5 Healthy Yet Tasty Recipes to Deal with Tiffin Tantrums – Tropicana!

Every morning starts off like a war- for me as a mother. There are so many battles to be won, but the biggest of them all is packing tiffin for my child. Well, choosing healthy yet tasty food that my daughter will actually eat and enjoy is no less than a battle. And on days I see an empty tiffin box, I feel like a winner.
I am sure this is not just my dilemma, but for many moms across the globe. I wonder if there is a way to overcome this challenge, completely. Every kid is unique so are his/her food preferences. Moms want their children to eat healthy and nutritious food yet they also need to satisfy their taste buds and sometimes eyeballs too. So, mothers need to be equipped with tiffin recipes which are easy to make, less time intensive yet healthy and tasty.
In the hustle and bustle of the mornings, kids hardly get time to finish a proper meal and moms get very less time to prepare their lunch boxes. So, it is very important that their tiffin is wholesome, healthy and something that they will love to eat completely yet that can be prepared with ready ingredients in less time.
Here are 5 simple tiffin recipes to make the morning battle a bit easier for moms and reduce tiffin tantrums.

1. Oats Idli:

Ingredients – Oats, vegetable oil, mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, chillies, coriander, carrots, turmeric powder, and curd.

Method of preparation –

1. Fry the oats in a pan till they turn brown and then make a fine powder in a mixer.
2. In a frying pan, add oil and mustard seeds. As they flutter, add Urad Dal and Channa Dal and fry till they turn golden.
3. Then, add chopped chilies (optional), coriander and grated carrots. Add turmeric powder and sautee for a minute.
4. Add the mixture mentioned in the 2 and 3rd step to the oat mixture with some curd. Mix them thoroughly till it comes to a consistency similar to that of idli batter, but do not add water.
5. Grease the idli plates and pour the batter. Either use a pressure cooker or a microwave to steam the idlis.

Voila! Your healthy meal is ready to be packed in your child’s tiffin!
Prep time: 40 minutes (but you can keep the batter or roasted oats ready and store them beforehand)

2. Bread Pancakes:

Ingredients – Bread slices, milk, grated onion, capsicum, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, ginger, green chillies, salt, chili powder, garam masala powder and coriander leaves.

Method of preparation –

1. Chop off the sides of the bread slices and soak them in milk for 10 mins.
2. Mix grated onion, capsicum, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, a little ginger, green chilies (optional), salt, chili powder, garam masala powder and coriander leaves.
3. Add milk to this mixture to make a fine batter. Then grease a hot non-stick pan with oil and pour the batter into the pan using a spoon. Put some oil on and around it and let it cook till both sides are golden brown.

A sinfully yummy and healthy tiffin is all set to be packed and taken to school!
Prep time: 20 minutes

3.Curd Sandwich:

Ingredients – Onion, capsicum, grated carrot, tomato, hung curd, salt, chaat masala, chilli powder, black pepper and oregano.

Method of preparation –

1. Add chopped vegetables like onion, capsicum, grated carrot, tomato to the hung curd. Make sure it is not too sour.
2. Then, add salt, chaat masala, chili powder, black pepper and oregano (optional). Apply a thick paste of this mixture inside the bread. Grease both sides with oil or butter. Then, grill in an oven, a sandwich maker or a tawa.
3. Cut them into triangular pieces and serve.

Prep time: 15 minutes

4.Bread Cup Pizza:

Ingredients – Bread, butter, onion, bell pepper, tomato, carrot, salt, oregano, and pepper.

Method of preparation – 1. Cut circular shapes from bread using a cutter or cookie shapes. Grease both the sides of bread with butter and put them in muffin cups.

2. Fill the cups with chopped vegetables like onion, bell pepper, tomato, carrot, etc. Add salt, oregano, pepper to the cut vegetables beforehand.
3. Then, bake them in a preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius for 15 minutes. Once done, take them out of the muffin cups and serve.

Garnish it with your child’s favorite topping and let it be a yummy-licious surprise for them when they open their tiffin!
Prep time: 20 minutes

5. Poha Tikki:

Ingredients – Poha, potato, ginger, onions, green chillies, coriander leaves, salt and chaat masala
Method of preparation – 1. Grind the poha in a mixer.

2. Add boiled potato, a little ginger, chopped onions, green chilies (optional), chopped coriander leaves, salt and chaat masala. Mix it well and make circular shaped balls like a tikki.
3. Heat 1 or 2 tbsp of oil in a pan and fry the balls both sides till they turn golden brown.

A filling meal is ready to put a smile on your child’s cute face!
Prep time: 20-25 minutes
These are easy to make with readily available ingredients and without much preparation time. You can always decorate their tiffin boxes with a few condiments so that it brings a smile on their faces when they open their tiffin boxes.
Don’t forget to add beverages and juices too. The new range of healthy and tasty juices from Tropicana essentials are the best choice for your child. Tropicana essentials IRON contains concentrated fruit juices like apple, banana, pineapple and so on. Being high in iron, vitamin A and vitamin C, just one serving of this juice is equivalent to consuming 100g of spinach. Tropicana essentials fruits and veggies juice come with the goodness of apples, carrots, and beetroots. Both the juices are full of nutritional values of fresh fruits and vegetables without any added sugar or preservatives. A pack of Tropicana Essential juice along with a healthy tiffin will ensure that your child gets all the necessary nutrients which are important for their growth and development. The taste has also been curated so that it is palatable for kids.
From a nutritional point of view, it is medically recommended to consume 5 servings of fruit and veggies per day, the average intake is only 3.5 creating an average deficiency of 1.5. Just 1 serving (200 ml) of Tropicana Essentials FRUIT & VEGGIES is equivalent to consuming 1 serving of fruits and vegetables thus helping to bridge the nutritional gap.
With healthy food and Tropicana Essentials juices, you can be assured that your child will be getting the required nutrition, which they might have been missing out due to a hurried breakfast in the morning or because they have been skipping their tiffin.
Hope these tips and suggestions will help in transforming tiffin WOEs into WOWs, both for you and your child!

Some snapshots from the Tropicana event in collaboration with Tinystep: