Australian cook Stephanie Alexander’s top tips to get kids creating healthy school lunches

As families prepare for another year of back to school learning, our experts provide great ideas to encourage kids to grow and create their own lunches.

Patrick Tadros

@ptadros

3 min read

January 25, 2022 - 2:04PM

News Corp Australia

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From planting vegetables to preparing and cooking food, children are inspired to grow their own lunches thanks to an involvement in school gardens.

And it’s encouraging them to eat healthy food and help them steer clear from chips, chocolate and soft drinks.

For almost 20 years, the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program has encouraged kids around Australia to harvest and cook nutritious food from the vegetables they have grown themselves at school.

Stephanie Alexander.

There are now over 1500 schools and services that are part of the kitchen garden family.

“The program promotes pleasurable food education, believing that for change to happen, it has to be experienced as a pleasure, not a chore or a punishment,” Alexander says.

“Participating schools and services create a garden to grow edible crops, set up a space where the plants can be prepared and cooked, and an attractive table or tables where the students can taste and share what they have made.”

Getting young hands dirty and planting food is a natural mood booster, and a great way to get children to learn about healthier options outside of the classroom.

As families prepare for another year of back to school learning, our experts provide great ideas to encourage kids to grow and create their own lunches.

SCHOOL LUNCH IS CHILD’S PLAY

Some of Alexander’s top lunch box meals for kids include grated carrot (tossed with sultanas) dressed with lemon juice and olive oil, celery sticks dipped with cucumber tzatziki and cherry tomatoes wrapped in a fragrant basil leaf.

Kids can add homegrown fruit and vegetables to their lunch boxes every day.

“We are all starting 2022 with high hopes and I know that many lunch boxes will reflect the interest that students have taken in discovering fresh and healthy foods, whether they have been grown in the school kitchen garden, at home or selected at a local store,” she says.

Naturopath and nutritionist Madeline Calfas says other ideas include salad pots and quiches.

“Use vegies such as carrot and zucchini and bake them into breads and muffins. Likewise, growing berries is a wonderful opportunity to have the fun of baking them into yummy snacks to take to school,” she says.

“Using a dehydrator is a fabulous way to take fruit and veggies that you have grown at home and take them to school for a delicious snack.”

Making homemade juices and sauces can also add more fruits and vegetables into their meals.

SOWING HEALTHY HABITS

Kids who grow food have a better appreciation of where food comes from.

“Rather than going through life thinking food comes from the supermarket, growing their own means they get to appreciate that food doesn’t come pre-packaged all the time,” naturopath and nutritionist Madeline Calfas says.

“The other benefit is the sense of pride in playing a role in creating something that can be harvested and put into their lunch box or served on the family dinner table.”

Endeavour Sports High School Caringbah students are growing their minds as well as healthy food in their garden.

They grow zucchini, lettuce, lemons, tomatoes, carrots, watermelon and strawberries.

Garden at Endeavour Sports high school in Caringbah

“Our edible garden is educating students about how food is grown and the challenges that must be overcome to do so,” the school’s principal James Kozlowski says.

“Once the food is picked it is used in recipes cooked by our students in their Food Technology classes. Kids love it and, as evidenced by their responses to our social media posts, the parents think it is fantastic.”