Tips For Packing Kids School Lunches
Handy hints for packing lunches
- Have separate food containers for morning tea and lunch, or put morning tea in a ziplock bag for easy access – otherwise they may eat their sandwiches at morning tea.
- Lunches aren’t refrigerated at school, so for summer, buy a lunch box with a freezer brick, or freeze their bottle of drink to keep the rest of the lunch cool and fresh.
- It is preferable and cheaper to just give water to drink. If not, use diluted juice.
- Put a variety of foods in their lunch box to choose from.
- Lots of small serves are better than large quantities.
- Steer clear of junk food. Packing chips and lollies is not good for their health, and not fair on the other children.
- Check if your school has a policy on being a ‘nut free school’ (i.e. no peanut butter, nuts or products containing nuts).
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Ideas for lunches and snacks
- Container of peeled chopped fresh fruit salad, such as melons, peaches, kiwi fruit, grapes. (Put in a plastic spoon which you can afford to lose!)
- Dried fruit in small quantities only, as it’s high in sugar.
- Fruit/cereal snack packs (check the labels at supermarkets to find out which are most nutritious).
- Cheese sticks or slices.
- Wedges of hard boiled eggs.
- Fresh or cooked vegetable sticks or wedges, such as carrots, celery, green or red capsicum, cherry tomatoes, snow peas.
- Celery sticks with cottage cheese.
- Mini wheat breakfast cereal.
- Yoghurt, plain or with fruit.
- Cold pasta or potato salad.
- Sushi.
Sandwiches:
- Bread options: pita or pocket bread, rice cakes, wholemeal bread or rolls, crackers, fruit buns or mini pizzas.
- Filling options: cheese spread or slices, vegemite, avocado, cooked egg mashed with cottage cheese, ham, cold chicken tuna or salmon with salad vegetables, cottage or ricotta cheese mixed with pineapple or sultanas.
- Don’t use wet fillings as this makes sandwiches soggy by lunchtime and your child won’t eat them – they will just put them in the garbage bin.
