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‘Bundles of joy’ went back to school this week, and for many, they were starting school for the first time. Other than the anxiety of dropping off your child in the care of someone who is not well known to you, packing the ‘right’ school lunch is another area of concern that parents often struggle with (at least I did). As a parent to a picky eater, I wondered what to pack in the lunch box. How much to pack? And whether that will be enough.

For the most part, it is well known that when preparing school lunch, it is ideal that you pack at least one item from different food groups for a balanced lunch box. I usually winged it myself when it came to such. However, I tried these 5 tips and found them to help reduce the stress of packing school lunch for my then-toddler.

1. Plan and prepare in advance

Having a weekly lunch schedule helped a great deal. By doing this, I could plan and ensure that I have all the ingredients I need for whatever I pack on a specific day. Trust me, you do not want to be frantically searching for ingredients in the morning when you are supposed to be doing the school drop-off (amongst many other things). It also helps to prepare lunch the night before whilst ensuring you do not compromise the freshness of the food.

2. Use a portable lunch box with different compartments 

Other than being cute and neat, using a compartmentalised lunch box to separate the different elements of their lunch is very helpful. It is so, especially if you have a picky eater who does not like their food mixing (side note, I also adopted this for my work lunch). You can also use muffin cases to separate food items.

Plug: You can get these lunch boxes at most major retailers such as Clicks and Checkers/Checkers Hyper etc.

3. Pack according to their preference

Surely, I am not the only parent who has fallen victim to packing a fancy and exotic lunch, and only for it to come back barely touched? And quite frankly, deep down, I would know that is not really what she would eat for lunch if she is at home. But who would not want to pack their ‘bundle of joy’ a pretty and aesthetically pleasing lunch? Sooner, however, I learned that school lunch is not the time to start trying new or fancy food items on the child. To increase the chances of the lunch box coming back empty, stick to what they prefer and like, whilst ensuring that it is nutritious. Then, you can gradually introduce other food items, preferably at home, before loading them into their lunch boxes.

4. Prepare according to their age

In between potty training and many other things that the incredibly patient pre-school teachers must do, they certainly will not have time to peel your child’s orange or cut their cheese into bite sizes. So, make sure that their food is manageable and easy to eat, especially if they are still at a younger age. Also, we as parents can get carried away and pack too much food. We forget that there are limited times for children to eat during the day, given other areas of their curriculum that they engage in, including playtime.

5. Always pack water

At some point at my child’s school, there was a rule that if you forget to pack a water bottle for your child, the school will buy them one and charge it to the parent’s account. I guess this is one area that I got right from the get-go. Even if I pack fruit juice (please don’t judge!), I always include a water bottle that she can use and refill throughout the school day. So, do not forget to pack a water bottle in that lunch box!

Photo by Anthony Shkraba from Pexels