School lunches

As a parent, one of your biggest daily challenges is probably what lunch to send your child off to school with.

Getting the balance between what’s healthy, nutritious and interesting enough can be difficult, but our libraries have some great resources to help you out.

Variety is key

Here are some tips to create interesting lunches and save money:

• Replace the traditional sandwich with different pita breads or tortilla wraps with the same kind of sandwich filling – cold chicken, tuna, beef, salad or vegetables;
• A pasta salad is always a tasty, healthy and nutritious option – include sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts and some grated cheese;
• Adding croutons or nuts to a salad will add different textures and flavours;
• Leftover pizza is another good lunch option and it is tasty cold;
• Pack some hummus in a plastic container. Cut a pita up into wedges for dipping along with some carrot sticks, celery sticks, broccoli, cauliflower, green pepper - whatever your child likes ;
• Replace chips with rice crackers or a mix of nuts and raisins, use roasted but unsalted for a healthier snack;
• Include a reusable ice pack with the lunch to keep it fresh, or freeze a water bottle or juice pack and include in the lunch. By lunch time it will have thawed.

School lunch resources

Our online resources

• Better diet - our page on improving your diet.
• Fast Food – finding information on and alternatives to fast food.

Our Internet Gateway recommends

• The Canterbury District Health Board has a helpful range of information sheets on children’s nutrition. These include the Healthy Nibbles, Healthy Nibbles for Tots and Healthy Nibbles for Teens and can be easily downloaded. Some of the specific topics include - What’s in a Wrapper? Quick Lunch Ideas which gives sensible ideas for school lunches, The Lunchbox Fix, How Much Sugar is in Drinks and much more.
• Lunch tips from the Green Party
• School lunch food safety tips from the New Zealand Food Safety Authority
• Top lunch box tips from Kidspot
• Exciting lunchbox ideas from the Healthyfood guide.

Browse the resources in our libraries

• Healthy lunch boxes – ideas and recipes
• School lunches by Terri Murphy. Published by Relay Health in RelayClinicalEducation, May 2011. Accessed 29 November 2011 via the Health and Wellness Resource database.