Healthy Habits in a Lunch box

Healthy School lunch box ideas

Healthy school lunch box ideas

My children get easily bored with the normal sandwiches with the curled up ends. One of my biggest challenges when it comes to school lunches is to been to find enough variety to keep them interested but which is healthy. We all read about childhood obesity being on the increase, and how important healthy school lunches are.

• Snacks and lunches with fruit and vegetables are good for concentration and learning
• Healthy eating can take more thought and preparation – share the load and get your children involved

A balanced healthy lunch box has six main elements

1. fresh fruit – e.g. apples, bananas, pears etc or tinned fruit in natural juice
2. vegetables – try some vegetable sticks with dips
3. dairy – e.g. slice of reduced fat cheese or a yoghurt
4. water and milk
5. a source of starch – such as bread, roll, pitta, or cracker. Alternatives include cold pasta or rice salad.
6. a source of protein – a slice of lean meat or beans

If you have time and your children want a healthy treat, snack or desert in their lunch box, home made muffins or cakes made with sultanas, banana etc are a good choice << See Healthy Lunch Box recipes >>

Seven unhealthy lunch box ingredients to avoid

1. crisps including “oven baked” savoury snacks which can be high in salt and fat
2. dried fruit bars – these can be high in sugar
3. some diary deserts – can be high in sugar or fat
4. chocolate, jam, or honey spreads
5. biscuits, donuts, cakes are to be left for special occasions
6. muesli and breakfast bars can be high in sugar, so choose carefully, read the labels and compare the different brands to find the ones with the least amount of fat and sugar
7. fruit juice, cordial, fizzy soft drinks, flavoured milk, flavoured mineral water, juice drinks, can all be very high in sugar and increase the risk of tooth decay

Food Safety

Your child’s lunch box is unlikely to be refrigerated while at school before lunch, so here are our tips for better food safety

• Use an insulated lunch box and a freezer pack. If you don’t have a freezer pack, you could freeze a small bottle of water or freeze a yoghurt to keep your child’s lunch cool
• Dairy products, eggs, sliced meats need to be kept cool and eaten within four hours of preparation
• Don’t pack just cooked food in the lunch box, cool it first in the fridge overnight

Severe food allergies
Consult the school if your child or other children have a severe food allergy. There may be a plan in place to notify parents and carers if certain foods are to be kept away or limited in the lunch box.

Try out some of our favourite healthy lunch box recipes << See Healthy Lunch Box recipes >>