Thoughts from a Parent

What are your thoughts on the food you put in school lunches and what do you look for when buying a lunchbox?

Foods should be low in sugar and fat
Water is good
Fruit should be in handy sized pieces to be eaten easily
I try and choose food the child likes - or it won't be eaten
Try and vary the foods each day

A container should be -

Easily open/closed by child
Interconnecting
Compartments or individual boxes inside
Easily washed - Suitable for dishwasher
No silly wee corners
Light weight
Sturdy
Bright and colourful - Most kids want the characters on the front (Hello Kitty/ Ben 10)
Big enough to hold everything with a small one to carry snack for break-time
Water bottle included - hard to fit water bottles if they don't come with it.
Handles for tiny hands?
Possibly a liner which will keep food cool in summer - can be removed for washing and replaced if necessary.

Interview with a 7 year old

I wanted to find out what a 7 year old thought about food, so i wrote out a few questions and asked her, i knew she wouldn't know to much about the nutrients that were in food but the answers were interesting. Heres the interview...

Whats your favorite food?
First answer for this was "Everything" then she narrowed it down to "Pizza, fish fingers, chips"

What do you not like?
Onions, Lettuce and Jam

What time do you eat?
Don't know

Do you like dinners or lunches at school?
Dinners

Whats your favourite school dinner?
Soup, Pizza or hotdogs
Don't like tuna roll

If you were having lunches what would be in it?
Biscuits, yogurt, crisps and "what we always have to take.. a sandwich"

Do you have enough time to eat at school?
Yes and No. Depends if she talks to much.

Do you know what energy is?
Helps you stay awake and play

Do you know what a protein is?
No

Do you know what a carbohydrate is?
A kind of food

Do you know what fat is?
Something very round an chubby

And is fat in food?
Yes some foods

Do you know what type of food?
No

What are good foods?
Fruit and Veg

What is bad food?
Coke
Sweets
Crisps
Treats

Are all treats bad for you?
No ones with fruit flavors or fruit in them are good

Jamie Oliver

After the research I done the other day I came across Jamie Olivers website, it has a section on fact sheets
These could come in useful if i'm going to incorporate some type of teaching or learning for the children. I found the links on understanding the eat well plate, portion sizes, the traffic light labelling also perfect pack lunches were particularly good.

A method to measure the effect of food appearance factors on children’s visual preferences

Highlights

► Children’s visual preferences and their drivers for food choice can be estimated by conjoint analysis. 

► Children prefer food products without visible fruit. 

► Colour has a high impact on children’s visual preferences. 

► Segments of children have different visual preferences. 

► A high correlation between a picture-based conjoint layout and actual product choices exists.


Info taken from - 
Kildegaard H., Olsen A., Gabrielsen G., Moller P., Thybo, A.K. (2011) A method to measure the effect of food appearance factors on children's visual preference, Food Quality and Preferance, Vol. 22, Issue 8, December 2011, Pages 736-771

This was a study on packaging for smoothies and yogurts, I'm thinking for my box maybe the material should be opaque so the kids cant see what they have for there lunch? And definitely bright, child friendly colours.

What do you put in a lunchbox?

On the Sainsbury's website there is a 5 day lunchbox planner. It goes through the different things you could put in a lunchbox that isn't just the ordinary sandwiches. They had wraps, pasta, rolls, bagels and a fritatta.

After seeing that i was thinking i could have 5 different lunchboxes, which all stack up in the cupboard, each box would be shaped differently to hold different foods and could come with different recipes of the things you could put in them. Plus kids are always forgetting and breaking lunchboxes, so its always handy to have a few spare.

What should be on food labelling?

I was just looking into information on food labels. I found the information here. Nutrition labelling may be given in two main formats, but must include the amount of any
nutrient for which a claim has been made.


The minimum declaration permitted is a "Group 1" declaration.

"Group 1" (also known as "Big 4") declaration
energy kJ and kcal
protein g
carbohydrate g
fat g


The other standard format is a "Group 2" declaration.

"Group 2" (also known as "Big 4 + little 4" and "4+4" declaration)
energy kJ and kcal
protein g
carbohydrate g
of which:
- sugars g
fat g
of which:
- saturates g
fibre g
sodium g


The Government recommends that Group 2 information be given on all foods, on a
voluntary basis, as this gives consumers information on the key health-related nutrients.

Nutritinal guidlines for 7 - 10 year olds