As a mum, I know the prospect of my children going back to school next month means just one thing: what will I put into their lunchboxes?

I’ve been guilty of making variations of the same theme every day – cheese salad, hummus salad, avocado salad sandwiches – but a lot of the time the lunches just come home half-eaten.

To get my children eating their lunches, the best thing I found was to sit down and talk to them about what they would like to eat (within reason) and I promised I would try to give them a different lunch at least three out of the five days. The remaining two days would be a salad sandwich of some sort.

Here are some of our favourite lunchbox ideas. If you don’t have a bento lunchbox with dividers, you can use silicone muffin cases, which are the perfect size for most lunchboxes.

Sweet Potato Hummus

Hummus is so easy and quick to make – and the great thing is that it takes little or no effort. You can make up a batch of plain hummus and add pureed sweet potato, kale or beetroot, to increase its nutritional value. It is high in protein (so great for vegetarian children), and is a good source of iron and magnesium. In the lunchbox, add carrot and pepper spears for dipping, three oat crackers and a portion of fresh berries and water.

6 cloves garlic, skin on

400g tinned chickpeas

4 tablespoons tahini

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 tablespoons water

1 lemon, juice only

60g spinach

40g kale leaves

20g parsley

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC/350º/gas 4.

2. Place the garlic on a baking tray and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until soft. Then remove from the oven and pop the cloves out of their skins.

3. Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and process until the hummus is deliciously creamy.

Courgette and Cheesy Muffins

If you don’t have a mini muffin tin, then you need to get one quickly. Mini muffins are so great for children and can be packed to the brim with goodness. They are really great for portioning too, so one muffin for your baby and two to three mini muffins for older children. You can also switch up the ingredients in these muffins and add spinach, mushrooms or kale.

In the lunchbox, provide two courgette and cheesey muffins, a natural yoghurt with one teaspoon of honey drizzled over and some berries on top, with either diced chicken/turkey-seasoned chickpeas on the side.

320g plain flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

250ml whole milk

2 eggs

60ml rapeseed oil

1 medium courgette, grated

50g grated cheddar cheese

sprig fresh rosemary, leaves picked and chopped

black pepper, to season

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1. Preheat oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6.

2. Sieve flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. In a jug, whisk together the milk, eggs and rapeseed oil. Make a well in the centre of the flour and slowly whisk in the wet mixture until it forms a smooth batter.

3. Squeeze the grated courgette to remove some of the liquid before adding to the bowl, along with the cheddar cheese, rosemary, pepper and mustard. Give everything a good stir.

4. Spoon the mixture into an oiled mini-muffin tin or into muffin cases. Bake for 25 minutes until the muffins have risen and are golden brown – when you stick a toothpick into them it should come out clean.

5. Serve warm or cold. CL

Groove Festival is a family event in Kilruddery House and Gardens on 19 and 20 August, with 26 acts including Primal Scream, UB40, Hudson Taylor and the Hothouse Flowers. A wellness precinct will provide talks and workshops from more than 20 experts, including Aileen Cox Blundell, Roz Purcell, Derval O’Rourke and Oliver McCabe. The festival includes restaurant pop-ups, street food and a dedicated family zone with zorbing, climbing wall, archery and more. Tickets from €59.50 with children at €24.50, under 12s go free. For more visit www.groovefestival.ie.