School catering
- Genetically Modified Food Policy
- Nut and Peanut Allergy Statement
- Why should I choose a school lunch for my child?
- News - What are we doing in the Central Contract
- Healthier Lunch Boxes
- Menu - School Meals
- National Nutritional Standards - Current Future
- Nutritional Analysis
- School catering
- School Milk
- Schools in the Central Contract
- Paying for school meals
- Eligibility for free school meals
- School Meals - background information
Healthier Packed Lunch Boxes
The Food in Schools Toolkit highlights that a lunchbox provides a valuable contribution towards a child's nutritional requirements for a day. Mintel (2002) estimates that more than 5.5 billion lunchboxes are packed for children each year in the UK. Research by the Food Standards Agency (2004) indicates that children who take a packed lunch to school are eating far too much fat, saturated fat, salt and sugar in one meal. The survey revealed that under a fifth of lunchboxes (16%) did not contain a starchy food such as sandwiches, pasta or rice, and that just under half the lunchboxes surveyed (48%) failed to contain a portion of fruit or chopped vegetables. Three out of four lunchboxes (74%) also fail to meet Government nutritional standards that were set for school meals in 2001.
What is a healthier lunchbox?
Variety is the key to a healthier lunchbox. Making a lunchbox healthier and appetising does not mean that they miss out on all the things that they enjoy eating. It is all about getting a balance and good variety of foods over a period of time, e.g. a week. No single food can provide all the essential nutrients that the body needs.
Healthy lunchbox suggestions
The following healthy lunchbox suggestions are taken from Sustain website. Try to vary the type of bread such as wholemeal, granary or high fibre white bread. Also make sandwiches from different kinds of bread including bread rolls, French bread, bagels and pitta bread as well as sliced bread.
Use a different sandwich filling each day - preferably including a fruit or vegetable.
For example:
- Chicken, lettuce and tomato
- Grated cheese and carrot
- Tuna and sweetcorn
- Cheese and cucumber
- Mashed banana
- Hummus
- Cottage cheese, grated carrot and grated apple
Fruit and vegetables
Some fruits to try:
- Seedless grapes
- Satsumas, tangerines or clementines (peeled and wrapped for younger children)
- Small bananas
- Cherries
- Apples (can be cut into pieces for younger children and brushed with lemon juice to avoid browning)
- Plums
- Dried fruit such as apricots, dates or raisins
- Fruit salad (apples, satsumas, pears, pineapple chunks, kiwi fruit and grapes work well together. Avoid bananas because they go brown)
- Canned fruit transferred to a pot (use fruit stored in natural fruit juices rather than syrup)
Some vegetables to try:
- Cherry tomatoes
- Carrot sticks
- Celery sticks
- Cucumber chunks
- Baby sweet corn
- Grated carrot and raisin salad
Drink
Avoid sugary and fizzy drinks. Instead use water or fruit juice.
Other lunch box items
Sweet suggestions
- Scones
- Malt loaf
- A flapjack
- Yoghurt
- Teacakes
Savoury suggestions
- Rice cakes
- Bread sticks
- A boiled egg
- Cheese and crackers
- Seeds e.g. sunflower seeds
Keep it cool to keep it fresh
- If you make sandwiches the night before, wrap them up and keep them in the fridge overnight.
- If you include a carton of fruit juice, keep it in the freezer until the morning before it will be drunk. Then put it directly in the lunch box - it will have thawed by lunchtime and kept the rest of the food cool.
- Use a small, insulated cool bag.
Contact Details
- Contact name
- School Catering Service
- Telephone
- 020 8760 5467
- allyson.lloyd@croydon.gov.uk
- Address
- London Borough of Croydon
Taberner House
Croydon
CR9 1TP
