Five quick and healthy lunch box tips
As school and work return for 2023, here are some simple tips to inspire nourishing lunch boxes for all ages!
Healthy lunchboxes can be fun, easy and tasty! Here are five simple tips. Original art by the incredible Beci Orpin (thanks Beci!).
Finding the time to make healthy lunchboxes can be a challenge, especially if you want your kids to actually eat what you pack.
While it can be frustrating, it's very common for kids to come home with half-full lunchboxes from time to time — especially if you're introducing new foods.
New foods can be a shock for kids and might take a bit of getting used to. It often takes at least 10 repeated exposures to a new food before a child will try it, so practise at home first. If you need a hand, here are some great tips.
As the new school term flies by, I’ve put together 5 tips to help keep lunches healthy, affordable and fun:
1. Prepare and pack lunch together
Making and packing lunch is a great opportunity to involve young ones. As Stephanie Alexander always says — if kids help grow, cook or prepare food, they’re more likely to eat it!
Have a discussion with little ones on what they like and get them chopping, mixing and packing from an age that it’s possible.
It’s also an important opportunity for parents and adults to role model. Engaging with food, preparing a lunchbox and packing a range of tasty foods in front of kids helps them to build healthy habits and develop their own food identity and preferences.
Packing a lunchbox is also an opportunity to explore the tasty world of food with kids. Asking them what they love, and which foods are their favourites. Tasting new foods and expanding their palates.
2. Include a frozen water bottle
If your child has water instead of a 300ml apple fruit drink at school every day, it could cut an enormous 45 teaspoons of sugar from their diet every week.
And water is (almost) free.
Better still, a frozen water bottle not only provides a refreshing and novel way to stay cool and hydrated but is also a great way to keep the lunchbox cold — an important consideration from a food safety issue.
Fill and freeze the bottle each evening ready for a chilled lunchbox the next day.
For something with added flavour, pop some berries (fresh or frozen) or fresh mint leaves in the water prior to freezing, for a colourful and tasty twist.
3. Find seasonal fruit you all love
A delicious banana, handful of juicy grapes or some strawberries can satisfy your child's sweet tooth, without the added sugar or expensive price tag of a snack bar.
Look for seasonal fruits to save even more money.
A great tip in summer is to freeze whole or sliced fruit for a quick and refreshing snack. Mango cheeks, grapes and plums are all delicious frozen. Batch prepare them the week ahead and freeze them in smaller quantities ready for packing.
It’s also a great way to use ripe fruit, with more flavour but that’s too soft for the school bag.
4. Dinner leftovers for the win
Leftover roast veggies, grains and homemade pizzas all make delicious and convenient sandwich alternatives.
Pack a thermos full of warm soup, or a vegetarian curry.
Using leftovers will save time and money — particularly if you batch pack a few boxes from a Sunday night ‘mega dinner’ for the following week’s lunchboxes.
You can also be assured that if the little ones love it at dinner, they’re likely to enjoy it at lunch too!
For a great and easy recipe, try this recipe for tasty quesadillas using last night's veggies.
10. Pack a range of colours! 🌈
We all eat with our eyes first — kids included.
Little ones can be attracted to colour so making lunchboxes colourful with fresh fruit and veg is more likely to captivate the attention and the appetites.
Think cherry tomatoes, grapes, strawberries and veggie sticks.
One of the key benefits of getting a range of colours and flavours into our lunchboxes is that a broad range of nutrients including vitamins and minerals will come too.
A diverse (and colourful) diet is also key to a diverse and healthy gut, which we’re more and more realising is critical for health on many fronts.
Great resources 🥪
This week is Healthy Lunchbox Week, from Nutrition Australia. Check out their website for more information from experts in the field.
Also head to the Healthy Eating Advisory Service and their Healthy Lunchboxes toolkit site!
Another great resource is this new guide from the team at VACCHO! Full of handy hints and tips.
