Healthy Lunch Box Ideas

By Carol Vella – B Food (Nutr)

The start of a new school year often brings both excitement and chaos in most parent’s lives. The excitement kids feel about starting a new school year is wonderful! Planning healthy eating to optimise kids’ nutrition is usually not at the forefront of most parents’ minds but this is one of the most important things to consider, as without proper nutrition, kids don’t function at their best. Cognitively, socially and academically, parents can set their kids up for success by planning lunchboxes carefully and sticking to ingredients that make lunch box preparation both easy for parents and satisfying for children.

Protein-Carbs-Fats

Balancing these three macronutrients will provide the right foundation for any lunchbox. Aiming to go for 2 serves of protein, 2 serves of carbohydrate and 1 serve of fat is a rough guide of quantities to aim for. Carbohydrates are great for a good source of energy and fats help with the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins as well as good brain function. Protein is used as the building blocks for proper growth and development.

Bento boxes

Bento boxes are great for preparing bite sized food in sections which seem to appeal to most kids and allows them to select what they want rather than making a sandwich where they pull it apart and dissect it to grab the pieces that interest them!

Great bento box fillers include a combination of the items below:

Proteins:
Cheese (Shredded or cubed), leftover chicken, leftover cooked beef or chicken mince, humous, tuna, salmon, milk, yoghurt and hard-boiled eggs are all great sources of protein to include.  Home made frittata using eggs, leftover vegetables and cheese is delicious served cold the next day. Try this frittata recipe

Carbohydrates:
Wholegrain sources of carbohydrate are ideal. These include brown rice, quinoa, rolled oats, fresh fruit, cooked and cooled potatoes (great as a source of resistant starch for a healthy gut.) Overnight oats are a great option that you can make up in bulk and portion into small containers for your kids to take to school or day care.

Fats:
Humous, olive oil, full fat dairy, fatty fish, avocado, butter, eggs, fresh coconut or coconut oil and seeds – these are all great sources of healthy fats to include. Try this orange and coconut cookies recipe

Quick Mix-Ins for Lunch Box Ideas

  • Dried fruit (sugar free) in plain yoghurt
  • Humous (Pilpel brand is great with no seed oils) with carrot sticks
  • Tuna drained and mixed with organic mayonnaise and cut up celery pieces makes a great tuna salad.
  • Fresh apples, cut up into bite sized pieces served with nut free spreads

Healthy snack recipes to include in lunch boxes

* You can substitute any nuts for seeds (such as sunflower and pepitas) in recipes to make them nut-free. You can substitute almond meal with oat flour, coconut flour, ground sunflower seeds, buckwheat flour.

Interview with 5 year old Penelope

Dr Sandra Cabot interviewed lovely little Penelope this week to find out what her favourite foods were.

Penny’s favourite foods: