healthy school lunches

School is a time when your kids start to make their own choices about their lifestyles. School aged children learn quickly and are influenced by friends and popular trends. This is an important time to talk about and encourage healthy food habits.

Involving children in planning and preparing their own lunchboxes gives them the opportunity to learn about healthy eating, and also gives them a chance to make autonomous decisions about what they will be eating during the day. Make midday meals healthy and fun with these easy school lunch ideas that kids will actually eat.

Involve your children in healthy choices

Some tips to help get your kids involved include:

• Talk to your children about what they would like to have in their lunchbox. Discuss healthier food and drink choices and decide what will be in the lunchbox together.

• Write a shopping list together. Take your children shopping with you and let them choose foods and drinks from the shopping list.

• Encourage your children help prepare their lunchboxes. Older children may be able to prepare most of their lunch themselves, while younger kids can help with making sandwiches or cutting up fruit. It is a good idea to prepare lunchboxes the evening before to allow children to participate.

What to put in healthier school lunches

Try planning a healthy lunch box to start the school year. Talk to your children and discuss what they would be happy to have included.

The six key parts to a healthy lunchbox include:

• protein in the form of lean meat, a hard-boiled egg or peanut butter.

• fresh fruit.

• fresh crunchy vegetables.

• milk, yoghurt or cheese.

• a grain or cereal food like bread, a roll, flat bread, fruit bread or crackers (wholegrain or wholemeal choices are best) tap water.

Tips for healthy lunchboxes include:

• Cut up large pieces of fruit and put them in a container – this makes it easier to eat, especially if your child has wobbly teeth or if they have less time to eat than they are used to. Send a damp face washer to help with extra juicy fruit.

• Consider giving half a sandwich or roll for morning recess, as this is an easy way to get a healthy fill.

• In the hot weather, send frozen milk, yoghurt or water, or even frozen orange segments. This makes a great refreshing snack and helps to keep the lunch box cool.

• Go for colour and crunch in the lunch box by offering a variety of colourful vegetables and fruit.

• Think about incorporating dinner leftovers. This means you tick many boxes – saving some lunch prep time and providing a nutritious protein-rich meal in the middle of the day that keeps you going for the afternoon.

You can find plenty of ideas for a healthy and interesting school lunches at recipes.co.nz.

School lunches and food safety

Food is usually stored in lunchboxes for a few hours so it is important to keep the lunchbox cool so that food stays fresh. Some tips to help keep lunchboxes safe include:

• Small chilly pads and/or lunch boxes that are designed to keep food cool.

• Consider using an insulated thermos container so you can heat and pack hot food. These special containers can keep food hot until lunch time.

• Pack a wrapped frozen water bottle or freezer brick next to foods that should be kept cold (for example cheeses, yoghurts, meats and salads).

• Perishable foods such as dairy products, eggs and sliced meats should be kept cool. Don’t pack these foods if just cooked - refrigerate overnight.

• If making lunches ahead of time, keep them in the fridge until leaving for school or freeze them in advance.

• If you include leftover meals such as meats, pasta and rice dishes, make sure you pack a frozen ice block in the lunch box.

• Ask children to keep packed lunches in their school bag and to keep their bag out of direct sunlight and away from heat, ideally in a cool, dark place such as a locker.

Lunchbox ideas using last nights leftovers

Kids will love these delicious lunches and also benefit from the nutrition goodness that beef and lamb provide.

Leftover roast lamb or beef

Leftover juicy roast beef or lamb is a perfect lunch starter.

• Slice and place in wholegrain sandwiches, rolls, pita or wraps with fresh salad ingredients and hummus or Tzatziki.

• Cut into small pieces and toss into a veggie, pasta or rice salad.

Barbecued beef or lamb steaks

Barbecued steaks are so delicious that it’s worth cooking an extra one or two to have on hand for the family lunch boxes.

• Top a piece of lavash bread with sliced steak, shredded lettuce, sliced cherry tomatoes and grated cheese.

• Toss sliced steak through a salad with leftover roast veggies, salad greens and a drizzle of dressing.

Meatballs

Leftover meatballs are delicious as sandwich filler the next day.

• Split a pita pocket bread, spread with hummus or tzatziki, add a halved rissole and some tabouli or salad greens.

• Split a wholegrain roll in half, add a halved meatball, salad greens, a slice of beetroot, grated cheese and a dollop of tomato relish.