Food24
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Round-ups
    • New Recipes
    • South African Recipes
    • Chicken Recipes
    • Baking
    • Braai Recipes
    • Pasta Recipes
    • Easy Weekday Meals
    • Plant-based Recipes
  • News
    • Food News
  • Videos
  • Drinks
    • Wine
    • Beer
    • Cocktails
    • Coffee
  • Newsletters
  • More
    • Cooking Guides and Tips
    • Create your cookbook
    • Veganuary
    • Win
No Result
View All Result
Food24
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Round-ups
    • New Recipes
    • South African Recipes
    • Chicken Recipes
    • Baking
    • Braai Recipes
    • Pasta Recipes
    • Easy Weekday Meals
    • Plant-based Recipes
  • News
    • Food News
  • Videos
  • Drinks
    • Wine
    • Beer
    • Cocktails
    • Coffee
  • Newsletters
  • More
    • Cooking Guides and Tips
    • Create your cookbook
    • Veganuary
    • Win
No Result
View All Result
Food24
No Result
View All Result

Nutritious lunchbox ideas

Claudine Ryan by Claudine Ryan
January 10, 2011
in Food News
0
Nutritious lunchbox ideas
0
SHARES
88
VIEWS
FacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsapp

With the start of a new year and schools going
back soon, one needs to think about making lunchboxes again. 

According to Claudine Ryan, registered dietician (SA) for Compass Group
Southern Africa, “Keeping a lunchbox nutritious and exciting at the same time
need not be tricky.” 

“Creative efforts with your child/children’s lunchbox/es will stimulate
concentration, behaviour and energy levels during and after school hours,” says
Ryan.  

If lunchboxes were am algebra equation, it should read like this:

Nutritious Lunchbox = ½(Fruit/Veg) + ¼ Low GI Starch + ¼ Protein

Equation explained:

½ lunchbox = Fruit + Vegetables

 

Use at least 2 different colours to ensure your
child gets a variety of minerals and vitamins.

You can include some:

  • Greens
    such as cucumber wedges, snap peas, green melon balls, green grapes or
    kiwi slices
  • Pinks,
    reds or purple such as cherry tomatoes, tomato wedges, strawberries,
    watermelon cubes, black grapes
  • Yellows
    or orange such as baby carrots, mini corn (mielies), naartjie segments,
    spanspek balls
  • Whites
    such as button mushrooms, apple wedges, peeled litchis or
  • Multi-colours
    such as coleslaw, mini vegetable skewers, fruit salad, fruit sticks.

 
¼ lunchbox (1 fistful) = low GI starch 

Include low GI whole wheat and seed breads, whole wheat pita breads, mini pita
pizza slices, provita, rye vita, rye bread, low GI baked treats (such as
muffins), cooked low GI pasta (whole wheat is better) , low GI rice (brown rice
is better), barley, baby potatoes, low GI pancakes for savoury wraps and
homemade mini low GI quiches.
 
¼ lunchbox = protein (size of your child’s palm) 

Include:

  • Healthy
    sources of fish such as tuna in water, fishcakes made with pilchards or
    sardines
  • Meat
    such as shaved cold meats, mini meatballs made with lean mince
  • Chicken
    such as grilled chicken strips, kebabs, shredded chicken as filling
  • Dairy
    such as low fat yoghurt, low fat flavoured milk, low fat cheeses
  • Boiled
    eggs or
  • Lean
    biltong can be included as a treat.

 
Additions to the lunchbox
 
Add only 1 serving of fat
Examples of healthier fats include:

  • 1
    tablespoon of low oil mayonnaise/dressing
  • Mashed
    avocado or
  • Low
    fat cream cheese

 
Drink
Healthy drinks include:

  • Water
  • Diluted
    fruit juice (100 %)
  • Homemade
    iced tea
  • Flavoured
    low fat milk or
  • Hot
    chocolate with low fat milk in winter

 
Special treat
Children love special treats in their lunchboxes, which include:

  • Low
    GI home baked items like low GI chocolate muffins
  • Healthy
    snack bars
  • Fruit
    bars
  • Dried
    fruit
  • Home
    popped popcorn or
  • Oat
    biscuits

 
Remember…

1.      It takes some
planning

  • Stock
    up on healthy foods at home.
  • Plan
    ahead by drawing up a weekly lunch “menu” to avoid repetition of food
    items.

 

2.      Make time

Prepare lunchboxes the night before if mornings are rushed to prevent you from
taking the easy way out and including unhealthy snacks.
 
 

3.      Be creative
and focus on food appearance

  • Make
    sure the lunchbox packaging is big enough so that the food is not crammed
    in and squashed.
  • Use
    a variety of colourful foods to stimulate your child visually e.g. carrot
    sticks, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, colourful fruit sticks, vegetable
    kebabs etc.
  • Cut
    sandwiches into different shapes with a cookie cutter.
  • Use
    one slice of white bread and one slice of whole wheat bread to vary
    sandwiches and compromise taste.
  • Use
    tags or stickers to label food items with interesting names.
  • Kids
    love to dip so include healthy homemade dips such as hummus, mayonnaise
    mixed with plain yoghurt or low fat mayo.

 
For more information, please contact Claudine Ryan on 082 776 6437 or claudiner@kks.co.za  

 

 

Tags: Back To SchoolHealthyLunchboxNutrition


Related Posts

Oh grate! Turns out all four sides of the grater serve a useful purpose
Cooking Guides and Tips

Oh grate! Turns out all four sides of the grater serve a useful purpose

January 15, 2021
7 easy oven bakes that make great leftovers

7 easy oven bakes that make great leftovers

January 13, 2021
Cooking Guides and Tips

What is the difference between butter and margarine? We spoke to a professional baker

January 12, 2021
Next Post
What’s a Flying Winemaker?

What's a Flying Winemaker?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Food24 Team Loves

6 Totally achievable food resolutions for 2021 that don’t include dieting

6 Totally achievable food resolutions for 2021 that don’t include dieting

January 4, 2021
Here’s how you can create your own personalised family cookbook

Here’s how you can create your own personalised family cookbook

December 4, 2020
roast chicken

8 ways with rotisserie chicken

September 4, 2020
How to master the art of roasting a chicken

How to master the art of roasting a chicken

April 17, 2020
4 Ways I used meal planning to save money every month

4 Ways I used meal planning to save money every month

February 20, 2019

Popular this week

  • Is your freezer a disaster? We’re here to give it a makeover with these 5 genius tips

    Is your freezer a disaster? We’re here to give it a makeover with these 5 genius tips

    1 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • 7 easy oven bakes that make great leftovers

    4 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • What is the difference between butter and margarine? We spoke to a professional baker

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • You don’t need a fancy machine to whip up these refreshing no-churn ice creams

    5 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Just another manic sundae – 8 ice cream recipes worth melting over

    17 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get weekly access to our best recipes, tips and tricks

Sign Up
Footer

Quick links

  • Home
  • News
  • Videos
  • Win

Collections

  • New Recipes
  • South African Recipes
  • Baking
  • Braai Recipes
  • Pasta Recipes
  • Dessert Recipes
  • Plant-based Recipes

Other links

  • Advertise with Food24
  • Editorial Policy
  • How to Pitch
  • Contact us

Not in the mood to cook?

Visit eatout.co.za to find the perfect restaurant near you.

eatout.co.za

© 2020 Food24.com. All rights reserved.

  • About us
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Notice
  • New Media
IAB
No Result
View All Result
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Round-ups
    • New Recipes
    • South African Recipes
    • Chicken Recipes
    • Baking
    • Braai Recipes
    • Pasta Recipes
    • Easy Weekday Meals
    • Plant-based Recipes
  • News
    • Food News
  • Videos
  • Drinks
    • Wine
    • Beer
    • Cocktails
    • Coffee
  • Newsletters
  • More
    • Cooking Guides and Tips
    • Create your cookbook
    • Veganuary
    • Win

© 2019 Food24.com. All rights reserved.

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Fill the forms below to register

Subscribe to Newsletter

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Close
Food24
Recipe Disclaimer

All recipe content is the responsibility of the party from whom such content originated. You agree that you use the content on Food24 at your own risk. Please read our editorial policy.