Packing a healthy lunchbox

Filling your child’s lunchbox with foods from the 5 food groups can help them stay healthy and do their best at school. Here are some examples of lunchbox friendly foods. Don’t forget to include a bottle of tap water too.

Vegetables and legumes

• Fresh vegetables like carrots, cucumbers, corn on the cob, celery, capsicum, tomatoes, mushrooms, green beans, baby spinach, lettuce
• Canned or frozen vegetables and legumes like corn, peas, chickpeas or kidney beans
• Baked vegetables like pumpkin, sweet potato, zucchini, carrots
• Baked vegetable pancake, slice or frittata

Fruits

• Fresh fruit like apples, bananas, oranges, mandarins, pears, papaya, plums, peaches, strawberries, pineapple
• Tub of diced fruit in natural juice
• Dried fruit like a box of sultanas, dried apricots, prunes or dried apple rings

Grains

• Rice, noodles, pasta or cous cous
• Plain crackers, and corn or rice cakes
• Sandwiches, wraps or rolls, raisin or fruit bread, damper, scones or pikelets

Dairy

• Plain and flavoured milk
• Yoghurt in a tub/pouch
• Cheese slice, stick or cubes
• Custard (choose types with a Health Star Rating of 3.5 or more)
• Creamed rice
• Plant-based milk, yoghurt or cheese (choose types with added calcium)

Protein

• Lean meat and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds and legumes/beans
• Canned tuna or salmon and lean cold meats like chicken or beef can be used as fillings in a sandwich, roll or wrap
• Hard boiled eggs
• Baked beans, canned mixed beans or tofu cubes

Our menu planner and healthy recipe library both have lots of ideas for easy, healthy snacks and lunches. You can also use the Cancer Council NSW healthy lunchbox builder.

Plan your lunchbox

Packing a healthy lunchbox can help save you time and money. A little bit of planning can make it easier to pack your child’s lunchbox with healthy meals including snacks. Packing lunch boxes at night when making dinner could save you time in the morning rush. For example, you could:

• chop vegetables like celery, carrot or capsicum into sticks and store them in the fridge
• pack snacks like fresh fruit or veggies the night before school
• make or buy plain popcorn and store it in snack-sized portions
• cook extra serves at dinner to pack for lunch the next day
• use leftovers to make something new for lunch. You could use leftover stir-fry as the filling in a sushi sandwich or you could roast leftover pita bread to serve with hummus and veggie sticks.

If you’re buying packaged snacks, you can check the Health Star Rating on the label to see how healthy they are. The more stars, the healthier the choice.

Safe school lunchboxes

Young children don’t have fully developed immune systems. This means they can be more at risk of food poisoning. It’s important to keep school lunchboxes at a safe temperature of below 5°C. Here are some easy ways you can help keep lunchboxes safe:

• Add a frozen water bottle or freezer brick to the lunchbox in the morning to help keep it cool until lunchtime.
• Use an insulated lunch bag to help keep food cold.
• If you’re making lunches ahead of time, keep them in the fridge until your child leaves for school, or you can freeze them in advance.

Learn more about safe lunches for kids.