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School Lunch Ideas For Kids: Planning Tips, how to pack a lunchbox filled with goodness

“Apprehension” | “Exhaustion” | “The tiring routine” | “Food isn’t eaten” These are some common comments I hear from parents around this topic.

“Apprehension” | “Exhaustion.” | “The tiring routine” | “Food isn’t eaten”

These are some common comments I hear from parents around this topic. However, it really doesn’t have to be so hard. Lets try reframe our perspective and see a lunch box as an opportunity to provide our children with the food they need to sustain them through the school day so they can play, grow and learn and be functioning at their best potential.

Did you know by the time your child finishes Primary school alone, your child would of eaten from their lunch box approximately 2500 times. That right, that’s a lot of lunch boxes.

If your school lunches are feeling a little old and on a repeat here are some of my best lunch idea’s straight from my home. Below I will include a few tips to make the process more efficient and less daunting. If you want to see my Instagram page I will be aiming to post 2500 lunch boxes over the next 8 years !

In my experiences working with a diverse group of children I have found that school lunches tend to go either very well or not so well.

The reason being some personalities thrive with the social interaction of eating and possibly eat more than they do at home.  While other personalities are easily distracted during lunch time, and rather play and interact and not eattheir lunch. 

Some children fall into both categories meaning some days if you pop a less preferred option in their lunch box at school they will eat it, while other times if a preferred or favourite food is put in the lunch box it may not be touched. So how do we navigate this dilemma.

Tip 1: Include 5 food groups to ensure a balance of nutrients and food types.

The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating shows the proportion of these 5 food groups we should eat everyday to be healthy. 
 
I recommend that a lunchbox for all school age children and adults to include all the five food groups:
  1. Vegetables
  2. Fruits
  3. Grains: mostly whole grains
  4. Meat and meat alternatives ( legumes, beans, eggs, tofu, lean meats, fish
  5. Milk and milk products.
Each day a child will need:
Recess: avoid packing snack food if you can. Choose recess options from the five food groups to boost the nutrients, limit the salt, sugar and total saturated fat in your child’s lunch box.
  • Some great ideas: hard boiled egg with cheese and poporn, savoury vegetable and cheese frittatas in muffin cups, cheese and crackers plus fruit, pear pancakes, savory muffin, zuchinni and corn fritters,
  • Picky bento box select some of the following: popcorn, edamame beans, corn on the cob, low sugar dry cereal, apple slices and cheese, yogurt and fruit, roasted chickpeas, chopped vegetable sticks and dip, savoury muffins, pikelets, roasted seaweed sheets
 
Lunch this is a excellent opportunity to use foods from grain, meat and vegetable food groups.
  • Some great ideas: sushi, pasta salads ( mixed together or deconstructed), warmed leftovers in a hot thermos ( spaghetti bolognaise, curry with rice), Quiche or eggy muffins, humble sandwich/wrap with lean meat/egg/hummus and cheese and loaded with grated vegetables, koft in a wrap with yogurt dressing on the side.
Brain food or Crunch and Sip: this is an excellent opportunity to boost the exposure to a variety of vegetables and fruits. These foods are full of nutrients essential for growth and most of us are not eating enough.
 
  • Some great ideas: try making small gradual changes to increasing the ratio of vegetables to fruits. This will make the process a lot less stressful.
    • My go to vegetable list: edamame beans, sugar snap peas, capsicum sticks all colours, carrot sticks, celery sticks, tomatoes baby cherry or grape, Greek salad or rainbow salad ( small mixture of everything with dressing), mini carrots or qukes whole with dip ( hummus, avocado), avocado pieces with lemon juice squeeze on top, canned beetroot slices, roasted vegetables on a stick.
    • Fruits generally all well accepted by children. Dried fruits as back up in my pantry for end of week emergencies: sultana’s, apricots, plums, medjool dates, mango, apple, papaya.
Water to drink: this is important to foster as water intake is shown to foster focus and concentration through the day.
 
How many serves do I include:
This is individual to the activity level of your child however a general guide is that 33% of your child’s food for the day should be packed into their lunch box. 
 
Refer to Australian Guide to Healthy Eating for recommended serves.

Tip 2: Plan ahead of time

This will ensure healthy food to pack is in the fridge. Simpler is usually better. Involve your child in the process. Often check in and ask if they have seen something they friend have eaten that they want. If you plan your lunch boxes a week ahead it will help you stay on track when it comes to prepping multiple lunch boxes. Using your plan you can delegate tasks to younger children who will take great pride in chopping and preparing the lunch boxes the night before if you give them the opportunity too. This will place them in a familiar routine as their skills develop. Older children should be encouraged to pack their own lunch boxes to foster self-care and independence in food preparation. In my home prepping the night before is optimal as mornings can be rushed. Older children will also find it easier to follow a weekly planner.

Often sending a hot thermos as a main meal for lunch can save a lot of time when using left overs from the night before.

Tip 3: Most of the time, be familiar.

This will ensure the main lunch food is eaten.

Tip 4: Sometimes, try something new

I would not give my daughter a brand-new food item in her lunch, however a less preferred food such as beetroot maybe packed in a separate division of the lunch box and this may or may not be eaten. I always tell my daughter I am putting in a “food she is still learning to love” but I don’t bribe or comment on the food if it comes home. I do get curious and sometimes will ask her what she thought and if she would like to give it another go another day ? I find using food picks are helpful if they have sensory barriers to picking up new foods with their fingers.

Tip 5: Sunday prepping:

To start off the week ahead I will normally prep the following:

  • Savoury or fruit based muffins x 12.
  • Savoury or fruit based pancakes x 12.
  • A container of pasta al dente to be reheated.
  • Container of grated cheese.
  • Decant yogurt into snack box to be serves with fruit as a recess option.
  • Boil 12 eggs to have handy protein option available for the whole family.
  • Plan my lunch boxes.

I hope you found this helpful, and I hope you are able to involve your children involved in the process so long term they are self-sufficient in managing this task with minimal direction.

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Leah Bryant Paediatric Dietitian Logo
Leah Bryant is a paediatric dietitian based in Perth who specialises in providing evidence-based nutritional advice for gastrointestinal conditions, including coeliac disease, IBS, lactose intolerance, fructose intolerance, and constipation.

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