Customer Reviews
Delicious! - By: Bookworm, 06 Jun 2008 
I am a huge Annabel Karmel fan & I buy alll of her books. I did enjoy this one, although I don't use the recipes for lunchboxes as my children wouldn't eat the suggestions for sandwiches, etc. They got teased by their friends for bringing "healthy" food to school, which was a real shame! They do like the items from the "sweet" section, though! I recommend this book to anyone who needs a bit of inspiration for making packed lunches as it is crammed full of delicious & mouthwatering recipes!
Lunchboxes. Easy and soooo effective - By: Asher, 07 Aug 2007 I have used this book to make Lunchboxes for my two children for the last 6 months & they are the envy of their classmates. I now find that I have to make extra so that they can share sandwiches, wraps, muffins & cookies with their friends. Interestingly the children with the crisps & chocolate biscuits prefer the contents of my children's lunchboxes. Favourites are the Tortilla Roll Ups with Chicken, Pasta Salad with Annabel's Dressing, Honey & Soy Toasted Seeds, Carrot & Pineapple Muffins & the Fruit, & the Fruit White Chocolate & Cereal Cupcakes (yum!).
Now even my partner is taking packed lunches to the office..
The great thing is they are alll quick & easy to make. It's the best £6.99 that I have ever spent..
Not much inspiration here - By: Alianor, 16 Jun 2007 
With my eldest due to start school in September, I took out 3 books from the library on packed lunches & this is the only one I decided not to buy a copy of. Its major failing is that it doesn't tell you what a packed lunch should contain -- ie one portion each of protein, carbohydrate, fruit, veg & dairy. The booklet that came with my daughter's lunchbag was more useful than this. At least it gave me 5 sample menus that I can actuallly use!
Some of the recipes look nice & having cooked from Annabel Karmel cookbooks before I'm sure they're tasty, but there's nothing reallly new or different here & not nearly enough vegetarian options. Also her ideas for making a packed lunch special are for the most part rather twee, such as cutting sandwiches into special shapes, an idea she repeats several times in the book. Teddy bear sandwiches might be fun for Reception but by the time most children reach junior school they're going to be too embarrassed to eat one in front of their friends!
If you're serious about coming up with new, varied & nutritious lunchbox ideas, I would recommend the other two books I looked at, both of which are more substantial than this in terms of recipes & nutritional information: The Healthy Lunchbox by Fiona Beckett & Quick & Healthy Lunch Box Planner by Catherine Atkinson.
Are you a supermum? - By: Lozza, 01 May 2006 because if you are prepared to get up on a weekday morning & start saute-ing some chopped chicken for your child's caesar salad school lunch then this is the book for you!!
Great recipes but not for people in the real world....
Delicious Lunchboxes - By: , 30 Jan 2004 I cannot think of the last time I bought a cook book & actuallly cooked so many of the recipes contained in it the results being absolutely delicious.
I will be recommending this book to everyone.
As for preparing the dishes in advance & freezing them...if only they'd actuallly reached the freezer! We managed to eat alll 12 muffins before they even left the cooling rack.
