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Crack the lunch box issue
Making a healthy lunch box can be a labour of love for many mums. To get the new school year off to a good start, here are some tips on how to get your kids tucking into a nutritious lunch
Jamie Oliver may have helped transform the school canteen, but for the majority of parents, a lunch box is still more practical. Last year, 1.68 billion packed lunches were eaten at school, according to market research group Mintel. That's just under half of all school children regularly eating a packed lunch.
The pressure is on for parents to give their child a healthy diet. A recent survey of packed lunch trends found that despite increasing awareness of healthy eating for children, many lunch boxes remain unhealthy and loaded with a child's entire recommended daily allowance of sugar.
Over 80 per cent of the parents surveyed by Dole admitted their children's lunch box wasn't very healthy and many were at a loss over what to do about it.
A lunch your child will want to eat
But, while it's easy to research wholesome foods for your child, finding things they actually want to eat is not so easy, especially when you have a fussy eater on your hands. Here are eight ways to get your child into their lunch box.
1. Kids on the run
'It's important to remember that time is limited', says Helen Brown, author of Parenting for Dummies (Wiley, £14.99). 'During the infant years, kids need to be able to eat their lunch fast. They haven't got time to sit around and gently gnaw through an apple or big lunch box. It's got to be eaten quickly.'
Helen advises packing a smallish lunch box, depending on your child's appetite. A sandwich, drink and cut up pieces of fruit will probably be enough. Dashing around the playground is infinitely more fun than ploughing through a pasta salad, so think about food that's quick and easy for them to eat.
2. Lunch box teasing
Peer pressure is the biggest hurdle to overcome. Being teased for a healthy lunch box is a common playground scenario. Getting the balance between packing your child a healthy lunch without risking them being mocked is the key.
'The trick is to pack clever,' explains Helen Brown. 'Products like the 50/50 bread which looks white but is a wholemeal or a granary bun that looks like a burger bun can do the trick.'
It's not worth sending your child to school with a pot of houmous and crudites only for him to be scorned for eating a 'pot of sick'. It's far wiser to keep the lunch box simple and concentrate on variety at home.
3. Avoid lunch box junk
There's always going to be one kid with a packet of crisps, a chocolate bar and cheesy strings. Many primary schools now have a 'no junk lunch box' policy which helps to reduce peer pressure and lunch box competition. For the odd treat, choose fun packaged foods that are nutritious too.
New yoghurt and fromage frais tubes, smoothie pouches, healthy mini cheeses and children's crunch bars are just a few of the ranges on the market. Choose products with low salt and no added sugar if possible. A four to six-year-old should eat no more than 3g of salt a day (for more information visit www.salt.gov.uk).
Watch the sugar levels too. A product is high in sugar if it contains 10g or more of sugar per 100g and low in sugar if it contains 2g or less per 100g. Swap sweets for dried fruit. Homemade popcorn serves as a good snack, that's healthy too and can be used instead of crisps. Simple tricks, such as thinly buttering bread and using low-fat mayonnaise, can make a big impact on the overall fat count of the child's meal too.
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