Mini meat loaves with plum sauce.
With up to half a child's daily food intake being eaten at school, it is vital that lunch boxes pack a nutritional punch. That's the advice from the Dietitians Association of Australia, which wants lunch boxes filled with a variety of foods, including dairy, fruit, vegetables, whole grains and protein.
When it comes to preparing lunch for schoolchildren, "it's important to think of it as a meal, not as a bunch of snacks", association spokeswoman Milena Katz says.
If opting for a sandwich, Katz suggests making sure it has plenty of protein - such as egg, tinned or smoked fish, or cold meat - that will help fill children up and give them energy. She suggests roast beef, chicken or turkey as easy options.
"A salt-reduced or even home-made meat would be better than just buying ham all the time," she says. "You could make roasts twice a week and then put them in."
Vegetables could be provided as sticks - for example carrot, capsicum and cucumber - or mixed through a salad or provided in a hot meal. And children's vacuum flasks can keep food warm or cold for about five hours.
Katz recognises that it can be difficult for parents to encourage their children to eat healthy food if they see their friends with plenty of treats in their lunch boxes. She suggests talking to children about family eating rules and saying: "This is what we do in our family."
One way to get around children throwing away food from their lunch box is to adopt a rule that they must bring everything home.
"Tell them, 'We have compost at home,' or, 'We give it to the dog,' something like that, so you have an idea of what they do and don't eat," Katz says. "Instead of chastising them with, 'Why didn't you eat that?' just keep an eye on them, keep track of it to see what works and what doesn't, because they will often lie [about eating a food] or swap with someone else."
To encourage children to be enthusiastic about healthy lunches, it may help to start a book with lunch ideas. Each day, you can take a photo of your child's packed lunch box and stick it in the book, eventually building up a range of options. When they want to revisit a favourite, they can flick through the book and choose what to recreate. It may also help to photograph sandwiches before they are packed.
A biochemistry expert from the Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise and Eating Disorders at the University of Sydney, Professor Jennie Brand-Miller, has learnt plenty about lunch boxes and children's eating from her own family. Her advice is to keep it interesting and don't overdo the low-fat approach as it might turn children off healthy foods.
"I tried too hard to have a low-fat diet and I made [vegetables] into things that weren't particularly palatable," she says. "I microwaved them and I steamed them and I didn't allow any fats. I'm a bit sorry now that I didn't do things like add olive oil and bake them so they had herbs and spices added and lemon juice and things like that. I made food too plain."
What Brand-Miller wouldn't change is not having too much junk food in the house - or in her children's school bags. "With children, you are setting their food habits for the rest of their lives. If you've got lots of junk in the lunch box, they are the foods they will crave for the rest of their lives," she says.
She agrees there is room for indulgence in a diet but warns that "treat foods" should not form more than 10 per cent of kilojoule intake.
Mini meat loaves with plum sauce
Olive oil spray
750g lean beef mince
1 cup white breadcrumbs (made from day-old bread)
1 small carrot, peeled and shredded
4 shallots, trimmed, thinly sliced
2 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp Chinese five spice
60ml (¼ cup) plum sauce
Preheat oven to 180C. Spray eight 185-millilitre mini loaf pans with olive oil. Place mince, breadcrumbs, carrot, shallots, ginger, five spice and two tablespoons plum sauce in a large bowl. Stir until combined. Divide mixture among the prepared pans and smooth the surface. Brush the tops with remaining plum sauce. Bake for 20 minutes or until juices run clear when a skewer is inserted. Set aside for five minutes before turning out.
Serves 8
Pumpkin and couscous salad with beef.
Plan ahead: These mini meat loaves are a great evening meal served warm with mashed potato and salad. The rest can be chilled for the next day, packed with a salad or added to sandwiches.
Lamb and vegie wrap with sweet chilli sauce
Recipes: Dietitians Association of Australia
1 large carrot, coarsely grated
1 red capsicum, thinly sliced
1 cup corn kernels
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
2 tbsp teriyaki sauce
4 tortillas or Mountain Bread wraps
300g cooked lamb slices (use leftover lamb rump steak or roast leg of lamb)
Iceberg lettuce, shredded
Combine carrot, capsicum and corn in a bowl. Stir through sweet chilli and teriyaki sauces. Spoon vegetable mixture into centre of the tortilla or wrap. Layer over lamb slices and top with shredded lettuce. Roll up to enclose filling and wrap in plastic wrap.
Serves 4
Lamb and vegie wrap with sweet chilli sauce.
Plan ahead: Prepare vegies the night before and store in the fridge. In the morning, stir sauce through and make up wrap.
Pumpkin and couscous salad with beef
500g butternut pumpkin, peeled and cut into 2cm pieces
2 tbsp olive oil
1 ½ cups vegetable stock
1 ½ cups of couscous
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 cup coarsely cut coriander or parsley
1 lemon
300g cooked beef strips
Preheat oven to 180C. Place pumpkin in a roasting pan and drizzle with half the oil. Crack over black pepper and roast for 20 minutes until soft. Meanwhile, combine stock and remaining oil in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and add couscous. Stir with a fork. Cover and set aside for 5 minutes. Use a fork to separate grains and pour into a large bowl. Add pumpkin, chickpeas, coriander or parsley and squeeze over the juice of one lemon. Gently mix together and top with beef strips.
Serves 4
Plan ahead: This salad is super easy and can be prepared the night before. Use cooked beef, such as roast sirloin strips or steak from last night's dinner.
