8 mistakes when packing school lunchboxes
If you're looking to optimise your child's school lunch, here are 8 common lunchbox mistakes you want to avoid.
If you're the parent of one child, you'll pack around 200 school lunchboxes a year. If you have more than one child, that's just a lot of lunches to make!
Did you know children eat about 30% of their daily food intake at school?
A nutritious lunchbox makes sure your child doesn't go hungry throughout the day. More importantly, it's vital in providing your child with all the nutrients they need to thrive.
If you're looking to optimise your child's school lunch, here are 8 common lunchbox mistakes you want to avoid.
1. Packing new foods
My number one lunchbox making golden rule is: don't pack new foods! Even the most adventurous eaters can feel confronted with foods they haven't seen or tried before in their lunchboxes.
Unless tried before, they may not also hold up as well as expected in a lunchbox.
Save unfamiliar foods and new recipes for after-school snacks, dinners or weekends. If you have a fussy eater, I also recommend you put it into a lunchbox with your other bits and pieces.
2. Packing too much
It might be tempting to fill your child's lunchbox to the brim with options, but it can result in food being untouched or half-eaten.
Large portions can overwhelm your child and lead to more food wastage. For many kids, their lunchtime break isn't all that long. They're also often distracted and keen to get back to the important stuff, like playing basketball. Who's going to waste time eating a huge lunchbox of food?!
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3. Overfilling with refined carbs
Carbohydrates can easily take over a school lunchbox and while they have a place in the diet as our primary energy source, too much can leave your child unfulfilled and hungry.
This is particularly the case with refined carbohydrates like white bread, wheat pasta, chips and biscuits. On top of that, you have simple sugars like jam or a fruit roll-up.
This leads us to number four in our common lunchbox mistakes.
4. Forgetting the protein
Protein is a nutrient that often gets neglected in a lunchbox especially if your child is a vegemite sandwich kind of kid. In its place tends to be, you guessed it, carbs.
Protein is what is going to help keep your child feeling full, satisfied and focused.
Protein can be easily added in sandwich/wrap fillings, homemade snacks, dips etc.
5. Avoiding fruit or veggies
So your kid is a "fussy eater" or the capsicum keeps coming home untouched. It’s frustrating and deflating when what you've packed doesn't get eaten but adding fruits and veggies is important for several reasons.
Firstly, remember a large portion of your child's nutritional intake is in that lunchbox.
Secondly, exposure is the key to expanding your child's diet and breaking down the fear surrounding the food.
Our tips - watch the portion size and keep it very small. Play with different ways to present or cook the veggies and finally pair them with a dip they love.
6. Keeping it the same
I'm sure you know there is a kid that eats a cheese sandwich, a muesli bar and an apple every day. There is no judgement here as we know there is likely a number of reasons why their lunchbox never changes.
However, if you can, changing up the lunchbox in some way can help expand your child's acceptance of certain foods. For some kids, cutting a sandwich into triangles rather than rectangles is a big enough change.
In other cases, it simply may not have occurred to offer more variety and mix it up throughout the week. Again, let's remember how much of your child's daily food intake is in that lunchbox. Variety means your child is eating an array of different nutrients to meet their nutritional needs.
7. Not using leftovers
Leftovers can be a savour when it comes to packing a nutritious lunchbox and saving time. But I often hear parents avoid using leftovers because they don't think their child will eat it cold.
Firstly, get your child used to eating cold leftovers at home. Serve a portion up for an afternoon snack on the weekend picnic style.
Secondly, pack it warm in a thermos!
8. Doing it all yourself
I make this mistake often. It’s so much quicker and easier to simply get on with it and make the lunchboxes. Even doing the lunchbox prep myself without little people involved is far less stressful.
But, not involving the kids can limit their ability to learn new skills and try new foods. The simple act of asking your kids to help you with the lunchbox planning or getting all the lunchboxes out on the bench can be beneficial. Before you know it, they will be packing their own lunch and you'll have 200 less to make!
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