Some tips that might help encourage an empty lunchbox.
With school starting next week, it’s time for parents and kids to get organised – and the Herald is here to help. Today Vita Molyneux looks at lunches.
Packing a healthy and nutritious lunch for your kids without breaking the bank can sometimes feel like an impossible task.
Even if you hit the mark, there’s no guarantee your little ones will eat the food you’ve so carefully curated.
Dr Julie Bhosale is an expert in child nutrition, with a PhD in children’s independent mobility and multiple best-selling cookbooks under her belt. With three young boys of her own, she knows how tricky it can be for parents to make sure their children are getting the best nutrition possible, and told the Herald one of the most important things to remember is there’s no such thing as perfect.
“Healthy, cost-effective and fast is almost like looking for a unicorn, right? It’s almost impossible to get all of those things, let alone in a lunch box, so it’s important to not focus on getting it perfect and certainly not aiming for the majority of the stuff we see on Instagram.
“You can’t tick all those boxes, especially when you’re already constrained by the fact that it needs to be in a lunch box kept out in the environment through sun, heat, rain, et cetera.”
One of the best things to focus on is a good source of protein, which can be anything from hard cheese to sausage or even tofu,” she says.
Dr Julie Bhosale with her three boys.
“I don’t think it’s realistic to have kids eat a lot of vegetables in their lunch boxes – most adults would struggle with that. So pick what’s a major source of nutrients that’s going to be sustaining. Think about whether there’s a source of protein that your kids can pick from, to at least tide them over until they get home.”
Paediatric dietitian Amy Lovell says ensuring children have a nutritious meal in their lunch boxes – 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.”
Less can be more: large portions or a huge variety can be overwhelming for small children. 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.
When it comes to getting kids to eat, Bhosale says a good way to encourage little ones to try new foods is to get them involved – and not set your hopes too high.
“If you’re putting in something for them to try, you’ve got to be prepared they may not like it, and that’s not up to you to comment on. You’ve provided them with that opportunity to try something new and, if they’re hungry, they’ll try it.”
Two of Dr Julie Bhosale's sons with their packed lunches.
There is research to support the idea that commenting on what kids have or haven’t eaten can lead to longer-term issues with food.
“Not only do they not stimulate long-term behaviour change, but they can be associated with an aversion to those foods and even the beginning of some pretty unhealthy food habits or disordered eating.”
To encourage kids to try food, it’s important to give them some autonomy over what goes in their packed lunch. ”Give them some involvement in their lunch and their food and have not only just an appreciation for the work, but some autonomy of what goes in. It does help to fuel good eating habits.”
One of the things she does with her children is to have a large pantry drawer filled with simple, healthy snacks like muesli bars, popcorn and seaweed snacks that they can pull out themselves and put into their lunch boxes.
“It’s going to help to reduce some of that food wastage and they will learn, plus it’s an important skill. You know, what are we going to do as parents – make their lunch until they’re 18?”
How to shop for lunch without going bankrupt
When it comes to grocery shopping, school lunches can put a strain on tight budgets – but there are ways to sidestep the high costs if you know what to look for and where to go.
David Cameron is the Citizens Advice Bureau’s budgeting specialist, and he told the Herald it’s better to shop at Pak’nSave than the closest dairy or Four Square.
Pak'nSave will be cheaper than the local dairy.
“Unfortunately, their [dairy] prices are generally the best part of double the price you would pay in a large supermarket. But ... [if you don’t live] near a Pak’nSave, go to the main grocery store like Countdown or New World. And we’d also recommend that you try not to go every day to the grocery store.”
Shopping daily is an easy way to pay more, especially if you’re taking your kids with you, he says.
“One of the temptations, of course, is every time you go to a supermarket, you walk down the aisles and you see things and think, ‘Oh yeah, I think I’ll just get that and I’ll pick up this’ and before you know it, a lot of your basket is stuff that you didn’t really come to the store for in the first place.”
By writing a list and reducing the number of trips you take with kids in tow, it’s easier to stick to a stricter budget.
”So the more often you go, the more tempting it is for them. Whereas if you try and reduce your visits, clearly you’re reducing that temptation and, if you go from a shopping list, you can maybe have a more disciplined shop.”
Lovell says there are ways you can keep costs down while still providing a healthy lunch by using things like frozen berries or canned fruit.
“With the costs of produce rising, things like frozen berries in a little pottle of yoghurt, they’ll keep the yoghurt 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 lunch boxes.”
