Good Little Eaters
School is back in session which means we have a whole term of packing lunch boxes ahead of us. From meeting school requirements to finding something your kids will actually eat and won’t take you a 1hr to pack – it’s not all fun and games when it comes to deciding what goes in the lunchbox.
The trick with packing lunchboxes? Keep it simple! Those beautiful cut out sandwiches and arty themed lunchboxes might look great, but you will get over them after about 2 days and your kids will have just as much fun with a snack style lunch box they can pick at.
But when packing a lunchbox there are a few key components to help your child meet their nutritional needs throughout the day. From a good source of protein, healthy fats, fruit and vegetables for increased exposure and of course, carbohydrates to keep them fuelled all day long.
That’s why I designed a simple lunchbox plug and play formula to help my clients build health lunch boxes for their kids every time:
Lunch Box = Main + Fruit + Veg + Snack 1 + Snack 2
Just choose one from each section and your kids will be well on their way to having a healthy fulfilling lunchbox for a busy day of school or Kindy!
Let’s Break it down:
Mains – leftovers, Sandwich, Pizza bites, Sushi
Fruit – blueberries, grapes, cut up apple, pear, strawberries
Vegetables – carrot, capsicum, cucumber, steamed sweet potato
Snacks – Popcorn, Pretzels, Boiled eggs, apricot bliss balls, chickpea cookies, mini choc zucchini muffins, yoghurt pouch
This formula works great with bento-style lunch boxes. Even if your kids decide not to eat the fruit or veg, or maybe even a snack it is exposing them to new foods when they don’t have the pressure of you looking over them – Instead, they see their friends eating certain foods and feel the comfort to explore all the foods in their lunch box – The good kind of peer pressure!!
When packing lunchboxes it’s important to keep it quick and simple so you can stick to it for the whole term!
- A few ways to save time when you are packing lunches for your kids:
- Prep ahead of time – 3 days is the max to keep all components at their freshest.
- Cut back on the variety – You heard that right! Pick two different lunchbox combinations and repeat them throughout the week (this also helps reduce waste!).
- Make snacks for the freezer – pull them out the night before so they defrost in time!
- Get the kids involved – once you have prepped the components get them to physically pack the lunch boxes. You can start the clean-up while they do it! This helps them take ownership over what they are eating.
- Keep grab and go package snacks – create a section in your pantry that is for grab and go snacks – things you know are great fillers’ for your kid’s lunch box when you are short on time – download my guide for package snacks here!
For more timing saving hacks and lunchbox recipes get a copy of my healthy lunchbox guide.
