School Holidays: How to Stay Fuelled as a Family

Schools are out. The school run ends, packed lunches stop, and whatever was holding your family's eating together tends to go with them.

School holiday nutrition is one of those problems that sounds minor until you're in it. Guardians everywhere are looking for solutions to beat the chaos of rushing round parks, juggling activities and squeezing in a quick meal in between. These meals tend to happen when someone complains, snacks blur into lunch, and the weekly shop gets forgotten. Nobody's doing it wrong but the structure that made eating reliable just isn't there any more.

Keeping the whole family eating well doesn't need to be complicated. With a bit of planning and some simple meal prep, it might even be easier than the term-time routine.

Read on to find out about getting that structure back. Not rigidly, and not with a colour-coded meal plan. Just enough structure to keep everyone eating well and more importantly- keep you from losing your mind.

Why Timing Matters

During term time, the shape of the day does lots of heavy lifting. Breakfast before the school run, set lunch times, snack when you get through the door and dinner is fixed. Everyone knows what is due to happen and when.

Once this routine disappears: grazing starts, frequent unsatisfying choices start to build up, a balanced diet is no longer on the cards, and a pick me up is needed by 3pm. The breaks in routine mean families often lean on convenient foods, skip meals, or offer sweet snacks on-the-go. While there’s nothing wrong with some flexibility, this can lead to drops in energy and missed nutrients, leaving both kids and adults feeling tired just when you want to make the most of your days together.

The fix isn’t necessarily to stick to meal times like glue, but rather anchor two or three meals (a balanced breakfast, balanced lunch, a balanced dinner) and let everything else in between be flexible. None of this needs to be perfect. Holidays are busy, unpredictable, and enjoyable. Some days the plan holds. Some days it doesn't, and that's fine. A meal out, ice creams at the park, dinner later than intended - the goal isn’t perfection.

Breakfast: The Anchor That Holds

The BDA states that “a healthy breakfast is the perfect way to start your day” so it is worth getting right. Try to have a breakfast that includes wholegrains, protein, fruit, vegetables and healthy fats.

Try quick balanced combos like:

• Wholegrain toast with avocado and hummus
• Porridge with berries and seeds
• Overnight oats with seeds, apple, and nut butter
• Greek yoghurt/ plant-based alternative with oats and banana

On busier days where this seems impossible to make for the whole family, why not try grabbing a Huel Ready-to-drink for yourself. Huel Ready-to-drink is suitable for adults and children aged four and above. If you’re looking for guidance in children’s nutrition, speak to your GP/ a medical professional.

Snacking

Snacking isn’t the enemy, but endless unplanned sugary snacks isn’t the best. Research suggests that boredom can be a factor in snacking. We have a great article here that helps to explain this further. So when the kids run out of activities - it's a good plan to have some snacks to hand.

Similarly, when you’re busy running around and juggling summer activities, it's great to stay fuelled. Here are some quick snack ideas that are great for kids and perfect to keep in the fridge for snack emergencies.

• Fruit salad (chop up a big bowl on Monday- ready for portioning throughout the week)
• Oatcakes with nut butter or hummus
• Rice cakes, avocado and seeds
• DIY trail mix
• Cut up vegetable sticks (carrots, cucumber, celery)
• Homemade oat bars with seeds and dried fruit

For adults - the same logic applies. Having Huel to hand for a mid-morning gap can cover your snacking desires. A Huel Complete Protein shake or a Huel Complete Nutrition Bar can do the trick.

Lunch Planning

Meal prep ideas for the holidays don't need to be elaborate. Whip up a batch of pasta or grains at the start of the week, a few portions of soup in the fridge, or assemble wraps with whatever protein you have. The base is to have the building blocks of a meal ready so lunch becomes assembly, not cooking from scratch every day.

Staying Hydrated

Hydration for families during the holidays may be easier if it’s visible - ensure there is water out on the table with meals, and refillable water bottles brought out and left in sight when heading out.

Here is the EFSA recommended daily adequate intake of water from drinks across age ranges:

• 7-12 months: 640-800ml
• 1-2 years: 800-960ml
• 2-3 years: 1040ml
• 4-8 years: 1280ml
• 9-13years: 1520ml girls, 1680ml (boys)
• 14 and over: 1600ml women, 2000ml men

Batch cooking hacks

When it comes to evening meals, cooking in bigger batches helps to give future-you a break. Double up on curries, stews or traybakes and freeze extra portions. You can also try repurposing leftovers for lunch the next day.

A fun bonus is getting your kids involved in the prep tasks (washing, mixing, portioning.) This not only helps you out, but encourages them to try new foods and educate themselves on balanced eating.

That's school holiday nutrition sorted. Not perfect. Not rigid. Just consistent enough to keep everyone going.