Top 10 Tips to Make Lunchboxes More Fun!

Little man has only started school a couple of weeks ago, and I’m already wondering how I can make his lunchbox more fun. I was surprised to find that half of children waste more than £40 worth of food each term, almost the cost of the average family weekly shop, as they regularly discard lunchbox items deemed ‘too boring’ to eat.

The research of 1,500 mums and kids into variety in the lunchbox was commissioned by leading children’s cheese snack brand, Cheestrings, to launch two new flavours in their range – Cheese & Tomato and Cheese & Onion, which we have tried, tested and loved!

This uncovered that it takes a mere six days into term for the majority of mums to get lunchbox fatigue and for the variety of items put in to dwindle.  The study also revealed that this leads to kids throwing away on average half of their lunchbox each day after this, due to the contents being dull, ‘un-cool’ and unappealing.

The research also shows that the lunchbox routine has become a chore for mums, with a quarter admitting they start a new term full of enthusiasm for the task – but that this quickly wanes.  This could be due to mums finding themselves spending longer on making lunchboxes than on their own meals.

And it’s not just time mums spend on this – they also spend more on their child’s lunchbox than on feeding themselves, with the average lunchbox costing almost £14 per week, compared to the £10 per week that half of mums spend on their own lunches.  One in fifty even admit to spending over £30 per week on their child’s lunchbox – a staggering £1,140 per year.

The research also shows that mums admit to worrying less about the cost of the food thrown away than the fact that their kids won’t get a fully balanced meal if they don’t eat all of it – which leads to one in ten mums admitting to ‘smuggling’ in healthy items disguised as a treat. Nearly half of mums confessed that they would like help to make their kids’ lunch more exciting, and almost a quarter of kids would eat more lunch if it looked more ‘playful and fun’.

However it’s not just the ‘same old’ that’s putting kids off their lunch, with almost one in ten admitting to throwing away an item as they just do not think it is cool.  Top ‘Lunchbox Losers’ include vegetables, home-made leftovers and anything being the ‘wrong’ flavour. In comparison, ‘Lunchbox Loves’ include yoghurt, cheese snacks and treats such as cake and sweets.

To help mums make lunchboxes exciting, Cheestrings have created the following list of quick top ten tips:

1. Take inspiration from Japanese bento boxes – the trick is to make food look fantastic so kids don’t realise it’s healthy! Why not try putting fruit and vegetables into a cupcake holder – this will make them look like treats!

2. Include colouring pencils and paper so your child can draw their lunch.

3. Get kids to decorate their lunchbox and make them personal – use stickers you can peel off each week.

4. Hide a treat under the ‘boring’ food – so it’s a lovely surprise when they find it!

5. Make your child smile by leaving a funny note or joke in the lunchbox

6. Make your lunch together – let them make your lunch too so they feel all grown up!

7. Cut sandwiches into fun shapes easily with a cookie cutter – bread is much more fun this way!  Being creative with food is how the Japanese make bento meals come to life – it’s all about putting the fun into lunch.

8. Tell your child fun facts about fruit and veg so it’s more appealing for them to eat – e.g. “carrots help you see in the dark”.

9. Grown your own – encourage kids to plant and grow their own fruit and veg for their lunch so they take pride in what they eat.

10. Make sure everything in their lunchbox is a different colour – this will encourage them to try everything as it all looks special!

Little man loved having the elephant sandwich, I will be trying different shapes and other ideas from the list above to make his lunchbox more exciting so he doesn’t get bored of it!

The products were provided free of charge for review purposes. However the opinions expressed in this review are honest and my own.