PACKING school lunches has proven to be quite the challenge – especially when trying to please the kids AND make sure they eat a nutritious meal.
And while bananas make a great healthy snack option, they can either end up mushy and brown if left for too long, or they can be too much for your little one to finish in one sitting.
If either of these scenarios ring a bell, then fret no more because one clever mum as found a way to stop bananas going brown throughout the day while still preparing her kids’ meals days in advance.
Posting on the Facebook group Lunchbox Mums, the mum shared photos of her clever hack alongside an explanation detailing her method.
She wrote: “Every time I post a pic of my kids lunchbox I get questions about bananas going brown – So I took these pics today. I cut up / made this lunchbox on Sunday night, (I make 2 days at a time) I leave the peel on but slit it down the centre and it’s still perfect inside. The ends go a bit brown but not too bad.”
And added: “She didn’t eat this at school today so this sat in her lunchbox all day with an ice pack.”
The photos show the mum had packed just half a banana into her child’s lunch box, but rather than cutting it up into pieces and risk it going brown, the clever mum had left the peel on but sliced the peel down the centre.
While she admitted the ends go slightly brown, the mum swears by this trick when preparing the school lunches days in advance as it allows the banana to stay fresh.
The trick proved popular for many, with one woman saying she used the exact same trick, while another provided another handy tip for keeping her bananas fresh.
She said: “Orange juice on cut banana stops it going brown. I cut mine to fit. Each of my girls get half a banana. I dip it in Orange juice and it’s fine.”
But some mums questioned her method asking why she didn’t just provide a whole banana – in particular the mini bananas sold in most supermarkets that ideal are for lunch boxes.
The mum responded: “She wouldn’t eat a whole banana. And I prefer less waste. If bananas came in half size I would definitely buy them haha.”
To which one person replied: “I’ve seen bags of bananas that are small and marketed for kids lunch boxes. Half the size of regular bananas”.
Whatever your preference, it seems there are multiple ways to keep bananas from going brown – whether it be for school lunches or otherwise.
In more lunchbox news, one mum reveals how she uses an ice cube tray to freeze leftover pizza sauce – so her daughter can have spaghetti & meatballs in packed lunch.
Meanwhile,this mum claimed she calms her three-year-old’s tantrums with “heart hugs”.
And this mum had the internet in hysterics after her kids ordered “extreme farts expansion pack” on Amazon Alexa.
