Tuna Nicoise (ish) Salad. This beauty of an idea sounds fancy, but with a little pre-prep can actually make lunchbox packing super easy and provide great balanced nutrition to get them through the afternoon. You can vary up the ingredients to what your little ones enjoy, too.

Ingredients:

• 1 x 420g tuna (ideally in spring water or olive oil), drained,
• 2 heaped tbsps good quality whole-egg mayonnaise,
• 1 x 200g punnet cherry tomatoes,
• 15 x pitted black Kalamata olives,
• 5 x hard boiled eggs (swap idea: leave out! Plenty of protein from the tuna),
• 1 x cucumber, sliced
• Wholegrain crackers, to serve
• (Also pictured: red onion slices, but these may be kept for the adult portion!)

Method:

At the start of the week:

Prepare all vegetables!

1. Hard boil eggs and leave them to cool, then peel.
2. Drain tuna and mix in a bowl with the mayonnaise.
3. Slice cucumber thinly

Transfer everything to separate airtight containers and store in the fridge. 

(Tip: store fresh cut veg in an airtight container, covered with a piece of wet paper towel to help keep them fresh)

When ready to assemble:

1. Add 1/5 of the tuna mix, tomatoes, olives and cucumber slices to your childs’ lunchbox, and top with 1 egg (halved).
2. Drizzle with a little olive oil and lemon juice if you like.
3. Pop in some wholegrain crackers (keeping separate to avoid them getting soggy) and you’re done. Protein, veg & grains all in one lovely, yummy, lunchbox.

Note: if using wholegrain crackers instead of potatoes, keep them separate (in a separate compartment or box) to avoid them getting soggy.