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Packed lunches for toddlers

Making sandwiches

Breads

Ideally, your children’s sandwiches will be made with wholemeal breads. If your child refuses to eat them try using a ‘whole white’ bread, a white bread made with a third wholemeal flour.

Different breads can make lunch-boxes more interesting. Try raisin breads, multi-grain and seed rolls, mini wholemeal baguettes, bagels, pitas and chapattis.

Fillings

Avoid using too much butter, margarine or mayonnaise on sandwiches, and choose healthy low-fat options such as lean meats, fish, cottage cheese, edam, hummus, mozzarella and sliced banana. Add some slices of tomato and cucumber, thin slices of celery or lettuce pieces depending on your child’s preferences.

Salads

Try salads made with pasta, cous cous or brown rice. Add aubergines, peppers, spring onions, avocado, cherry tomato, spinach leaves and some meat like turkey or chicken. Or you could try a slice of quiche or Spanish omelette saved from dinner the previous night and added to the lunchbox with a mixed salad.

Home-made pizza

Encourage your child to help you make a pizza, then include slices in the following day’s lunchbox. On top of a tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese topping you can add chopped vegetables like peppers, onion, mushrooms and sliced courgettes, and slices of ham or pieces of ready cooked chicken.

Healthy snacks

Instead of crisps add plain popcorn, breadsticks and dried mixed fruit to the lunchbox. You can also add snack vegetables such as carrot and cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas and celery. Cakes and chocolates can be replaced with scones, currant buns or fruit bread.

For a sweet snack add a fresh berry salad, made with blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and grapes or a traditional fruit salad with apples, bananas, grapes and oranges. Alternatively, dried fruit raisins, apricots, figs and prunes contribute vitamins and fibre to your child’s diet.

Dairy snacks are a good source of calcium – try a low-fat rice pudding or yogurt, or a slice of low-fat cheese.

Drinks

It’s important that your child stays hydrated throughout the day, so give them unsweetened fruit juice or water to take with them. Avoid any fizzy drinks or juice drinks that are high in sugar, as the sugar and acid content of these drinks can damage your child’s developing teeth.