Knowing what to put in a school lunchbox can get overwhelming at times. This guide will help give you some tips to make things run a little smoother, and make sure your child’s lunchbox is balanced to fuel their body and brain through the day.
Dietitian’s Top Healthy Lunchbox Tips
Engage children/young people in shopping, cooking (i.e. once a week) and lunch packing. This can help introduce new foods and develop food skills and healthy eating behaviours.
Consider activity levels and lunch break activities. Finger foods may be easier to manage and can offer more enjoyment and independence. For example, cut up wraps, sandwiches, savoury egg muffins.
Offer new foods often alongside ‘safe’ or familiar foods. Children may need to be offered foods more than 10 times before accepting it. Do not assume that they do not like that food after only one or two attempts.
Encourage consistency with meals and snacks, include options for lunch and 2 snacks daily. Even when including sometimes items like baked goods, continue to provide usual balanced meal like a sandwich and piece of fruit.
Pack a water bottle daily, encourage water as main source of fluids.
When packing a healthy lunchbox, try to limit to two options. For example, let them choose between two types of fruit or two sandwich fillings. This can help guide your child, still give them choice and not overwhelm them with too many options.
Let your child decide what they eat from the lunchbox options. It’s okay if some food comes back in the lunchbox, just keep offering balanced nourishing foods and let your child decide how hungry they are on the day, it is completely normal for this to vary day to day.
Include a variety of foods from the core food groups (fruits, vegetables, meats or alternatives, grains, and dairy) most days.
Food Examples of what to Include in a School Lunchbox
Fruit
Fresh fruit piece (cutting up fruit greatly increases the chances of being eaten, fruit tubs in juice, puree fruit tubs, fruit salads.
Vegetables
Cut up carrot, cucumber, capsicum, snowpeas with hummus or cut cup cheese, savoury muffins or zucchini slices with tomato, zucchini and pumpkin, vegetable based soups (in a small thermos), sandwiches with coleslaw mix and beetroot.
Grains
Wholegrain or wholemeal wraps or sandwiches, wholemeal pasta salad, sushi, pasta bake, grainy crackers with dip or cheese, wholemeal English muffin mini pizzas, oat muffins.
Meat/ alternatives
Boiled eggs, frittata, BBQ chicken, baked beans, tuna or salmon patties, lentil or bean patties, falafels, leftover cut up meats.
Dairy/ alternatives
Yoghurt tubs, custard, dairy based dips e.g. tzatziki, cottage cheese or ricotta cheese on sandwiches and wraps, cheese with crackers or cut up veggies, mini milk cartons or mini soymilk cartons.
Don't forget all of these tips and ideas can also be applied to work lunchboxes too!
Troubleshooting for Boredom and Fussy Eating
Bored of the same options:
offer a range of colours,
different textures,
foods arranged in the shape of a face to make meals more exciting,
Get the kids involved, get them to choose a recipe to make for the week (free supermarket magazines offer lots of options).
Fussy eating:
consider your child’s preferences (separate vs mixed compartments, finger food, sensory variation at meals colour, textures to preference)
swapping cooked vegetables for raw or grated vegetables,
whole fruit for sliced fruit,
yoghurt instead of milk,
egg instead of chewy meat
provide two options for the child to choose from
We hope these tips give you some fresh ideas of what to pop in the kid’s lunchboxes, as well as how to provide a balanced lunchbox, covering all the food groups to provide the best nutrition possible for your child to learn, play, and grow.
*Please always make sure refrigerated products are kept at a safe temperature. *Please always make sure all textures and foods are age appropriate.