Food and eating together can be a wonderful source of learning for children, and at pre-school we aim to make our lunch time a positive experience.
When providing your child with a packed lunch, it can be a challenge to keep them interesting and healthy. Remember about a third of our diet should be made up of starchy foods such as bread, so sandwiches are a good choice. The key to a healthy lunch box is to include a balance of appropriate foods from the four main food groups-:
- Breads and Cereals
- Fruit and Vegetables
- Meat or alternatives
- Milk and Dairy products or alternatives
Foods in the 5th group containing fat and sugar should be eaten in moderation.
Please put familiar foods prepared in their usual way in the packed lunch. Pre-school lunch times are not a good time to introduce new foods to your child as it may be upsetting if they are hungry and don’t like the food they have been given. Please put in the amount of food you would normally expect your child to eat.
Chocolate
No products containing chocolate such as cookies, chocolate yoghurt should be included in the lunch box.
Nuts
Please do NOT put nuts in your child’s lunch box. We have children at the pre-school who have nut allergies and nuts are a choking hazard for children under the age of 5 years. Thank you for your co-operation.
Bread, other cereals and potatoes group
Ideas: bread and bread rolls, bagels, pitta bread, french stick, scotch pancakes, fruit scones, fruit bread, malt loaf, crisp bread, crackers, pasta and rice salads.
Fruit and vegetable group
Ideas: salad in sandwiches and rolls, cherry tomatoes, apples, pears, satsuma’s, bananas, grapes, melon, kiwi, plums,nectarines, dried fruit, dish of fruit salad, fruit smoothies and fruit juices.
Meat, fish and alternatives group
Ideas: slices of ham, chicken, turkey. Boiled eggs, canned tuna and salmon. Hummus and Tofu pieces.
Drinks
Ideas: milk, drinking yoghurt, smoothie, fruit juice, sugar-free squash and water.
Please refrain from putting sweets and fizzy drinks in your child’s lunch box.
We recommend that you include an ice pack in your child’s lunch box as we do not have the space to refrigerate lunch boxes.