5 reasons why ‘healthy school lunches’ should be on every Australian parent’s back-to-school shopping list
A staggering 76% of parents plan to spend money on school lunch orders each year. This is according to Microsoft’s ‘Back to School Advertising Insights’: a credible source, indeed!
In addition to this, it states that ‘school lunch ideas’ is ranked seventh in the list of top ten back-to-school searches.
What the document also shows, however, is that no notable number of parents are actively searching for school lunch providers.
This tells us that parents need support with school lunches. They either want to spend money on purchasing food at school or they want to find new, easy ways of making lunch at home.
It also tells us, that Australian parents don’t necessarily realise they can actively search for school lunch providers to improve on their current solution; be that sub-par food from the school canteen or the chaos of having to make packed lunches every day.
In this blog, we will share five reasons why a ‘healthy school lunch service’ should be on your back-to-school shopping list …
1. Good Food, Good Mood
It’s becoming a cliché, but good food really does equal good mood. We all know how it feels to eat a large, stodgy lunch and then try to concentrate on work for the rest of the day. You feel tired, full and unmotivated. A good, nutritionally balanced lunch gives your children the energy and concentration needed to navigate the school day. Different food groups are important for different reasons: grains and cereals give your child energy throughout the day, thanks to their slow-release glucose. Foods rich in protein support your child’s bone and muscle development. Dairy foods “provide a unique package of more than 10 essential nutrients important for growing children” (dairy.com.au) and fruits and vegetables are packed with multivitamins, fiber and antioxidants. Your school lunch service should have menus that cover these five essential food groups, supporting your child’s ability to learn, concentrate and thrive. If it doesn’t, a new provider should be on your back-to-school shopping list.
2. The Juggle is Real
Parenting is hard … and that could honestly be the only statement I make in this paragraph! It’s a simple, honest truth that I know we all relate to. When you become a parent, you become a juggler. You juggle work, kids, relationships, health, family … the list goes on. Packing school lunches each day doesn’t sound like a hard task, but I know when my daughter started school it was the one thing that took me by surprise. I either ran out of steam in the evenings or ran out of bread in the morning. Mid-week food dashes to the supermarket became a routine. I have no idea how, but a weekly food shop never seems to cover a weeks’ worth of school lunches. In a world where food delivery is so commonplace, a healthy school lunch service is becoming a necessity and could be an important addition to your back-to-school shopping list.
3. Convenience Vs Health
This shouldn’t be a choice. As parents we want the convenience of a school lunch service, but we don’t want to sacrifice on the health content. Unfortunately, this is the case far too often with school canteens and tuck shops. You may well find a token pot of carrot sticks on the canteen menu, but few children will happily choose the veggie sticks if their friends all have party pies and Freddo Frogs. Your school lunch service should wear many hats. It should offer families the convenience of a food delivery service, it should provide food focused on child nutrition and it should embed a love of food in children. After all, food should be enjoyed, and SCHOOL food should teach children the importance of good eating habits. If parents at your school are having to sacrifice healthy food for convenience, your back-to-school shopping list should include a new lunch provider.
4. Old Habits Die Hard
Following on from the previous point, this expression means it is difficult to stop or change habits you have held for a long time. In my opinion, schools and their chosen lunch provider, have a responsibility to develop healthy eating habits in children. Collecting your lunch order is an exciting part of a child’s school day, and one that many parents will look back on from their own school days, fondly. This sense of excitement and anticipation for the food inside is special and should be nurtured: it builds an understanding of the importance of good food and, when done right, shows children that good quality food has a direct impact on their health and happiness. The habits developed at school are the foundations for habits in later life, so unless your school lunch service nurtures good habits, it might be time to search for a new provider.
5. Community Matters
Without meaning to harp on about COVID for years on end, I do feel that it changed the way we live our lives in many subtle (and some not-so-subtle) ways. We all turned towards our community and saw value in supporting small, local businesses. I have fond memories of walking to our local cafes each day for a coffee or a takeaway lunch. Maybe this was because I was able to take a break from home learning and actually LEAVE THE HOUSE, but I like to think it’s because I started seeing the value in supporting my local community. We all did. Since returning to normal life, I believe we are all a little more in tune with this. Schools, cafes, libraries, playgrounds make our town feel like our community. Our place. Our home. Many school lunch services operate out of a faceless production kitchen. The food is ordered through a generic ordering platform, that we also use to order uniform or pay for excursions. We don’t really feel a connection to the people or business facilitating and preparing our order. This, in contrast, is often part of the positive feedback we hear from LunchFox schools: they know the LunchFox team by name, they follow our journey, they see our faces and they handpick cafes that mean something to them and their school community. It’s a bit of a heartwarming, postcard picture actually, and could be something you search for in your back-to-school shopping.
At LunchFox we hold our values in high regard and practice everything we preach. We believe in good nutrition. We believe in supporting busy families and we believe in fostering key, community links.
LunchFox is free and quick to set up. We also give your school 5% in fundraising from every order placed, so we give back to local communities in more ways than one.
If you would like to add ‘healthy LunchFox lunches’ to your back-to-school shopping list, email us at info@lunchfox.com.au or visit lunchfox.com.au for more information