what to put in a lunchbox.

The school lunchbox can make up around 1/3 of what children eat across the day, so it plays an important role in supporting their nutrition, energy and ability to learn. But a nutritious lunchbox doesn’t need to be perfect to fuel their day. The most important thing is that it contains food your child will eat — food that fills them up, and supports learning, play and wellbeing. Choosing lunchbox items with purpose, rather than aiming for perfection, helps take the pressure off. There are plenty of other opportunities across the day (at breakfast, dinner and after school) to add variety and balance.

This guide aims to provide you with inspiration and support make building a lunchbox a little easier.

When lunchboxes rely on discretionary foods like chips, sweets and snack bars, they often replace core foods that are essential for growth and development. Aim for variety from the five food groups:

• Fruit
• Vegetables
• Grains
• Protein (meat, eggs, legumes)
• Dairy or alternatives

These will help keep your kids fuller for longer and provide sustained energy for them to focus, learn and play.

When you’re short on time, this formula can help keep things balanced without overthinking:

Snacks are an important part of any lunchbox. To make snack choices easier, we’ve created a set of free posters featuring sweet and savoury lunchbox snacks grouped by texture.

This approach supports variety and helps children choose foods they enjoy, while fitting different budgets, time pressures and family routines. The ideas are practical, affordable and designed to work in the real world, with many options that can be purchased, or prepared ahead to save time during the week.

For families and children who prefer a more visual approach, we’ve also created an additional set of snack posters organised by food type. These posters group snacks into fruit and vegetable options (ideal for crunch and sip breaks), as well as fridge and pantry choices. They’re designed to make snack selection quick, visual and child-friendly, while still supporting balanced, purposeful lunchbox choices.

Here are some actual examples of lunchboxes from the NNF team!