Once you’ve decided that you want your child to have packed lunches, you then need to think about how they will carry their lunch to school, and how to keep their food fresh, especially in the summer months.
You can find lots of packed lunch food ideas and recipes on our Food Crew club site (Coming Soon!)
- Have a trial run at home, just to make sure your child can open everything.
- Remember to label your child’s lunchbox…half the class might have the same design!
- Soft lunchboxes seem to be the most popular choice for young children, as they are light, and easy to carry.
- Buy some small lidded (watertight!) pots, the ones you can buy to freeze baby food
in are an ideal size for a portion of fruit, salad or dip. - Remember to pack a teaspoon if you send a yogurt, fromage frais or jelly!
- Put a sheet of kitchen roll in, to wipe sticky fingers and mop up any spills.
- To keep food cold in summer either use a refreezable ice pack, or freeze a bottle of water (remember not to overfill). You can also freeze tubes of fromage frais, or cartons of fruit juice over night and pop them in their lunchbox in the morning.
- Make lunches the night before and keep them in the fridge. It saves that last minute panic in the morning.
- Encourage older children to help make their own lunch.
- If you put a pure fruit juice drink and another fruit or vegetable option in your child’s lunchbox,
your child will get 2 of their recommended 5-a-day. - Even fussy eaters should be given a variety of different foods in their lunchbox (plus a couple of favourites so you know they won’t go hungry). They’re more likely to eat new foods when mum’s not watching and when they are surrounded by other children eating.
- Use leftovers – if they liked it the night before, odds are, they’ll love it next day cold – really!
- Fillings for wraps can be put into a separate little container or resealable bag to stop the bread going soggy, or fill a tortilla or chapatti with a variety of toppings, roll and and wrap tightly in cling film or foil.
Drinks are so important! Water is best, but flavour with pure fruit juice if necessary.
For more information on nutrition for school children and Children, visit:
Nutrition for School Children and Teenagers
“For Healthy Lunchbox recipes, join The Food Crew…
you can even add your own suggestions and share ideas! “
