Research conducted by Woolworths and school health educator, Life Ed, has found that vegetables and protein are the two things most lacking when parent’s pack their school kids’ lunch boxes.
So the pair have joined together to launch the Australia’s Healthiest Lunchboxes initiative for 2024 with the aim of encouraging parents to pack healthier lunches for their children.
The study found parents’ greatest concern when packing a child’s lunch was providing them with enough energy to make it through the day, but it also found they were going the wrong way about achieving this.
Both protein and vegetables are staples of a balanced diet, and proteins like lamb, fish, chicken, nuts and eggs are proven high energy, high protein foods.
One of last year’s winners of Australia’s Healthiest Lunchboxes competition was Gunbalanya woman Rachel Naivalu, who said it was important for parents in the NT to get innovative when putting their child’s lunch together.
“In remote areas like where we live, we don’t always get access to fresh food so you have to be creative, like making dried fruit or using older apples to make scones,” she said.
“It’s about giving people, especially kids, opportunities to experience different foods in different ways.
“Take my son, Poasa. At first, he refused to eat berries and grapes, until I made it fun and served them as frozen fruit on a stick.”
Life Ed CEO Russel D’Costa said the four week initiative was about shining a light on ideas and changing current patterns.
“Divide and conquer doesn’t cut it when it comes to embedding long-term learning and healthy habits,” Mr D’Costa said.
“We need to work together as a community – inside and beyond the classroom – to give Aussie kids the fuel and tools they need to make healthy choices into the future.”
The initiative is hoping to achieve this giving parents the ability share their healthy lunch ideas, inspiring others, and offering incentives.
Twelve thousand dollars’ worth of prizes are on offer for caregivers who take a photo of their child’s lunch box and upload it to lifeed.org.au.
The website also has resources for both parents and schools to check out as well as five dollar lunch suggestions, food hacks and batch cooking ideas for parents.
The four week initiative was launched Wednesday, January 31 with judging set to take place at the end of February and winners announced in April.
