How to pack school lunch for Nigerian schoolchildren. This Nigerian lunch box organiser includes one month of school lunch box packaging with images shot daily, which equates to 20 lunch box meals to serve as a guide as we rush the kids in the mornings.
Packing school children’s lunch boxes daily for three months multiplied by three terms yearly is not easy o.
But, can be simplified if parents/guardians know ahead of time what to pack for the kids. Time seems to run too fast in the mornings and thinking about what to pack early can cause delays, confusion, unnecessary stress, and lateness to school.
PREPARING for making school lunch AHEAD OF TIME
If you pack all these daily, before you repeat thrice, the term would have ended in ease. Having this lunch box meal plan helps us prepare very well ahead.
PLANNING A NIGERIAN SCHOOL LUNCHBOX TIMETABLE:
When planning or packing our kids’ lunch boxes, nutrition should be number one in our heads. The food has to be balanced because some kids eat better at school with friends and classmates than at home.
Most kids do lose some inches weight during holidays but gain it back when schools resume, why? because watching their classmates eat, makes them want to eat more, want to impress the teacher, and want to be applauded.
If the meal in the lunch box is balanced, the day is covered as some may not even be able to eat heavy again at home, after school. After nutrition, think about what your child loves to eat and pack more of that. It’s better for the child to come home with an empty lunch box than for you to empty a lunch box full of nutrition into the waste bin because even though what is packed is nutritious, it’s not what that chile likes to eat.
CAN WE REPEAT FOOD ON SAME WEEK? YES!
Very importantly, try to make the food attractive. If your child doesn’t like boiled eggs, you can serve them in a different form and the aim is achieved.
You can scramble and they’ll just eat. That doesn’t mean that you have to pack only dodo daily because that’s what your child likes.
You can actually repeat the food your child truly loves. If it’s rice, there’s nothing wrong with packing rice two to three times a week, like on Mondays, Wednesdays, and maybe Fridays while other foods are served on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
This school lunch box timetable/meal plan is dedicated to all mums who sweat it out in the mornings daily for years and still find time to freshen up before taking the kids to school, then work. E nor easy!
WEEK ONE NIGERIAN SCHOOL LUNCHBOX TIMETABLE ORGANIZER:
MONDAY:
Drinking water, Rice and stew with a fruit. I used bananas, snacks, and juice. This rice and stew are leftovers from Sunday lunch, so Monday school lunch box is never stressful at least for me.
Sausage pasta is easy to make in the mornings.
TUESDAY:
Drinking water, Plantain with – fish sauce, you can serve any sauce of choice or stew, a fruit, I used pineapple, snack and juice.
WEDNESDAY:
Sweet potato porridge with fish, boiled eggs, drinking water, a snack and juice.
THURSDAY:
Fried Rice with plantain, protein, snack and juice.
FRIDAY:
Noodles with boiled egg and a fruit, a snack and juice. On Fridays schools close early, so, we can do without snack and juice.
WEEK TWO NIGERIAN SCHOOL LUNCH BOX:
MONDAY:
Jollof Rice (Perhaps Sunday leftovers) a snack, fruit, water, and juice.
TUESDAY:
POTATO CHIPS (Fries) with ketchup and scrambled eggs. A fruit or vegetable, I used watermelon, snack, juice and drinking water.
WEDNESDAY:
Boiled macaroni with sauce, a grilled sausage (Protein), snack, water, and juice.
THURSDAY:
Plantain with scrambled eggs, fruit or vegetable, snack, water, and maybe juice.
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FRIDAY:
Fried noodles, protein, fruit, snack and perhaps juice.
WEEK THREE NIGERIAN SCHOOL LUNCH BOX ORGANIZER:
MONDAY:
Leftovers Sunday rice could be fried rice, jollof rice, rice and stew, rice with sauce, and so on. Heat and pack with a fruit or vegetable, some protein, and a snack.
TUESDAY:
Plantain with tomato stew, some protein, fruits… I served orange, snack, juice, and water.
WEDNESDAY:
Boiled yam (very Soft), with stew, proteins, fruit, snack, and water.
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| A snack doesn’t always have to be crackers like me. You can pack any snacks of choice, small chops, puff puff, biscuits, buns, meat pie, egg rolls, Etc. You can even pack a club sandwich for your child if that’s what the kid likes to eat. |
THURSDAY:
Jollof rice with proteins, snacks, water, and juice. Not three eggs oh. Those are egg halves.
FRIDAY:
Spaghetti with stew and proteins, fruit, snack, and water.
WEEK FOUR NIGERIAN SCHOOL LUNCH TIMETABLE:
MONDAY:
Sunday leftover rice, macaroni or spaghetti, protein, fruit, and drinking water.
TUESDAY:
Boiled yam (boil Very soft) with egg sauce, snack, fruit or vegetable, water. The dressing on that cucumber is my homemade Nigerian salad cream
WEDNESDAY:
Noodles with boiled eggs and fruits, snacks, juice, and water.
THURSDAY:
Fried spaghetti, protein, fruit, snack, and water.
FRIDAY:
Club sandwich (Made with mixed sardines, cabbage, carrot, mayonnaise etc) Snack, drink.
OR
Nigerian Jollof macaroni with vegetables… cucumber, snack, juice, and water.
Here is the recipe for my homemade salad cream that makes him clear all his cucumbers and salads.
EXTRA:
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| Spaghetti with stewed meats and grated carrots. |
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| Nigerian jollof macaroni. |
See Also: Boiled rice with vegetable stew.
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| Boiled rice with vegetable stew, protein, snack, water and orange. |
To make this green vegetable stew, you need less than 10 minutes.
INGREDIENTS:
1 bunch ugu leaves (Fluted pumpkin)
One bunch waterleaf
1 medium-sized iced fish (mackerel a.k.a Titus)
One cup palm oil
1 small size onion
2 seasoning cubes
1 teaspoon or more ground fresh pepper
Salt to taste.
DIRECTION: To make green vegetables for NIGERIAN SCHOOL LUNCH TIMETABLE
2. Add the washed and chopped vegetables, seasoning cubes, and pepper. Cover for about 2 minutes. Stir and check for salt. Cover to cook to your preferred green pot whether half-cooked or well-cooked vegetables is what you like, no wahala.
3. Stir very well and serve with boiled rice. Great for the school lunch box because it cooks really fast and easy. To serve in the kids’ lunch box, first, mix rice and vegetables very well on a different plate before emptying into the lunchbox.
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| Concoction jollof rice with sweet potatoes and sausages, packed with fruits, snacks, and water. |
There are so many foods not included in this Nigerian school lunchbox timetable. I just remembered moi moi, agidi (eko) with stew, and so on. We can pack those too.
Happy Lunch box packing!
Most kids love rice and there are so so many different rice recipes on this blog. See the rice recipes here.
On this Nigerian school lunchbox timetable.
NOTE: Some meals appear only in one week, that doesn’t mean that we cannot repeat a week’s plan the following week. We can! By the time you repeat this lunch box meal plan three times, the term is ended and you are resting and more relaxed in the mornings. Cheers!
My son doesn’t eat breakfast before leaving for school and he closes late, so I try my best to pack what can sustain him for that long.
NIGERIAN SCHOOL LUNCHBOX TIP:
Most kids do not like to repeat meals, so, if you want your child to eat their school food very well, avoid serving that as breakfast. Give them something light in the mornings, like bread with beverage/hot chocolate (Nigerian tea), biscuits, or a small piece of cake with Nigerian tea or just any food that’s not heavy. That way the food in the lunch box is first seen/tasted during the break as a surprise and they’ll enjoy eating.
Welldone mums and caregivers. This is how to pack lunch for Nigerian schools.