Nutrition: How to pack a nutritious school lunch box

How to pack a nutritious school lunch box?  Back to school has many of us filled with dread at the idea of making those school lunches each day (or maybe that is just us!!).  Feeding our little ones with enough energy to sustain them through the day can be tricky, however we believe that once you know what you are aiming for, packing a nutritious school lunch box will get easier and easier (thankfully).  And yes, it matters girls, as this year alone, we will pack around 200 school lunches per child (sorry, that’s a little depressing isn’t it?!?).

For us, protein is normally the trickiest to try and include in school lunch boxes yet it is one of the most important macro-nutrients to include.  Aside from the growth benefits of protein (they are the building blocks for bones, muscles, cartilage, skin and blood) it also helps to keep our hunger satisfied for longer.

The obvious sources of proteins are grass-fed meats, natural yoghurt and cheese, seeds and nuts, tofu, legumes and eggs.  As most  school/ kindergartens are nut-free zones, it sometimes presents a challenge in getting enough protein into our kids lunches if you normally rely on nuts to boost your protein quota, like we often do!

What we also need to keep in mid when packing a lunch box is that we all need at least 5 serves of veg and 2 serves of fruit every day.  Less than 10% of Australians are currently getting this. If your bubs are not getting any vegetables throughout their school day, it is going to take a very concerted effort to get their 5 serves then from breakfast and dinner.  So, as well as protein, try and incorporate some salad and vegetables into their day – the more variety the better – but start wherever you can!  If it is only carrots that they eat – then send carrots… we can always work on the variety late.

So let’s have a look at some great and varied lunch box options:

– 1-2 serves fruit (maximum);

– crudités (chopped raw veggies) with dip (e.g. homemade hummus (added bonus of giving some protein!), guacamole (good fats), tzatziki are all great options) add Mountain bread chips (oven baked mountain bread);

– home baked muffins, slice, breads;

– home made, frozen ‘fruit’ yoghurt (i.e. natural yoghurt blended with real fruit and frozen);

– egg ‘muffins’ or frittata slice – with whatever flavours/ extras you want to include (bacon, ham, cheese, spinach, sweet potato, feta etc);

– nut-free Bliss balls;

– nutrient-rich smoothie (preferably green) in an insulated drink bottle (find out How to make a balanced’ smoothie here);

– rice, quinoa or pasta-based salads (try and include good protein source – chicken, beef, egg, cheese etc);

– protein and salad wrap;

– brown rice or quinoa sushi (home made is best);

– homemade pizzas with veggie tomato base/ meat/ olives and cheese (our kids love ham, cheese and kalamata olives);

– protein and salad rice paper rolls:

– protein and salad (a variation on a greek salad is always a winner with my kids – tomatoes, cucumber, kalamata olives, baby spinach, add in some chicken or boiled egg).

We hope that these ideas help you out as your kids return to kindy/ day care or school in the coming weeks.  Good luck mummas!  Here we go again….

Anna & Em xo