Health & Nutrition >> Kids Corner

Children’s Lunchboxes – Remember the 4x C’s!

With all the advice and suggestions floating around about the right kind of food to include in a child’s lunchbox - combined with the desire to get the health and taste balance correct, parents are advised to “remember the 4 c’s!”

Crunch, Colour, Comfort and Choice are the four things to bear in mind when compiling lunchboxes for children. Children love crunchy sounds – so this is an easy way to get them to eat vegetables – include sticks of raw vegetables in the lunchbox such as peppers, carrots, celery or cucumber.  These can be made even more appealing and tasty by including a healthy relish with no added sugar or salt.

Fruit and vegetables are also very colourful – and children love colour!   Make up a yoghurt fruit smoothie – blend yoghurt with frozen berries and add a touch of sweetness with a dollop of Folláin No Added Sugar Blackcurrant jam!  As well as looking and tasting fab, this protein-rich Vitamin C drink is easily brought to school in a plastic sealed beaker or flask!

A flask of home-made vegetable soup can provide comfort as well as colour during the colder months and helps children get some of their 5 a day.

It’s worth remembering that older children get tired of the same food all the time so choice and variety are important to them.  However, toddlers or children who have just started school need easy-to-manage small nutritious portions and tend to like familiar foods.

Lunch should supply one third of daily food requirements:

Lunch is an important meal for children and should supply the child with one third of the daily food requirements.  The simplest and most effective way to plan a healthy lunch is to include at least one item from each of the four 4 food groups.

Those groups are: Cereals and Starch; Fruit and Vegetables; Dairy products and Protein. 

5 suggested School Lunches >>

Food Groupings >>