Healthy school lunch for $3.50 a day
A nutritious school lunch does not need to cost the earth, a budget food blogger says.
Hamilton mother Kathrine Lynch has made a week of healthy school lunches for her primary school child, costing an average of $3.50 each. She came up with the meal plan in response to one of the most common requests the mum-of-three gets via her blog Busy Happy Kids.
Making affordable and nutritious school lunches that children will actually eat, was not so easy, she said. ‘‘I am trying to keep it interesting for the kids and then trying to keep it easy to make for the parents – or the kids if they are doing it themselves, so they are not spending ages trying to actually get the food organised.
‘‘You want the kids to eat it ... and for it to be affordable and healthy. So there are quite a few factors that play into making a lunch really.’’
Lynch’s week of packed lunches came at a total cost of $17.57, or about $3.50 per lunch box. At 60 cents each, the most expensive part of each lunch box was two pieces of fruit, included to meet the Ministry of Health’s healthy eating guidelines, she said.
She did not include any home baking because many parents did not have time for that, she said.
‘‘I chose snacks that were just easy to grab and just pack.’’
To cut the budget further, Lynch said dinner leftovers could be included – such as meat for sandwiches, quiches and homemade pizza.
‘‘Buy large pots of yoghurt rather than individual pottles, it is a lot cheaper to pour the yoghurt into small containers than buying individually.’’
Asking children to choose what they wanted in their lunch box and encouraging them to pack it themselves meant they were more likely to eat it, she said. Her suggestions here are for 5-10 years. For older children and teenagers, Lynch recommends including filling fruits, such as bananas, plus wholegrains and protein to keep them fuller for longer. A big breakfast will also help.