Creative ideas for school lunches kids will actually eat.Getty Images
New school year, new lunches. For parents packing lunch boxes for their young learners, it can be a struggle to make meals that are nutritious that kids will actually finish.
“Parents can sometimes get caught up in what other kids are eating and feel badly if their kids aren’t as adventurous,” says Aviva Wittenberg, the author of Lunchbox, a cookbook that features over 75 lunchtime recipes and endless tips. “But all that really matters is that kids have full bellies going into the afternoon of learning.”
So, how can you make sure your child’s lunch is both nutritious and something they’ll look forward to? Here are some tips on how to pack lunches that kids will actually enjoy.
Make it all visible
Nicole Addison, a registered dietitian and owner of Nourish by Nic, says that kids are more likely to eat something if it’s right in front of them. “That way, they can take bits and pieces of the meal and eat at their pleasure and based on their own schedule,” Addison says.
Wittenberg agrees: When her daughter was younger, “if she couldn’t see into a container, she wouldn’t eat it.”
To encourage your child to dig in, the best way to pack a lunch is by making all the components visible. No individual packages or separate containers, which kids have to open before digging in. Wittenberg recommends a bento-style lunchbox that separates all the food and lays it all out in the open.
“There’s no mystery, you open a lid and see your whole lunch and decide what you want to eat,” she says. “Plus, it’s fewer things to lose.”
Go with favourites
A packed lunch is not the time to try something new, Wittenberg and Addison emphasize. Eating at school, away from the supervision and support of their guardians, kids won’t want to eat something they’ve never had before. Especially as lunch’s function is to fuel kids’ afternoon of learning, it’s better to stick to reliable favourites to ensure that they actually eat.
“Yes, we want kids to be eating as much variety as possible,” Addison says. “But introduce brand-new foods at dinner, where you can talk them through it.”
Get them involved
The best way to get kids excited for lunch is to get them in on the planning. Wittenberg says that when her kids were younger, she’d give them lunch cookbooks and let them pick exactly what things they wanted. “They were picking stuff that they wanted to eat so they would look forward to eating,” she says. “It was really key that they be decision-makers in anything that I packed.”
Addison says that getting kids involved in lunch planning can be as easy as going grocery shopping together. “Picking out what they might want to have in their lunch is really really helpful,” Addison says. That way, “they know what to expect when they’re eating.”
A few ideas for creative lunches:
Though lunch might not be the best time to try totally new recipes or experiment with new foods, there are a few ways to jazz up your lunchboxes.
Begin with a simple formula
To make things simple, Addison relies on a basic equation for all meals. “When I’m looking at a plate, I’d like a quarter of the plate to be protein, a quarter to be some fibre-filled carbohydrate to give energy and then the other half should be full of fruits and vegetables,” she says. From there, you can riff endlessly.
Use shapes
An easy way to punch up any food is by cutting the food into fun shapes. Not only does it make everything look cute, it can encourage kids to eat more. “Kids can be funny with stuff like that,” Wittenberg says. “My kids wouldn’t eat a carrot cut into a stick, but if I use a little flower cutter, they would.”
Tools that can cut food into fun shapes are a great investment for lunchtime (little vegetable cutters come in a variety of shapes online). But you can also use what you already have at home: Addison says that using a cookie cutter to get sandwiches into fun shapes is an easy way to add some visual appeal to an otherwise boring dish.
Play with the visual
Aside from cutting elements into shapes, playing around with how the packed lunch looks can make it more appealing for kids (and add an element of whimsy for the person packing). Something as simple as arranging foods by colour can make a world of difference. “I used to pack vegetables in rainbow order,” Wittenberg says. This made her kids more likely to finish their veggies—an unequivocal win.
For even more visual flair, Wittenberg suggests using Japanese food picks—small, decorative picks often topped with cute animal heads or fun shapes—to add even more visual flair to your child’s lunch. These picks not only make the meal more appealing but also make it easier for kids to pick up finger foods. Just be sure to choose picks that are appropriate for your child’s age to avoid any choking hazards.