Lunchbox clever

Pasta is the perfect alternative, and it is easy to make great salads. For maximum impact, use tricolour or animal-shaped pasta. Cook it with a few drops of olive oil to prevent it sticking, then cool in the fridge. Mix this in a small pot with such favourites as cubes of cheese and cucumber, olives, grapes, dried fruit and nuts, chopped red pepper, grated carrot, cherry tomatoes, tuna fish or canned salmon.

Fruit can be fun, too, as there’s a wealth of different fruit available if the young luncher can be persuaded to experiment. Kiwi or fun-looking star fruit make an exciting change, or use a scoop to cut small melon balls, which can be stabbed with a cocktail stick.

‘It’s best to prepare fruit at home and place it in small pots, or used dried fruit,’ advises Mrs Kite. ‘It is not hygienic for one school knife to be used to cut up apples for all the children.’

Leftovers for lunch
It’s incredibly time-consuming preparing a proper cold meal for lunch, unless the previous evening’s leftovers can be adapted easily. Do avoid rice, however, which does not keep safely out of a fridge.

Yesterday’s dinner may impress other parents, but your child may not appreciate your efforts. ‘Children are under great pressure to go out and play during their lunch,’ complained a mother whose homemade chicken salad lunch had been returned untouched by her critical daughter.

The numerous pre-made snacks – Frubes, Dippers, Winders and so on – can be expensive but they are an easy way of introducing colour and variety. Mrs Kite, however, sounds a note of caution. ‘If children are having a lot of these pre-packed items they can become fussier eaters who won’t touch ‘real’ food. It is important that they continue to have fresh food and fruit.’

But children hate to feel left out, and peer pressure can be considerable. The best of these treats work well in tandem with the traditional offerings to ensure that your child has enough energy to bounce through both halves of the school day.

More: Read the lunchbox taste test