The $200 lunch box that’s a staple for modern school kids

It was once an old plastic bottle of water and a barely-held-together sandwich. But for today’s kids, lunch has to be so much more slick.

Health coach Sharon Selby unpacks the rise of the $200 lunch box.

Remember when school lunches were a white bread vegemite sandwich, a mandarin of

indeterminate vintage and a home-baked slice if Mum hadn’t overdone it at the progressive dinner the weekend before?

Well the game has changed. Welcome to the era of the $200 lunch box when it’s not just what’s inside but what your lunch is transported in that matters.

First up the bento box which has usurped Tupperware as the vehicle of choice and the main reason why your kids’ lunch boxes are now worth more than your weekly grocery shop. These multi-compartmented, Instagrammable Japanese-style marvels with dividers, leak-proof lids and more attitude than your average PE teacher, cost up to $110 depending on whether they’re monogrammed, pastel or designed by a Scandi influencer.

Then there’s the thermally insulated lunch bag which will prevent your kids’ sushi giving them salmonella but, frankly, should also be able to teach them their times tables considering you’re shelling out up to $50 for what is effectively a $2.49 Aldi cool bag only smaller. Add a pair of icepacks with washable cotton covers for $34.95.

Finally, throw in a Frank Green water bottle ($59.95 or $114.95 for a Bottle and Bowl Bundle) because heaven forbid your child should hydrate from some cheap non-aesthetic receptacle even if they’d prefer the plastic Superman version they picked up at the Easter show.

Gone are the days of the white bread vegemite sandwich. Picture: Supplied

Pre-made sushi, organic crispy rice clouds and fruit gummies, packing a Le Snak or Tiny Teddies could have your child socially cancelled before recess. Picture: Supplied

If that’s not costly enough, then you’ve got the contents: pre-made sushi from Woollies at $9 a serve; organic crispy rice clouds ($5.30); single-serve beef jerky ($6.50); buckwheat cakes ($11.50) and fruit gummies ($4.50). As you can see, packing a Le Snak or Tiny Teddies could have your child socially cancelled before recess.

It’s a trend health coach Sharon Selby has noticed, pointing out that parents are caught between two extremes – an expensive, performative lunch box culture and the challenge of providing nutritious meals.

While she’s a fan of the bento-style lunch boxes because they help parents provide a variety of food she says she’s less interested in the container than what’s inside.

“I don’t care what lunch boxes look like. It’s the number of processed foods with their refined carbohydrates, loads of sugar and preservatives, and lack of vegetables, fibre and healthy fats that’s the real problem,” she says.

Citing a Deakin University study which shows, on average, that 60 per cent of lunch boxes are filled with ultra-processed foods, she calls them nutrient “robbers” because kids use energy digesting these snacks but they give back no nutritional value.

In fact, as Selby points out, while a bento-style lunch box might be costly to start, children will eat 2600 school lunches over their education lifetime so a quality container that looks attractive and encourages diversity is an investment in their health.

Health coach Sharon Selby says parents are caught between two extremes – an expensive, performative lunch box culture and the challenge of providing nutritious meals.

Selby, who posts lunch box ideas on Instagram, teaches a stress-free framework which she calls “lunch boxes from leftovers”. For instance, if she’s cooking spaghetti Bolognese for dinner she’ll mix the pasta and sauce with two eggs and bake it as a slice which she then cuts into squares and freezes. She also spends 10 minutes after dinner turning leftover roast vegetables into veggie fritters or muffins.

“Build your freezer stash over time so you can grab things on busy mornings and don’t worry about repeating the same meal because kids love predictability,” she says.

In Australia, the average daily cost of food for a lunch box is $4.48 according to research done by Flinders University last year. Further, parents and caregivers perceive healthy food as being more costly and inconvenient than convenience foods even though the study found that the cost of a healthy and sustainable food basket was cheaper than a typical Australian food basket.

They acknowledged, however, that healthy food required more preparation and cooking, demanding more time and a higher skill level.

Luka McCabe, founder of Boob to Food which has 502K followers on Instagram, says her posts on school lunch boxes are popular but she’s concerned about the mental pressure on parents to pack elaborate lunches particularly now some schools have banned food packaging all together.

Selby, who posts lunch box ideas on Instagram, teaches a stress-free framework which she calls “lunch boxes from leftovers”. Picture: Supplied

“Then there’s the rise of the Instagram perfection when it comes to lunch boxes,” she says. “I’m a fan of bento boxes because they keep food fresh and airtight and inspire you to put different food in the different sections but you don’t have to buy those.”

A mother of three children aged 10, seven and four, McCabe says her platform tries to provide free information for parents who may feel intimidated by the cost of lunch boxes and the pressure to fill them with a perfectly balanced lunch. While parents are now realising the importance of incorporating protein-rich food in their children’s lunch boxes, she wants to relieve some of the pressure by reminding them that “bookending” the day with a protein-rich breakfast and dinner means lunch isn’t as critical.

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TIPS FOR PARENTS

*Branded lunch boxes and drink bottles can set you back a fortune so look for low-cost alternatives in Aldi or Kmart.

*If your child hasn’t eaten the fruit in their lunch box, Selby advises getting them to eat it on the way home from school before you offer alternative snacks.

*Smoothies with yoghurt, eggs, leftover sausages and baked beans are all good protein-rich breakfasts which set kids up for the day, according to McCabe.

*Batch cook finger food like meatballs and muffins and freeze to save money and time.

Originally published as The $200 lunch box that’s a staple for modern school kids