Building a balanced lunchbox

With the unpredictable nature of our day to day lives, preparing and packing a healthy lunchbox can be a difficult task. Finding time to shop and prepare interesting and healthy meals for school lunches can be stressful. But the foods we send to school with our kids can contribute up to 1/3 of their daily intake of nutrients. So it’s important to pack a balanced lunch to ensure they’re getting the nutrients they need.

Below are a few healthy lunch box ideas to inspire you year-round. We always recommend thinking of each lunch box in terms of the five food groups and making sure they’re all represented:

Dairy foods

The foods in this group are excellent sources of calcium, which is important for strong, healthy bones. Not many other foods in our diet contain as much calcium as dairy foods.

• Fingers of hard cheese and blocks of cream cheese work well with crackers
• Pack a small tub of flavoured yoghurt with a spoon or a drinking yoghurt
• A carton of milk or your child’s favourite flavoured milk are packed with calcium

Fruits and vegetables

Fruits and vegetables provide vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre, that help your child’s body stay healthy.

• Fresh fruit can be whole or cut up and placed in a container
• Fruit kebabs are fun – anything goes! Get your child to help you the night before!
• Smoothies are so nutritious – you can make your own by combining frozen fruit, vanilla yoghurt and ground almonds or peanut butter. Remember to pack a cooler to keep it cold for first break!
• Dried fruit comes in many forms – look out for fruit bars, small packets of raisins or dried fruit rolls.
• Some children love their vegetables! Try sweet baby tomatoes, celery, carrot and cucumber sticks and add in a small serving of hummus or tzatziki for dipping.

High fibre, starchy foods

Always choose whole grain and/or high fibre varieties of breads, cereals, rice, pasta and noodles. The more refined grain products, such as cakes or biscuits, can be high in added sugar, fat and sodium.

• Low GI bread and seed bread make healthier sandwiches
• Pack rye or wholewheat crackers with humus or cream cheese on the side
• Home-made popcorn or cooked sweetcorn on the cob can add variety
• Prepare your own bran, carrot or cheese muffins at home, and if possible enrich them with oat bran and cut back the sugar content.

Lean meats, poultry, fish, eggs and dried beans and peas

Our body uses the protein we eat to build, maintain and repair the tissues in our body. Protein is important for children’s growth.

• Some ideas for protein-rich fillings for sandwiches and rolls –  chicken or tuna with mayonnaise and finely chopped celery; hard boiled eggs mashed with mayonnaise and finely chopped spring onion or even peanut butter with sliced banana.
• Roll up lean cold meat with a filling of cheese, cream cheese, humus, pesto or tzatziki
• Chicken drumsticks with a mayo and chutney dip are a hit in lunchboxes
• Pack mini viennas or cooked cocktail sausages with tomato or sweet chilli sauce
• Prepare mini burgers or a burger cut into quarters. Small portions are so much more enticing.
• Hard boiled eggs are a fabulous source of quality protein.
• Although biltong can be fatty, choose lean sticks and add these for a treat.
• In winter, a vegetable and lentil soup will be a welcome and warm addition to the lunchbox. Pack it in a separate mini flask.

Healthy Fats

Children do need small quantities of fats and oils to provide them with the essential fatty acids for health.

• Pack assorted nuts or a small packet of peanuts and raisins
• Peanut butter is a popular spread for sandwiches or even for crackers
• Mash avocado with lemon juice for a guacamole dip for vegetables

Remember too that when it comes to beverages, water is always best!  Keep it exciting by pre-freezing water slushies that will defrost by first break, or by adding chopped fruit to your child’s water bottle for colour and flavour.

This table can help you to build a different and delicious lunchbox every day that will nourish and sustain your child.  Choose at least one food from each of the food groups below and don’t forget to add a personal touch, like a note or stickers, or hide a special treat at the bottom. Pack fun napkins, draw a face on a banana with a marker pen or cut sandwiches into novelty shapes using a cookie cutter!

Did you know that Pick n Pay employs the services of a registered dietitian to provide free nutrition and food advice to the public?  Whatever nutrition query you have always wanted answered, give our dietitian a call on 0800 11 22 88 or email healthhotline@pnp.co.za