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Healthy Lunch Box Challenge

Register Now Packing a healthy lunchbox, day in day out, can be a real challenge. It doesn't take long before parents run out of healthy and delicious lunch box ideas. When children become bored of their school lunch favourites, often most of their lunch ends up in the bin instead of their tummies. It's a frustrating, daily exercise for many parents, including myself.

Our "Challenge" this year is to get children eating healthy food at school during school times (08h00 – 13h00). We are only concentrating on during school, not after school. If all children are getting good, healthy food, they will all be forced to eat healthy food with their peers. Personally, I find that I will make a healthy lunch box and then my child will go and eat everyone else's food... Drives me insane.

Why eat healthy food during school?

• There is an alarming rate of obesity in young children. This will affect them emotionally and physically as they get older. Children will be teased and singled out whether you like it or not.
• Children can't concentrate properly at school without good food in their tummies, a lack of which leads to learning issues.
• Bad food causes behavioural problems, which effects the class as well as the teachers (who already have very large classes of children). Is your child not getting the attention he or she needs because others are high on sugar?

How to join the Healthy Lunch Box Challenge:

1. First register for the Challenge. By doing so it will then allow Little Cooks Club to send you a new monthly schedule with recipes for that month, tips and ideas. It also gives us an idea to see if parents are interested in the Challenge. Click here to register.
2. Print out the monthly schedule and stick it onto your fridge. (This is what it looks like.) If your child doesn't like certain things on the list then choose from the other options – everything is healthy on my list and acceptable for children. If your child has specific food allergies then please give them something else; you all know your own children – this is a guideline only.
3. Read or print all of the information that we make available to you about lunch boxes and healthy eating.
4. Forward this Challenge to all of your friends, family, colleagues, and your school to spread the word around. We don't have a big budget for this project, but are thankful to some wonderful sponsors that believe in the mission to help parents and children.

Please remember that this is their school lunch box during school times (08h00 – 13h00). The following should be considered before and after:

• Breakfast should be a protein – e.g., egg on toast, baked beans on toast – and a good healthy cereal (no sugary cereals), oats, yoghurt and fruit. Try Jungle B-fast breakfast cereal, Jungle Muesli or All-Bran Flakes.
• After school and if children are playing sport. Add to their lunch boxes the following (or order a hot meal from school): a pasta salad, potato salad, another sandwich, a banana, or energy bars.

Each child is different. Some might not eat a lot, while some might be very hungry. Go to the options and change it to suit your child's specific needs. (You might need to pack two sandwiches daily instead of one.) To learn effectively, your child needs fuel – healthy fuel, NO JUNK.

A special lunch box: We are lucky these days to have the most amazing lunch boxes. Most of them have gel packs that can be placed in the fridge/freezer over night and will keep your food cold the following day. Go to your local plastic shop and look around.

Sponsors

We would like to extend a big thank you to the following companies for sponsoring the Healthy Lunch Box Challenge:

Schools That Have Joined the Challenge

Clarendon Primary School for Girls
primary.clarendonschools.co.za

Country Lane Nursery School
www.countrylane.co.za

Hilltop Friends Pre-school and Playschool
www.hilltopfriends.co.za

Hudson Park Primary School
www.hpps.co.za

International School of Cape Town
www.isct.co.za

Kids Company Montessori Pre-school
www.kidscompany.co.za

Laerskool Anton Van Wouw
www.wouwtjies.co.za

Penryn College
www.penryn.co.za

Redhill School
www.redhill.co.za

Underberg School
www.underbergschool.co.za

Village Montessori School
www.villagemontessori.co.za

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