Healthy school lunches

A healthy, balanced lunch gives children everything they need to play and learn well. Involve your child in choosing and making lunches. This will make them more likely to eat and enjoy their lunch.

Lunch box checklist

A healthy lunch box should include items from the following food groups.

• Grain foods – give children energy and brain power. Choose high-fibre and wholegrain bread. Try mixing it up by using wraps, flatbread, pita bread, grainy rolls and crackers.
• Vegetables and fruit – provide fibre and important minerals and vitamins without too many kilojoules. Cut vegetables into manageable pieces such as carrot, cucumber or celery sticks. You can also add vegetables to sandwich fillings. Use fruit that fits easily in a lunch box such as mandarins, small apples, grapes, or a pottle of diced fruit.
• Milk and milk products – provide calcium which helps to build strong bones and teeth. Cheese slices and yoghurt (pottles or pouches) are great snacks in lunch boxes. Include a small ice brick or a frozen water bottle to keep them cool and at a safe temperature.
• Lean meat, chicken, fish, eggs, nuts and beans – provide protein to help build strong muscles and key nutrients such as iron and magnesium for growth. Peanut butter, chicken, tuna, eggs, or hummus make great high-protein sandwich fillings.
• Bottle of water – try adding fruit or vegetables like lemon, cucumber, oranges or berries to make flavoured water.

For more information see HealthInfo – Healthy school lunches.

Healthy dinners for children

 Most children don’t need as much food as adults. Use your child’s hand as a guide for serving sizes.

• Give them a palm-size amount of protein food such as meat, chicken, seafood, eggs or legumes (cooked dried beans, split peas or lentils).
• Give them a fist-size amount of carbohydrate food such as potato, pasta, rice or bread.
• Give them two cupped handfuls of colourful vegetables.
• You can also use the healthy plate model as a guide (see the image to the right). You can follow this model even if you are making meals such as stir-fries, casseroles and salads. See the example below for chicken and vegetable stir-fry.
• See Meal planning and healthy recipes for ideas to help you plan and prepare tasty, fast, easy and low-cost meals. 

What if my child doesn’t like vegetables?

• Be a good role model. If your child sees you eating and enjoying vegetables they are more likely to do the same.
• Involve your child. They are more likely to eat vegetables if they have been involved in buying, preparing and cooking them.
• Serve vegetables like carrot, celery and capsicum (pepper) raw.
• Keep offering vegetables. Some children will need to try a new food up to 15 times before they like it.
• For more tips see Vegetables for children (link downloads a PDF) from Vegetables.co.nz.

Tips to make meals healthy

• Making small changes to the way you prepare and cook your meals will be good for the whole family.
• Add grated or finely diced vegetables to mince dishes or casseroles. This makes the meal healthier and the meat go further.
• Serve potato boiled, baked or mashed (with a little low-fat milk).
• Grill, steam, dry bake, casserole, stir-fry or boil instead or frying or roasting in fat or oil.
• Trim the fat off meat and remove the skin from chicken before cooking. Drain or skim fat off the top of mince, stews, soups and gravies.
• Limit sausages to once a week. They are very high in fat. Grill or barbecue sausages and prick them first so that the fat can drain away.
• Use small amounts of lite or reduced-fat coconut milk instead of coconut cream.

What about dessert?

Desserts such as cake and most types of ice cream are high in fat and sugar. They are best kept as occasional treats.

Fruit makes a healthy and tasty dessert. Make fruit kebabs by chopping fresh fruit into cubes and putting it onto skewers. Or cut up lots of different fruit to make a fruit salad or a colourful fruit platter. Try the healthy homemade banana ice cream recipe here.

For more information see HealthInfo – Healthy dinners for children.