With school starting next week, it’s time for parents and children to get organised – and the Herald is here to help. Today Vita Molyneux looks at preparing lunches
The cost of living crisis shows few signs of slowing down, so packing school lunches is fast becoming an exercise in balancing costs as well as preferences.
Tawa mum-of-four Christina Pemerika told the Herald the days of a $20-a-week budget for her kids’ lunches have well and truly passed. With a weekly lunch budget often exceeding $100, her four children sometimes don’t get the items they love, and have to make do.
“The kids love those Mother Earth muesli bars, but they’re really pricey, so we only ever get them on payday,” she said.
Pemerika and her husband make all the lunches for their children, aged 8, 7, 4 and 2, and she is grateful for the provision of fresh fruit and snacks provided by the kids’ school.
“I wish all schools did the free breakfasts and fruit – it’s just one less thing for parents to have to worry about, and it feels really good to have a healthy choice for them.
“It’s a nice way of getting the kids together and getting the community together – you see the difference the breakfast in the morning makes to them. My kids never have breakfast at home anymore because they want to go in and eat with their friends, and I just wish it was like that for all schools.”
But even with the assistance from the school, Pemerika says the increase in cost has been challenging.
“It causes a whole lot of stress – especially on an off-pay week or towards the end of the week.
“Thursday and Friday every week, every compartment of their lunchbox is full ‘cause that’s payday, but Monday to Wednesday is a struggle. I always just tell the kids, ‘Look, you need to go down to the school office and ask for that fruit or a snack because it’s there to be used’.”
Pediatric dietician Amy Lovell says ensuring children have nutritious meals in their lunchboxes - and that they eat it - has become a complex process.
“There’s a lot of pressure on parents to do the right thing, whatever that may be.”
But when it comes to lunch for kids, Lovell says less can be more – large portions or a huge variety can be overwhelming for small children, so if parents want to see a finished lunch, they should keep portions in mind.
“Use little hands as a guide - a portion is something they can hold in their hand. Options can be overwhelming for little children, so keep it simple.”
For every lunch and snack, children should be getting something with protein, something with carbohydrates and a piece of fruit to provide their bodies with all the nutrients they need to grow.
Proteins can be anything from ham to dairy, to meat alternatives like tofu and tempeh. Carbs can be provided in bread, cereal or rice, and fruit doesn’t have to be fresh.
“With the costs of produce rising, things like frozen berries in a little pottle of yogurt, they’ll keep the yogurt cool as they defrost, and then there’s also tinned fruit – just not in syrup, if you can avoid it, and you can cook frozen veges into things to have in lunchboxes.”
Lovell says it’s a parent’s job to provide what they can for lunch, and the child’s job to decide their own hunger levels and tastes.
“If you’re wanting to expand their choices, put a little bit in over and over – something might come back 20 times before the child tries it, so that’s why it’s important to keep the portions small.”
For Brooklyn mum Rebecca Thorneycroft, variety is the spice of life – it’s what she uses to make sure her children are eating what’s in the boxes.
“Things like new fruit which has just come in season [and] cherry tomatoes, they love – any fruit that doesn’t go brown.”
Her children are aged 11 and 9, and Thorneycroft told the Herald that this year she’s focusing on getting them to step up and start prepping their own lunches.
“They did it a little bit last year but this year I’m starting a new job, so I really want them to start taking on more responsibility.”
She wants them to make balanced choices for their bento boxes.
“You can’t just have crackers, you need something from this food group and something from that one.”
The rising costs haven’t gone unnoticed in her household either, with Thorneycroft saying a small mid-week grocery shop can cost up to $80 now.
“We’ve noticed the rising costs – everyone has noticed, but we’re very lucky in that we don’t have to fight to make ends meet. I really feel for those who do, because I know it’s very tough out there.”
Lovell says there’s “nothing wrong with the humble sandwich” for parents who are finding it tough to combat rising costs.
“You could make your kids a ham and cheese sandwich, and that’s covered all the carbs and protein needs.”
Sandwiches are something Kathryn Logan’s teenage children are well acquainted with – they’ve been making their own lunches “since they could spread margarine”.
Logan told the Herald she keeps her grocery shop to once a week – they’re a family that commutes by cycling, and she wants to use the car as little as possible.
“I try to only do one shop a week with the car to save petrol, and then on Saturday we’ll sit the kids down at the kitchen table and they’ll have a production line with all their slices of bread.”
“They can put whatever they like on them, and then we’ll freeze them in bags, so in the morning they can just grab them out, add their fruit and everything stays fresh.”
The production-line approach stretches through to Logan’s grocery shop as well, which runs like a well-oiled machine.
“I take a list to the Pak’nSave. It’s organised by section and aisle, so it starts in the produce section, then through to meat and the deli. I hang the list on the inside of the cupboard through the week and the kids can go through it and add things, so by the time I do the shop, I know I’m getting things they’re going to eat.”
When it comes to making lunches for your kids, Lovell says there’s one thing she tells her clients constantly.
“Keep it simple and trust yourself as a parent.”
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