Back-to-school inspiration: what top chefs and food writers put in their childrens' lunchboxes

For many parents, the phrase ‘back to school’ elicits a feeling of both relief and dread. Days spent trying to entertain the children with trips to horrendously overcrowded places are to be swapped for early-morning traffic, an endless PE-kit washing cycle, and the lunchbox conundrum of ‘can I pack them a cheese and Marmite sandwich four days in a row?’

While we can't alleviate the stresses of the school run, we can certainly provide lunchbox inspiration, gleaned from some of the country's best chefs and food writers.

Having asked them what they pack their children for lunch it seems that, across the board, simple is best. So, just because your mum runs a top-notch London restaurant, it doesn’t mean you’ll be getting roasted quail sarnies every day...

NADIYA HUSSAIN

Great British Bake Off winner, TV chef and cookbook author 

“My kids are fussy, in the sense that they really like variety. They don't enjoy seeing the same lunch in their box week after week. As creative as I would like to be, on a morning all I want is to know they are being fed well. So, I have a list of three varying sandwiches and snacks going through Monday to Friday and I rotate the list on a week-by-week basis. It gives me the opportunity to see what they like, and if they really hate something I can just scrap it and put something new in.

"They always have a large bottle of water. And there is always a sandwich, with lots of cucumber and lettuce to bulk it out. We go between things like plain salad sandwiches to smoked salmon, roast chicken, sardines, tuna and egg. I like to keep things interesting by trying different types of bread like pitta, bagels, wraps and flatbreads. It makes a sandwich feel a tiny bit different, even though it’s the same filling.

"We always pack some crackers in a pot (because nuts are not allowed at school), and a piece of fruit - plums and bananas are their favourite. But for the end of the week when the fruit bowl needs topping up, I like to give them dried dates and apricots instead.

"I always give them a little note in the box saying ‘I love you’, or a joke or simply a smiley face.”

Nadiya's sausage rolls

Who doesn’t love a sausage roll? I certainly do. These are extra special, as they are cheesy! They taste great warm but are lovely when cold too.

MAKES

12

INGREDIENTS

• 320g ready-rolled puff pastry

• 2 tbsp tomato ketchup

• 6 of your favourite kind of sausage

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• 50g mature Cheddar cheese, finely grated

• Salt and pepper

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 200C fan/gas mark 7. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.

2. Remove the pastry from its packaging and roll out so it's slightly thinner. Cut out 6 equal squares.

3. Brush each square with some ketchup. Season with a little salt and pepper.

4. Snip each end of each sausage and carefully peel the skin off, keeping the sausage shape.

5. Pop a sausage onto a square of pastry, then roll it up in its pastry blanket. Brush the end of the pastry with a little beaten egg and press the seam down.

6. Using scissors or a knife, cut the roll in half. Pop both rolls on the prepared tray. Repeat to form the rest of the sausage rolls.

7. Cut a couple of slashes in the top of each roll, then brush with more of the egg.

8. Sprinkle with the cheese and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Tip: You can replace meat sausages with veggie ones if you like. There’s not usually skin to remove from vegetarian sausages, so just skip that stage in the method.

Nadiya’s Bake Me a Celebration Story is out in hardback on 20 September (Hodder Children's Books, £14,99). Nadiya will be appearing at the Bath Children’s Literature Festival this October

DIANA HENRY

Cookbook author and Sunday Telegraph food writer

"I envy those mums whose children who will eat anything. Mine would only have the most basic things in their lunch boxes so it was basically either tuna or ham sandwiches and a small tub of cut-up fruit.

"They always had cheese too - a chunk of proper cheddar, not Cheestrings. I did like sending them off with a Thermos of pasta with bolognese sauce in the winter, though. I always had it mixed and ready and just had to reheat it in the morning before they went off to school. And I put as many vegetables into this (diced carrots, celery and sometimes pumpkin) as I could.

"To drink they always just wanted water and they’re still like this; they both hate fizzy drinks and only have fruit juice at breakfast. Putting their lunchboxes together might not have been a very creative exercise for a mum who is a food writer, but I was always happy that they were eating well across the whole day."

CLAIRE THOMSON

Author of The Five O'Clock Apron and The Art of The Larder

"Lunchboxes tend to switch between soup in a thermos with a bread roll in the winter (I’ll always make extra soup in the winter, for packed lunches, quick suppers and working lunches sat at my desk), or in summertime a cold noodle salad or my pea ‘pesto’ to serve cold as a pasta salad.

"More pedestrian lunchbox offerings might be a cheese, marmite and cucumber sandwich with a piece of fruit, some raw pepper or some radishes and maybe a muffin for pudding. I batch-bake muffins during the week and freeze the muffins to keep them fresh to defrost each morning in the lunchbox; they keep super fresh this way. The chocolate and rye muffin below is a favourite."

Claire's green pea pesto

SERVES

Four

INGREDIENTS

• 400g frozen peas, defrosted

• 100g creme fraiche

• 1 small bunch of fresh mint, leaves roughly chopped

• ¼-½ clove garlic, crushed (to taste, remembering how pervasive raw garlic can be)

• Squeeze of lemon juice

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• Handful of freshly grated parmesan, plus extra to serve

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 300g dried pasta (orecchiette or conchiglie would be my preference)

METHOD

1. Pour the peas into a wide, shallow bowl and cover with boiling water.

2. Drain the peas once softened; they don’t need to be hot.

3. In a blender, or using a stick blender, blitz the peas with the creme fraiche, mint leaves, garlic, lemon and olive oil. Pulse the mix - it is nice to have a bit of texture and for it not to be too homogenous. Alternatively, reserve about a third of the frozen peas and add them whole to the whizzed mass.

4. Once blitzed to the desired consistency, add the grated parmesan and season with salt and pepper.

5. Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Drain.

6. Put the pea sauce into the pasta pan and stir over a moderate heat for 30 or so seconds to take the chill off. Add the cooked pasta, mix well and serve with extra parmesan.

Claire's chocolate, sour cream and rye muffins

MAKES

10-12 muffins

INGREDIENTS

• 125g dark rye flour

• 125g plain flour

• 80g cocoa powder

• 2 tsp baking powder

• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

• Good pinch of either ground cinnamon or ground cardamom

• ½ tsp salt

• 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk

• 200g caster sugar

• 125 vegetable oil

• 350g sour cream or creme fraiche

• 200g dark chocolate (or milk chocolate if you prefer), chopped

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/gas mark 5.

2. In a bowl, mix together the flours, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarboanate, spice and salt.

3. Using an electric mixer beat the eggs, yolk and sugar together until pale and thick. Add the oil and beat well to incorporate.

4. Using a spoon or spatula, add the sour cream and mix to incorporate.

5. Add the dry ingredients and mix to incorporate; don’t over work the mixture from now.

6. Add three quarters of the chopped chocolate and mix lightly.

7. Pour the mix into well greased muffin tins and top with remaining chocolate pieces.

8. Cook for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 170C/gas mark 3½ and cook for a further 5-10 minutes until a skewer comes clean when inserted into the centre of the muffin. Cool in the tin for at least 10 minutes before removing.

9. Stored in a tin, these muffins will keep well for three days. Alternatively, freeze on the day of baking and defrost as needed.

ANNA HANSEN

Owner and head chef of The Modern Pantry in London

"I think it’s best to keep it simple for lunchboxes, and in my experience that’s what kids prefer, too. I often make a little extra at dinner and give my daughter leftovers, which she really likes; things like mince and mash, or a roast salmon fillet. My daughter is a huge fan of tomato soup, so I’ll often batch cook some and freeze it, and send her off to school with a flask of it. She also loves hummus (she'll eat by the spoon full) and cucumber sticks as a snack."

Anna’s easy tomato soup

INGREDIENTS

• 1kg tomatoes (any variety, just use the ripest you can find)

• 1 large onion

• 2 gloves garlic 

• ½ bulb of fennel 

• Decent knob of ginger 

• Olive oil, for cooking

METHOD

1. Halve the tomatoes and roughly chop all the other veg.

2. Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6.

3. Place everything on a baking tray with a good slosh of olive oil (other oil such as veg or coconut would also work) and season with salt and pepper. Cover in foil and roast for about 30 minutes.

4. Remove the foil and place back in the oven for a further 20 minutes, so all the veg begins to caramelise. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Place everything in a blender and blitz. This will make a very thick tomato soup, so it when it comes to reheating add a little water to thin.

MILES KIRBY 

Co-founder and chef director of Caravan restaurants in London

"I have two boys, Eli and Marlon. Eli is currently the only recipient of a school lunch and when offered the option of having a school lunch made by the school or a home-made version, he opted for the school-made version. Interestingly, he also opted for the vegetarian school lunch option, mainly because each day he is given a sticker to identify him as a vegetarian child. Stickers are a huge motivation for a five-and-a-quarter-year-old child.

"During the school holidays, my wife, Renee, and I often found ourselves packing a lunch in preparation for a day out or a trip to an activity. A go-to staple has become the corn, pea and cheese fritter. We pack them with peas and corn, add loads of cheese (any left over veggies from a previous night's dinner also goes in such as carrots and broccoli), bind them with egg and fry them in coconut oil. They are great eaten that morning, but are equally delicious when eaten cold the next day.

"Alongside of these - always fruit, always a sandwich and often a yogurt, often some dried dates or figs. It is a little hit-and-miss with two boys. Marlon either wants the exact same lunch as Eli or will demand the exact opposite. We manage this by mixing up the order in which we serve the courses."

Miles's pea, corn and cheddar fritters

MAKES

20 fritters

INGREDIENTS

• 300g sweetcorn

• 200g frozen peas 

• 3 free-range eggs

• 25ml milk

• 75g plain flour

• 75g grated cheddar

• Coconut oil for frying

METHOD

• Mix the sweetcorn, peas, eggs and milk in a bowl. Sift in the flour, then add the grated cheddar and mix again.

• Heat a little coconut oil a frying pan on medium heat and add spoonfuls of the mixture. Fry the fritters, three or four at a time, for three to five minutes until cooked through, flipping half way. Once cooked, drain off excess oil on kitchen paper and either serve them immediately or leave them to cool before packing them in the lunchbox.