For example, grainy sandwiches/wraps/rolls/pita pockets with salad and lean protein, frittata, self-crusting quiche, home–made sushi, pasta or rice salad, Vietnamese rice-wraps, stuffed kumara.
2) A vegetable or fruit snack.
For example, vege sticks, small salad, leftover roast veges, fresh fruit, canned fruit in natural juice, ants on a log.
3) A second nutrient-rich snack based on a core food group.
For example, unsweetened yoghurt, grainy crackers with cheese or hummus, boiled egg, canned tuna, creamed rice, plain popcorn, nuts, mini muffins, home-baking.
4) Water bottle with or without plain milk carton.
What’s the deal about bread?Poor bread gets a bit of a hard time sometimes but it’s still a perfectly healthy option. However, the type, filling and amount makes or breaks the health side of bread.
Choose bread with more than 5g fibre per 100g and that lists ingredients such as: whole-wheat flour (wheat flour still implies white flour), barley, oats, rye, or quinoa for grainy choices.
Colour up sandwiches with veges and satisfy your child’s hunger with egg, cheese, fish, chicken, or meat fillings.
Lastly, think of how much bread your child is actually eating. Is it just a sandwich for lunch? Or, is it toast for breakfast, sandwich at lunch and toasties for afternoon tea?
How much should I give my child?There are no hard, fast rules over how much food to give your child. But do consider your child spends around one-third of their time at school. A lunchbox could make up one third of their daily nutrition needs, hence the importance of providing a lunchbox based on core food groups.
Nutrition needs can change on a daily basis, depending how much extra activity children are doing, as well as during periods of growth. Believe it or not, your child is quite good at intuitively knowing how much food they need — so don’t be surprised if some days they eat like a sparrow, and some days like a horse!
How do I get my child to eat their lunch?This can be an uphill battle for some parents but a few of the following tricks can help:
Involvement! Take your child grocery shopping, home-bake snacks together, let them help prepare and pack their lunches.Give them some choice, i.e. “Would you like an apple or an orange today?”Make a list of foods both you and your child are happy with. Stick this up on the fridge for you and your child’s reference.Make things easy using easy-opening containers or cut food into bite-size pieces.Try sending less food or fewer options. Sometimes too much can be off-putting.Avoid soggy sandwiches!Role model. Make your own healthy lunchbox for the day.At the end of the day you set the standards. A healthy lunchbox not only provides your child with the right type of fuel and building blocks they need to learn, grow, develop and play, but sets them up for healthy life-long habits.
* What are “core food groups”
Encouraging your child to eat a variety of foods from our core food groups every day helps ensure optimal nutrition balance.
These are:
1. Vegetables — the more colour the better.
2. Fruit
3. Breads and cereals i.e. oats, Weet-bix, whole meal bread, wraps, pita or flat breads, rice, pasta, crackers, couscous
4. Milk, yoghurt and cheese or calcium-fortified alternatives
5. Legumes, nuts, seeds, eggs, fish, poultry and lean meats.
