Finding time to shop and prepare interesting and healthy meals for school lunches can stressful. But the foods we send to school with our kids can contribute up to 1/3 of their daily intake of nutrients.
So its important to pack a balanced lunch to ensure they’re getting the nutrients they need.
Things you need to know:
What is in a balanced lunchbox?
Pack the core 4 + 1 for active kids
- Main lunch
- Core snack
- Piece of fruit (seasonal)
- Water with an additional small reduced fat milk drink or 99% fruit juice (aim for <200ml serve) for added variety throughout the day
- +1 Extra snack for active kids
Add extra core snacks or one small ‘extra’ pre-packaged snack once a week.
Keep “occasional” foods such snack food bars, sweet biscuits, flavoured or coated popcorn and savoury biscuits and chips out of the lunch box. Although they can offer a practical convenient solution for lunchboxes, they should not replace the core snack and should be kept for special occasions. Avoid including the ones with added confectionery and opt for wholegrain varieties packed full of whole foods you can see with your eyes.
10-day lunch box menu.
Below are a few healthy lunch box ideas to inspire you year-round. We always recommend thinking of each lunch box in terms of the five food groups and making sure they’re all represented:
Dairy: the foods in this group are excellent sources of calcium, which is important for strong, healthy bones. Not many other foods in our diet contain as much calcium as dairy foods.
Fruit: fruit provides vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and many phytonutrients (nutrients naturally present in plants), that help your body stay healthy.
Grain (cereal) foods: always choose whole grain and/or high fibre varieties of breads, cereals, rice, pasta, noodles, etc. Refined grain products (such as cakes or biscuits) can be high in added sugar, fat and sodium.
Lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds: our body uses the protein we eat to make specialised chemicals such as haemoglobin and adrenalin. Protein also builds, maintains, and repairs the tissues in our body. Muscles and organs (such as your heart) are made of protein.
Vegetables, legumes and beans: vegetables should make up a large part of your daily food intake and should be encouraged at every meal (including snack times). They provide vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and phytonutrients (nutrients naturally present in plants) to help your body stay healthy.
