5 Easy Lunch Box Ideas For School

School is starting back in a couple of weeks and you may be thinking about school lunches. Even if your children get them free in school years reception, Y1 and Y2, it’s always good to have backup lunch box ideas. My daughter was in reception before they broke up in the Summer and every 3rd week she would take a lunch box in as she really didn’t like the vegetable noodles on that day. So I’ve come up with 5 easy lunch box ideas for school to get you started for the new term.

The Food Groups Needed In a Kids Lunch Box

There are 5 food groups in total and for your child’s lunch box to be as healthy as possible, you need to include a minimum of 3 of the food groups.

The 5 food groups are:

1. Fruit
2. Vegetables and legumes/beans
3. Grains/cereals – wholegrain/high fibre
4. Dairy – milk, yogurt or dairy alternatives such as oat milk
5. Lean meat and poultry, eggs, fish, tofu, nuts and seeds.

Breaking it down

So it can be overwhelming deciding what to put in a child’s lunch box, but if you think of it as steps and break it down. It will soon become second nature to you when shopping for food items and putting it all together. The first thing I would do is get yourself one of those kids’ lunch boxes with the individual compartments. You will save on any other packaging and they are easy to clean every day. It’s very important to teach children about unnecessary packaging and recycling, so this way they will learn you don’t have to have lots of packets and waste left over. Top tip – you can buy larger packs of dried fruit with resealable closings like the ones from Tyler Packaging to take from each day saving you money and reducing packaging waste.

Foods required for a healthy lunch

1. Main – this could be a sandwich/wrap, pasta, or some of last nights leftovers!
2. Fruit portion – a piece of fresh fruit, fruit medley, or fruit in natural juices.
3. Vegetable portion – can be cut up carrot or cucumber sticks.
4. Healthy snack – a hard boiled egg, wholemeal crackers, or plain popcorn.
5. Dairy – yogurt pouch/tube, cheese triangle, or a carton of milk.

5 Kids Lunch Box Ideas For School

Here are more simple kids lunch ideas if you are looking for further ideas. Once you are confident in the food groups it’s just a matter of picking from each to make up a fun and exciting lunch for your child. Don’t forget to change up the way you serve! So different sandwich shapes, and fillings, types of bread… those sorts of things!

Have fun!

*This is a collaborative post