Danielle Galvin
School Lunchbox Dad, George Georgievski, was a little freaked out to hear he has something in the order of a quarter of a million followers across his social media accounts.
For your every day Geelong dad (in his words) he sure does know how to make waves with his creative school lunchboxes, down to earth style, and seriously inspiring recipes.
It’s impossible not to see the appeal: he is a dad with a vision to make lunchboxes healthy and easy to put together.
It’s that simple.
His new recipe book is all about his new obsession, the Air Fryer, which follows his first book, Lunchbox Express.
In Air Fryer Express, he’s got tips and tricks to get the most out of your Air Fryer, as well as 60 recipes for parents on the go, keen for quick, easy, healthy and delicious meals.
If you don’t have an Air Fryer, prepare to be converted.
There are pizza scrolls, heavenly bread rolls, cheesy balls – and the dinner ideas and bar snacks are truly nothing short of inspiring for those of us who bemoan dinner time and making lunchboxes every day.
As for Air Fryers – he loves them.
“They are not expensive, I just think the world of them,” he said.
“They are so versatile, multi-functional, time saving, economical, I reckon they are the way to go.
“If you want to reheat something – it’s like a third of the time – you don’t have to preheat the oven. It is so quick and the fact you don’t need oil – or you use very little oil.”
It’s fair to say the success of Air Fryer Express has taken him by surprise.
It became the number one cookbook on Amazon based on pre-orders alone, and his first book was number two at the same time – with people buying his second book at the same time.
Georgievski’s not a chef, he says, and has a full-time day job.
His laidback approach helps him too, he is a straight talker, self-deprecating, engaging.
It all started on his Instagram account, when he got sick of seeing difficult recipes that many parents wouldn’t even bother with.
And he wanted to make it as easy as possible to well, to follow the rules “eat a few veggies, and three fruit”.
He wants others to see what he does and think that they can do it too.
There are 30 pages of lunchbox inspiration to inspire even the fussiest of kids.
“In the past, when we were kids, we didn’t have technology to occupy us, so we’d burn off the rubbish we ate … now kids are so technology minded so we have to look after their intake of foods.”
On his Instagram account, you’ll find bento style lunchboxes, the ones he creates for his two girls each week, as well as cooking videos, instructions and more.
But his formula is simple: create wholesome, colourful, easy, delicious lunchboxes, and quickly. It’s not about how they look or spending hours baking.
He uses readily available ingredients, but he’ll put a spin on it.
There’s not a bland sandwich in sight, there are mini croissants, baguettes, scrolls.
“My daughter made those scrolls (that you see in the recipe book) and we made them together, she’s eight. That’s how easy it is.”
The success of his books and the fact he’s got followers from all over the world still blows him away.
“My daughter’s calculated (them), she’s like ‘dad you’ve got nearly a quarter of a million (followers)’ and I’m like ‘don’t, that freaks me out’, so I don’t look at the numbers anymore! I look at the messages I get and try to respond to everybody, just food related questions.”
Air Fryer Express by George Georgievski, Published by Plum, RRP $26.99, Photography by Nikole Ramsay
