The news today reports that less than 1% of lunch boxes contain the nutritional value that school dinners do – so where are parents going so wrong?

Is it because kids refuse to eat healthy food? Surely not…I know plenty of children who love good food, or maybe the children I know have just been brought up to think that healthy food is just ‘normal food’?  

I struggle to understand why parents don’t bring their children up to love their food and experiment with different flavours.  They certainly do in Italy and France, so where did we go so wrong here?

I was always helping my mum cook, we loved it, it was something that we did together, and then what better reward than eating what you have cooked.

Here are some tried and tested ideas for lunch boxes:

• A thermos of pasta with homemade tomato sauce (or have it cold)
• A thermos of pasta with home made pesto (or have it cold)
• Cold chicken drumsticks and potato salad with cherry tomatoes
• Batons of fresh bread, celery, cucumber and carrots with home made humus
• A thermos of home made soup, with a fresh bread roll. You can choose from so many different flavours, all simple and quick to make. Chicken, tomato, vegetable, minestrone, leek and potato etc
• Sandwiches made with fresh brown bread – lettuce, cheddar and ham; or chicken (leftover from the Sunday roast) and salad; slices of beef (leftover from the Sunday roast) and salad; or Philadelphia, cucumber and ham
• Always include some fruit; a tangerine, apple, some grapes, maybe even go the whole hog and slice up a combination so they have a little fruit salad

As one follower pointed out, all you need now are the skills to plan your day properly leaving time every evening to make the food.   Remember, most of this food can be taken from left overs from family meals.