CHILDREN’S LUNCHES

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 71, 17 December 1935, Page 4

CHILDREN’S LUNCHES

For Picnics in Warm Weather Here are some good suggestions for picnic lunches for children during the warm weather:— For summer lunelies a tin with tightfitting lid should be provided, in which salads and delicacies will carry well. Salads of some kind should form part of every lunch; crisp lettuce leaves will carry well if sprinkled with water and wrapped in grease-proof paper; beetroot can be sliced and sprinkled with castor sugar and a few drops of vinegar or lemon juice; celery must be soaked for some time in cold water before it is washed and wrapped up; scraped radishes and small tomatoes can be wrapped in damp serviettes. And a few gherkins or olives can be placed among the fresh salads. A small jar containing salt and pepper and a tiny jar of mayonaisse would add to the piquancy of any salad. AVith the salads could be packed small cubes of cheese and wholemeal or bran biscuits, buttered; rolls of buttered brown bread and a tin of sardines; slices of ham, sausage, or cold meat, and thin buttered bread; cold fried sausages and a tiny container of tomato sauce; hard-boiled eggs; meat pasties (these are delicious if home-made, with plenty of filling and only a little good crisp pastry); or—most intriguing of all—tiny moulds containing brawn or meat in aspic. Little egg and bacon, or veal and ham pies are always appreciated by children. One or two dainty cakes or chocolate biscuits, and at least one kind of fresh fruit would complete a lunch tin which would really be a source of interest. Shelled nuts and a quantity of raisins or dates, nuts and a quantity of prunes, may supplement a light, but sustaining lunch. Catering for children’s luncheons warrants more time and consideration than is usually given to it; the inevitable sandwich soon becomes monotonous, and if an adequate midday meal is not eaten by young folk away from home all day, and taking plenty of exercise, they are sure to resort to sweets and ice-creams, which lack some of the building properties so vital to health and development.