Doing The Lunch Box Juggle
August 30th 2026 By Carin Clegg, APD
Keeping small minds and bodies fuelled with nutritious foods their bodies need over the school day is a high priority for optimal learning and social interaction. However, packing the school lunch box can be daunting for families when kids start primary school. Most kids are used to hot cooked meals at home or pre-school, then they need to quickly get used to having food packed in a lunch box.
Preparing for the lunch box 3-6 months prior to starting big school can be a welcomed effort for both kids and parents. When going out and about, instead of opting for take-away, make a packed lunch box. For lunches or dinners, incorporate build your own meals into the family’s menu, perhaps once a week or on weekends such as sandwiches, rolls, burgers, wraps, tacos, rice paper rolls, vermicelli noodle salad, pizza or even poke bowls.
Have all the various types of fillings available for everyone to choose from. This gives kids an opportunity to get curious and be inspired to try some new foods and reduce the likelihood of having limited options and getting sick of the same foods. Filling options could include lettuce, cucumber, tomato, grated carrot or beetroot, finely sliced cabbage, different spread like avocado or cream cheese, hummus or vegetable dip.
A pictured list of the morning routine, co-created by your child can be very helpful as pictures that they can refer to often works better than spoken words. Aim to do the morning activities together as a family, at the same time, such as having breakfast together, cleaning teeth, packing the bag, as this helps to role model the activities you want them to learn so they can become confident and independent I those tasks and it helps everyone get out the door on time.
Nude foods or minimally processed foods are the go. Not only does it save money on the school to not dispose of waste but it is also cheaper on the family food budget. Many school values are to care for Country and nude foods in the lunch box are a great way we can all look after the land we learn on to reduce plastic packaging pollution, carbon, water and soil footprints. Composting food scraps is also highly encouraged. There is also research linking a number of food additives to children’s mood, behaviour, sleep and learning concerns, so opting for less processed whole foods is another win for your child’s learning and overall health and well-being.
Many parents find that there is an added snack time at school, Crunch and Sip, that they need to cater for, which was likely not around when they went to school. Crunch and Sip is an initiative in schools to help increase everyone’s fruit and vegetable intake by giving the extra opportunity to learn to eat and enjoy eating these foods. We know that up to 80% of adults do not eat enough vegetables, with the majority not even getting 50% of the vegetables their body needs for optimal health and well-being. This increases the risk of many chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, fatty liver and dementia to name a few.
Vegetables are often difficult to eat for small children as they require concentration to chew, using more energy and strength of the jaw muscles to break up the fibres. When kids are tired at the end of the day, and served vegetables at dinner time, they may say they do not like them, but what they may really mean is that they find it more difficult to eat than softer foods.
Vegetables are also more bitter, particularly the skin, which is technically a chemical and physical barrier for the plant to protect itself. Kids need to become exposed to and develop their taste for a variety of vegetables to learn to eat them, and this will only come with many opportunities for exposure and curiosity.
Crunch and Sip is also an opportunity for children who do not eat breakfast, to eat fruit and vegetables that give them energy for their big day of learning. Vegetables that give long lasting energy for learning include legumes like edamame, peas, chickpeas or a 4 bean mix, plain from the can or perhaps roasted, vegetable sticks with hummus or a vegetable dip, corn on the cob or just the corn kernels.
In many schools, Crunch and Sip can be called fruit break, however calling it this discourages vegetables and the desire to want to learn and eat them, which defeats the purpose of the program. If your child has difficulty eating fruit and vegetables suitable for Crunch and Sip, it is recommended you get expert support from a Dietitian. Often allowances can be made as your child learns to eat their fruit and vegetables.
When school starts, everyone can feel out of their comfort zone so keeping the lunch box pretty similar or even the same each day can be a welcome stability whilst they get used to their new routine. When school becomes more comfortable, the lunch box options may want to become more adventurous, more with variety, progressing from white to brown bread perhaps with crusts off or 1 white 1 wholemeal and more than 1 sandwich filling.
Packing a nutritionally balancing the lunch box. Aim to bu;ld up to:
- 1 child sized handful of fresh fruit, e.g.an apple or pear, perhaps in slices, berries, small banana
- 2 or more vegetables, e.g. sticks or different shapes like smilies (semi-circles) carrot, cucumber, celery, capsicum, asparagus, green beans, snow peas, sugar snap peas, broccoli, cauliflower (even the stalks), lettuce or wombok cabbage, or cherry tomatoes. Your child could choose more fruit instead of veg if they are still learning.
- 1 iron rich protein, e.g. Beans (chickpeas, baked beans, lentils), edamame, nuts, seeds, peanut butter (if the school allows), hummus, veggie burger, roasted turkey or chicken slices, or a hardboiled egg.
- 1 calcium rich protein (dairy or dairy alternative) e.g. unflavoured cows or soy milk, plain or Greek yogurt or soy yoghurt, cheese.
- 1 wholegrain, e.g. wholemeal or wholegrain bread, crackers, pasta, rice, oats, quinoa, buckwheat, corn
- Water – a large bottle, preferably with ice in the warmer months, to keep everything chilled and tasting fresh.
This could look like:
- An apple or pear, a wholemeal cheese sandwich with carrot and cucumber sticks and a chia seed soy milk pudding.
- A banana, egg and mayo wrap with lettuce, cucumber and grated carrot with a few slics of cheese and wholemeal crackers
- Celery and capsicum with hommus, wholegrain corn cakes, cheese, and berries
- Cob of corn, leftover spaghetti bolognaise, carrot and snow peas, plain yoghurt