Healthy school lunches: Parents ditch traditional sandwiches for leftovers, gourmet options

More Australian kids are ditching the sandwich in school lunches. But as the pressure increases for more gourmet food, parents are being warned not to fall into the convenience trap. SEE SEVEN WAYS TO MAKE A TOP LUNCHBOX

Exclusive: More Australian parents are ditching the humble sandwich in school lunch boxes as kids get bored with them, or develop dietary problems.

But as the pressure increases for more gourmet food, parents are being warned against resorting to highly processed packaged foods simply because these are quicker and more convenient to prepare.

Nutrition Australia and the Cancer Council are joining forces today to call on parents to consider adding healthy dinner leftovers and other creative options.

As Nutrition Australia launches its Healthy Lunchbox Week, the Cancer Council is expanding its popular national Healthy Lunch box website, which allows parents and kids to build an interactive version of what their ideal lunch would be.

Nutrition Australia’s Accredited Practising Dietitian, Leanne Elliston, told News Corp that non-sandwich options are not necessarily more expensive.

They also want parents to continue embracing the ‘nude food’ concept where foods are served out of packets and plastic bags, to cut waste.

“With a little planning and food preparation, you can save money while providing

more nutritious options for your children, reduce environmental impact and limit the age-old

playground litter problem all schools face,” she said.

Parents’ Voice campaign manager Alice Pryor also said with only five per cent of Australian kids eating enough vegetables per day.

She said the sandwich is being reinvented or replaced.

“The pressure to keep up with the Joneses has been intensified by social media and it can be difficult to stay on top of the latest lunch box trends,” she said.

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The Cancer Council's Healthy Lunchbox website which enables kids and parents to build an interactive version of their lunch box. Picture: Supplied

The campaigns come as the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ recent National Health Survey from 2017-2018 revealed almost one quarter of children aged 5-17 years were overweight or obese (17 per cent overweight and 8.1 per cent obese).

The rates were similar for boys and girls and this has remained stable over the previous ten years.

Cancer Council NSW Nutrition Program Manager, Wendy Watson said the Council’s Healthy Lunch Box website promotes simplicity.

“We know that a child will eat around 2,500 lunches throughout their time at school, so we wanted to make it as simple as possible for parents to make healthy eating easy, interesting and engaging for their kids,” she said.

“We have a range of multicultural things on offer as we know lot of people don’t eat sandwiches.

“Some of them include baked bean muffins, bliss balls made from rolled oats and fruit, dishes made with lentils and dahl.

“We still think it’s important for children to have the nutrients in bread but they can get it from rice or pasta, so that’s why there’s a variety of recipes there that would incorporate other grains like quinoa and couscous.”

Ms Watson said many of the recipes can be made as a dinner option and turned into lunch box leftovers.

“Setting kids up with healthy habits now for life and maintaining a healthy weight are important in avoiding cancer in the long term,” she said.

Taste.com.au, News Corp Australia’s website that reaches one in two Australian households every month, has also found the top five lunch box searches in the back-to-school period last year were not sandwiches. They were banana bread, zucchini slice, muffins, savoury muffins and quiche.

The Grains & Legumes Nutrition Council’s Nutrition Manager Felicity Curtain defended the sandwich to News Corp, saying bread is still “really nutritious”.

“Grain foods like bread contain more than 26 different natural substances that keep us healthy, such as fibre, B-group vitamins, folate, thiamin, zinc, vitamin E and antioxidants,” she said.

“Whole grain bread are higher in fibre, protein and lower in sodium (salt) — look for the wold ‘whole’ or ‘whole grain.’”

Rachel Clemons with her kids Elliot, 8, Georgia, 10, and Lucy, 6, Veerhuis. Picture: Richard Dobson

‘GET YOUR KIDS INVOLVED’

Mother-of-three Rachel Clemons, 47, from Marrickville, told News Corp serving sandwiches daily is impossible with her kids Georgia, 10, Elliot, 8, and Lucy, 6, Veerhuis.

“I try to give an alternative as sandwiches come home untouched,” she said.

“We enjoy a bit of variety. My eldest (Georgia) is keen on MasterChef and cooking. Kids are a bit more aware of food trends and what’s gourmet.

“She’s also told me I can’t give her a yoghurt in tub that has word ‘kids’ on it, which is OK, we work around it.”

She said her kids love eating wholemeal Lebanese wraps with a protein like BBQ chicken, corn beef and lettuce, with herbs picked from the garden.

Her daughter Georgia also loves hummus while Elliot and Lucy will eat mustard or chutney.

Ms Clemons also serves them multigrain corn thins, Vita-Wheats, or dry crackers with a spread.

Elliot, 8, Georgia, 10, and Lucy, 8, Veerhuis. Their mum Rachel Clemons makes healthy lunch boxes for school. Parents are increasingly ditching sandwiches because of boredom or dietary issues, for a more gourmet lunch. Picture: Richard Dobson

In winter, her kids like to take warm leftovers including bolognese pasta, fried rice or noodles in meal pots that keep until lunch.

“They also love taking pieces of homemade pizza with a simple tomato base, cheese and basil, mushrooms or capsicum, which they help make.

“The more they’re involved with meal preparation, the more likely they’re going to eat it,” she said.

Rachel Clemons makes healthy lunch boxes for school that include beef lettuce and mustard wraps, Greek yoghurt and berries, fava beans and veggies. Picture: Richard Dobson

“In the hot weather we also do tabouli, it’s nice to have a cold salad, which there’s a consensus on, so I can pop it into all three lunch boxes.”

Her kids also have a Crunch & Sip program at their school, which they take fresh fruit and raw veggies for along with water.

As for dairy, her girls have Greek yoghurt with frozen berries on top and her son has soy yoghurt or soy milk in a popper due to allergies.

Rachel Clemons with her 3 kids Elliot (8) Georgia (10) and Lucy (6). Picture: Richard Dobson

‘THERE’S PRESSURE BUT KEEP IT EASY, SIMPLE’

Mother-of-three Therese John from East Brighton, told News Corp she has to serve a variety of lunch box alternatives to make it “exciting” for her children Miranda, 9, Emmett, 15, and Oliver, 17.

“They can’t do the sandwich every day, if you plan and give them variety, then it’s OK,” she said.

“There’s definitely that pressure on parents after your kids see what other children are eating, the ‘nude food’ lunch too puts pressure on parents to try to do the right thing and minimise waste in their lunches.

“We have Turkish breads, wraps, sourdough bread to keep it different and I give them salads — we try and have leftovers from dinner the next day.”

Mrs John said her daughter likes cherry tomatoes, baby cucumbers, snow peas and she puts lettuce cups in her lunch box so she can make her own snack with her veggies.

Siblings Emmett, 15, Oliver, 17, and Miranda John, 9, at home with their school lunch boxes. Picture: Ian Currie

She also likes Turkish bread with tuna or oysters and she sends her to school with a small can of them, along with celery sticks and hummus instead of crackers.

She also serves her kids strawberries, blueberries and freezes yoghurt overnight so when they eat it at recess it’s still “like ice cream” in their lunch cooler bag.

“We have thermoses for noodles and soups, and if we have ravioli, my daughter loves it with sauce,” she said.

“I also make quiches, plain pancakes, and we have a popcorn machine that we use in the morning to make it while eating breakfast as it’s better than serving chips.

“That way, they can wrap the strawberry in with the pancake. We also make healthy muffins with carrots and do zucchini quiches and I do make sushi for dinner and they can have that as a leftover in their lunch box too.”

Oysters, fruit, veggies, popcorn and a hot cross bun are just some of the items in the lunch boxes of siblings Emmett, 15, Oliver, 17, and Miranda John, 9. Picture: Ian Currie

Her son Oliver, who is going into Year 12, won’t have butter on anything, but likes vegemite on a roll, and whole apples as he doesn’t like anything cut up.

“Once they get to secondary school the nude food goes out the window, the boys eat a lot and they eat outside and they want to eat fast so they can get out on the basketball court and play with their friends,” she said.

“When they’re older they’re also going to supermarkets on the way home so it’s a bit more out of your control.

“But you have to make it easy and simple for them to eat.”

Bernadette Hanly with her son Thomas, 7, with his lunch boxes. Picture: Annette Dew

‘I LIKE TO KEEP THINGS FUN AND VARIED’

Kids food blogger and mother-of-three Bernadette Hanly, 38, from Sandgate told News Corp she always gives her son Thomas, 7, a variety of items in his lunch box.

She gives him vegetable and ham and cheese skewers on reusable food sticks, pizza-topped English muffins, wraps and pita pockets with lettuce, cream cheese, ham or vegetables.

“I try and keep things fun and varied so he doesn’t get bored,” she said.

“But I like to put an emphasis on healthy food options.”

Her son also gets raw vegetables, and savoury snack options including popcorn and slices of cheese.

Mrs Hanly, who also runs a website, blog and Instagram page titled ‘Goodie Goodie Lunchbox’, gives him homemade crackers, and sweet treats she bakes which are lower in sugar than packaged supermarket items.

She makes him carrot cake bliss balls, dairy-free strawberry coconut cookies, and makes a chocolate brownie that’s sweetened with banana, maple syrup and even has zucchini in it.

Bernadette Hanly’s son Thomas takes homemade pizza-topped English muffins, fruit, a muffin and veggies in his lunch box. Picture: Annette Dew

“I love baking and I’m really passionate about what goes into my child’s lunch, and I share my recipes on the blog and Instagram page to help other parents,” she said.

Mrs Hanly, who has more than 30,000 Instagram followers, said the key to making lunch boxes is to plan ahead, make in bulk and then freeze food.

“I work as well as doing the food blog and have a full-time job and everything is really stretched with my three young kids, so I have a lunch box planner, I bake in bulk and freeze things that can keep for up two months,” she said.

“It then takes me five or 10 minutes a night to put the box together.”

She said Thomas likes leftovers including pasta carbonara, pasta with salad and in winter, he eats warm pumpkin soup for lunch.

“We also have ‘Lunch & Crunch’ at school and he takes a piece of fruit or veggie snack in a separate container that he can have during their break for that or he eats as they go.”