How to stop sliced apple from going brown

Hi I'm Abbey, a university qualified nutritionist and I'm going to take you through how I pack my daughters nutritionally balanced lunchbox. I always include something from each of the 5 food groups (fruit, vegetables, protein, grains, dairy).

To begin with I always think about what protein I am going to include first. It is often the most difficult food group to include in the lunchbox and one I often see missing altogether! Where possible I try and save some protein from dinner. Last night we had a BBQ so I have saved a sausage for Miss 5's lunchbox tomorrow. I just slice it up for the lunchbox. If there is more leftover sausages I freeze them in small snap locks bags which I can pull out of the freezer when ever I am in need of a lunchbox protein.

The next food group I will include is fruit. I actually should have done this one first as I am slicing up an apple. I always pack my daughters lunchbox the night before and apple will go brown unless I soak it in salt water. So I just get a small bowl of water, put a few twists of salt in and let the sliced apple soak in the salt water while I am putting together the rest of the lunchbox.

Next is dairy - my daughter loves yoghurt. The lunchboxes I use are leak proof so I have tried just putting the yoghurt in a section of the lunchbox but it is quite messy especially when it drips off the lid when opening and closing, so for now until my daughter is a bit older we'll stick with the yoghurt pouch. Tamar Valley and No Added Sugar Aldi Australia brand are both good options.

I like to pre-chop some veggies over the weekend, I've done some carrot and capsicum sticks which saves so much time when packing the lunchbox.

And finally the last of the food groups is grains. Today I am using my most favourite grain serve and that is my Savoury Muffin - lots of grated veggies and and made on wholemeal flour. I always have some in the freezer and just put one in the lunchbox frozen to defrost in the fridge overnight. The recipe is in the highlights section of my Instagram page.

Then it's time to rinse off the apples, dry with paper towel and add to the lunchbox.

So there you have it another nutritionally balanced lunchbox with something from each of the 5 different food groups.

See you next time

Abbey xo