Lunch boxing, you either love it or it’s a pain in the backside, right? Do you ever struggle with ideas for school lunches? Or having food left in the fridge to fill a lunchbox? Do yourself a favour and meal plan school lunch boxes!
If you’ve landed on this page, it’s safe to assume you have school-aged children. Fun fact: If you pack a lunch box for one child, every school day for their primary school years, that’s 1400 lunch boxes made. If that thought makes you shudder rather than rejoice, I’m here to help! As a teacher and now school mum, I’ve gathered some fantastic tips to make life easier, and that ridiculous number of lunch boxes seem not so bad.
Tip: Meal plan lunch boxes
It’s easy to fall into the habit of packing the same things into a lunch box every day. But variety is the spice of life, right? Not only is it more enjoyable, but having a varied lunch each day teaches our children the importance of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle.
On the flip side, maybe your child is like mine and wants their lunch box filled with different foods each day? My boy PK loves variety. This can be difficult to plan and shop for – I only shop once a week and hate going back to the supermarket for additional items. Whatever the scenario, the answer is simple. Save yourself the mental bother and that ‘what do you want in your lunch box’ conversation 🤯. Plan a week-long lunch box menu! It’s the perfect solution to many lunch box packing woes.
How are you packing? Bento box vs lunch box
What you use to pack lunch can make a huge difference to the foods eaten. There are so many lunch containers and lunch bags on the market now, it can be hard to work out what you need.
Both bento boxes and traditional lunch boxes have their advantages for school kids. Bento boxes offer separate compartments that can help in portion control and provide variety in meals. They often promote healthier eating habits due to the structured sections. With food items separated, they’re more likely to stay fresh and so you don’t need to rely on packaged goods. Bento boxes are really designed to make heathy eating as easy as possible!
On the other hand, traditional lunch boxes might offer more space for larger items like sandwiches and drinks. They are also easier to clean with only one large compartment. The choice between the two often depends on personal preferences, dietary needs, and the type of meals you want to pack for your kids.
For my son, a bento box style lunch box is a great option. His current bento box has four different compartments to keep foods separate. There are also dividers available if I want to create more (smaller) compartments. It’s a large size, because sometimes he’s a big eater. Other times, he’s not! We put it in a cooler bag with an ice pack, to keep the food fresh for longer. Australian summers can be HOT, and the lunch needs to withstand being outdoors for half the day!
I’m happy to say that in my boy’s lunch box, you’ll never find packaging. There’s no need, with the design of the bento box. This has great health benefits (encouraging fresh food over commercially produced items which can be higher in salt, sugar etc.) as well as environmental. Not to mention the fact that it saves money! I rarely buy any individually packaged snacks and biscuits, which can be pretty costly per item.
What gets packed?
I find it easiest to plan with the following categories in mind:
- Lunch item (carbs and protein)
- Fresh fruit and/or vegetables
- Savoury and/or Sweet (note that most ‘sweets’ I make are sugar-free! 😆)
On our meal plan, each weekday has a lunch item (like a sandwich, wrap, homemade pizza); fruit and/or vegetables (apple, strawberries, carrot sticks, cucumber sticks etc.); a savoury (cheese and rice crackers, plain popcorn, savoury muffin, pea crisps etc.) and/or a little homemade sweet (Cacao Chocolate Bliss Ball, Chocolate Cacao Nib Cookie, Sultana Cookie etc.).
My boys absolutely LOVE fruit and vegetables, and so PK will normally have two compartments full in his lunch box 😊. I know this may not be the case for other children, who will want savoury and sweet snacks instead!
PK also takes a separately packed piece of fruit or veggie for the brain break/fruit break. This is a little break the children have in the first learning session, to tide them over until their first food break.
Have a lunch box meal plan, but stay flexible
It’s important to stay flexible. There is a plan, but if I have dinner leftovers that I can use, then I’ll pack that!
And PK has a choice of fruit and veggies each day (within reason and what’s in the fridge of course), so he’s more likely to eat them 😁.
A lot of items I make in a batch and freeze, like cookies. So when it comes time to write the shopping list, I check the plan, check my freezer stash, work out what I need to make and/or buy for the week and put it on the list. How awesome are the weeks where the only food prep I have is to chop fruit and veggie sticks! 🥳
Lunchbox printable: Free lunch box meal plan printable
I love a free printable that’s going to help reduce the mental load! Download your own blank weekly lunch box meal plan here. I laminated mine, so I could use a whiteboard marker and wipe clean when it was time to update (teachers love their laminating!).
Make the plan work for you – do your children want/need more fruit and vegetables? More carbs or dairy? Always plan around your children’s dietary needs, what container/s you have and how you can keep food fresh.
I’ve found that lunch box meal planning is a great way to save time, mental energy and money. For PK, it means he is pretty much guaranteed yummy, healthy lunches with variety across the week. Winner! I hope this helps you with packing lunch boxes for your children. Let me know in the comments below?
Happy planning!
Chloe x
