Healthy school lunchboxes

A healthy lunch can help your child have plenty of energy to learn and play during the day. Packing your child’s lunchbox with healthy foods, including vegetables and fruits, can help kids to learn better, concentrate for longer, and enjoy playtime with their friends.

Packing a healthy lunchbox

Filling your child’s lunchbox with foods from the 5 food groups can help them stay healthy and do their best at school. Here are some examples of lunchbox friendly foods. Don’t forget to include a bottle of tap water too.

    • Vegetables and legumes

      Fresh vegetables like carrots, cucumbers, corn on the cob, celery, capsicum, tomatoes, mushrooms, green beans, baby spinach, lettuce
      Canned or frozen vegetables and legumes like corn, peas, chickpeas or kidney beans
      Baked vegetables like pumpkin, sweet potato, zucchini, carrots
      Baked vegetable pancake, slice or frittata

    • Fruits

      Fresh fruit like apples, bananas, oranges, mandarins, pears, papaya, plums, peaches, strawberries, pineapple
      Tub of diced fruit in natural juice
      Dried fruit like a box of sultanas, dried apricots, prunes or dried apple rings

    • Grains

      Rice, noodles, pasta or cous cous
      Plain crackers, and corn or rice cakes
      Sandwiches, wraps or rolls, raisin or fruit bread, damper, scones or pikelets

    • Dairy

      Plain and flavoured milk
      Yoghurt in a tub
      Cheese slice, stick or cubes
      Custard (choose types with a Health Star Rating of 3.5 or more)
      Creamed rice
      Plant-based milk, yoghurt or cheese (choose types with added calcium

    • Lean meat and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds and legumes/beans

      Canned tuna or salmon, lean cold meats like chicken, beef or ham can be used as fillings in a sandwich, roll or wrap
      Hard boiled eggs
      Baked beans, canned mixed beans or tofu cubes

Your child's school may request some food items not be brought to school where there are students with severe allergies.

Our menu planner and healthy recipe library both have lots of ideas for easy, healthy snacks and lunches. You can also use the Cancer Council NSW healthy lunchbox builder for inspiration.

Plan your lunchbox

Packing a healthy lunchbox can help save you time and money. A little bit of planning can make it easier to pack your child’s lunchbox with healthy meals including snacks. Packing lunch boxes at night when making dinner could save you time in the morning rush. For example, you could:

  • chop vegetables like celery, carrot or capsicum into sticks and store them in the fridge
  • pack snacks like fresh fruit or veggies the night before school
  • make or buy plain popcorn and store it in snack-sized portions
  • cook extra serves at dinner to pack for lunch the next day
  • use leftovers to make something new for lunch. You could use leftover stir-fry as the filling in a sushi sandwich or you could roast leftover pita bread to serve with hummus and veggie sticks.

If you’re buying packaged snacks, you can check the Health Star Rating on the label to see how healthy they are. The more stars, the healthier the choice.

Multicultural family lunchboxes

Adam Liaw, one of Australia’s favourite chefs, has some quick, easy and affordable lunch ideas you can use to create your own delicious lunchboxes at home.

 
 

This video is also available with Arabic, Chinese and Vietnamese subtitles.

For further tips from Adam, check out these fact sheets, which are available in English and 39 languages.

Safe school lunchboxes

Young children don’t have fully developed immune systems. This means they can be more at risk of food poisoning. It’s important to keep school lunchboxes at a safe temperature of below 5°C. Here are some easy ways you can help keep lunchboxes safe:

  • Add a frozen water bottle or freezer brick to the lunchbox in the morning to help keep it cool until lunchtime.
  • Use an insulated lunch bag to help keep food cold.
  • If you’re making lunches ahead of time, keep them in the fridge until your child leaves for school, or you can freeze them in advance.

Learn more about safe lunches for kids.