During your child’s life, you will pack approximately 2500 lunch boxes, now is the perfect time to build lifelong healthy eating habits for the school environment. Good nutrition doesn’t just help your child grow optimally – it can also lead to great learning outcomes.
Top 5 tips to building a healthy lunchbox:
1. Always pack fruit and veggies
- Aim for seasonal fruit and vegetables with different textures.
- If using canned fruit, be sure that this is in natural fruit juice and not syrup to avoid unnecessary sugars.
- Most children are consuming enough fruit; however, vegetable consumption is alarmingly low in Australia.
2. Avoid pre-packaged foods where possible
- Avoid crackers with flavouring and aim for wholegrain varieties.
- For economical and easy made snacks try some air popped popcorn with dried fruit, pikelets or crackers and cheese.
3. Keep it simple and safe
- Kids love fresh raw vegetables over cooked vegetables, add raw snow peas, carrots, cucumbers and whole cherry tomatoes.
- Ensure that food is carried in an insulated lunch bag with cool brick to keep food fresh.
- Most schools are allergy aware, check with yours and avoid high risk foods such as peanuts and tree nuts.
4. Practice a healthy lunch box before school and make it fun!
- Role play with your child prior starting Kindy to ensure they can easily open and close their lunch box.
- Let your child choose some fresh lunch box items from the shop and home.
- Kids love cut up vegetables and fruit, try cutting up different sizes, shapes and mix it up.
5. Don’t forget, water is the best choice for drinks
- Ensure their water bottle is clean, full and kept cool (especially in summer).
