copy of. Its major failing is that it doesn't tell you what a packed lunch should contain -- ie one portion each of protein, carbohydrate, fruit, veg and dairy. The booklet that came with my daughter's lunchbag was more useful than this. At least it gave me 5 sample menus that I can actually use!

Some of the recipes look nice and having cooked from Annabel Karmel cookbooks before I'm sure they're tasty, but there's nothing really new or different here and not nearly enough vegetarian options. Also her ideas for making a packed lunch special are for the most part rather twee, such as cutting sandwiches into special shapes, an idea she repeats several times in the book. Teddy bear sandwiches might be fun for Reception but by the time most children reach junior school they're going to be too embarrassed to eat one in front of their friends!

If you're serious about coming up with new, varied and nutritious lunchbox ideas, I would recommend the other two books I looked at, both of which are more substantial than this in terms of recipes and nutritional information: The Healthy Lunchbox by Fiona Beckett and Quick and Healthy Lunch Box Planner by Catherine Atkinson.