Tips on packing your child’s lunch

For a lot of parents, the thought of packing 180 lunches is daunting. Here are a few tips to help make your child’s lunch not only nutritious, but delicious.

How to pack a nutritious lunch for your child

Just like other meals, lunch is an important part of your child’s diet. Lunch at school is more than just a break between morning and afternoon classes.

Lunchtime is an opportunity for kids to recharge. It nourishes their brain, helps them concentrate for the rest of the day, and provides nutrients that are essential for their growth. Lunch should be planned in the same way as any other meal.

It should contain a variety of healthy foods to ensure a balanced plate, as recommended in Canada’s food guide. The guide’s balanced plate shows the ideal proportions of each food group. Of course, these components can be combined however you want; they don’t have to be served separately.

A balanced meal for a child should contain equal portions of the following foods:

• Vegetables (or fruit for dessert)
• Grains
• High-protein foods

Don’t worry if your child’s lunch is occasionally missing a component of a balanced plate. Their entire diet can’t be evaluated based on a single meal, or even a single day of eating. Your child will have many other opportunities to eat each of the food groups.

What to put in their lunchbox

Fruits and vegetables

Fruits and vegetables can be raw or cooked, and they can be incorporated into dishes (such as a soup or stew) or served on the side. In addition to making meals even more nutritious, they add colour and textural variation.

You don’t need to pick a different vegetable every day—you can just use the ones you normally shop for.

Fruit can be served as is, or with something like a yogurt dip or homemade chocolate hummus (in French) They can also be served as fruit squares or in a compote, crumble (in French) or salad. Frozen fruit is perfect for adding to plain yogurt.

Grains

Grains can be part of either the main course or dessert. At least half of the time, choose whole-grain products (e.g., brown rice, millet, quinoa, or oats, or whole wheat bread, pasta, or couscous) over refined ones (e.g., white bread or pasta).

The fibre in whole-grain products can help make lunch more filling and tide your child over for the rest of the afternoon.

Protein

The protein part of your child’s meal could be tofu, chickpeas, lentils, kidney beans or other legumes, eggs, beef, pork, chicken, turkey, salmon, sardines, or tuna. These foods should keep your child’s hunger at bay until snack time. You can put them in sandwiches, salads, or pasta dishes, or pair them with rice or other grains.

Milk, fortified soy beverages, yogurt, and cheese are also sources of protein, but they contain less than the foods listed above. For this reason, they should not be the only source of protein in your child’s lunch.

Plain yogurt can be used as a base for dips, sandwich fillings, or desserts. Different kinds of cheese can be served on their own as a snack or put in sandwiches, salads, or other dishes.

Drinks

To stay hydrated, it’s important for your child to get plenty of fluids throughout the day. Water should be their go-to drink, especially between meals and snacks. Pack a reusable water bottle in their backpack so they’ll always have have water within reach.

Good drinks to pack for lunch are milk, fortified soy beverages, and yogurt drinks that are homemade or low in sugar. These options quench thirst and because they contain protein, they’re also filling.

Other plant-based drinks, such as almond or oat milk, are hydrating but have less nutritional value. You can send these with their lunch every now and then—about once a week.

Avoid juice as much as possible. It’s high in sugar, not very nutritious, and not equivalent to a serving of fruit, even if it’s made of 100 percent juice. Only give your child juice occasionally, in small quantities, at home.

School lunch essentials

A few items are absolutely essential for preparing your child’s lunches:

• A lunchbox. Choose one that’s hard, insulated, and easy to clean.

• Microwaveable containers, if your child has access to a microwave at school. Be sure to label them. Also, check what types of containers are allowed at the school. Glass generally isn’t permitted.
• A thermos. This will allow your child to eat hot meals even if they don’t have access to a microwave.
• Ice packs, especially if there are no refrigerators at school. If you don’t have an ice pack, you can simply use a frozen water bottle. Milk, yogurt, cheese, cooked legumes, cooked vegetables, rice, pasta, meat, poultry, fish, deli meats, eggs, and tofu must be kept cool to prevent bacterial growth.
• Small containers for compotes, yogurt, or raw veggies.

Lunch in kindergarten: Set your child up for success

If your child is starting kindergarten, leaving home with a packed lunch is a brand new experience! Here are a few ways to help them prepare.

• Have a lunchbox “picnic” a few days before school starts. Your child can practise opening and closing the containers and try to open the packaging on some snacks.
• Show your child their packed lunch the night before or in the morning and explain what’s for lunch and what’s for snack time. It might be a good idea to put their snacks in a separate container in their backpack. Just don’t forget to tell your child where they are!
• Explain that they will be eating lunch with other kids at school, but that they need to take the time to eat before going to play.
• Remind them that they can always ask a grown-up for help (if they can’t get their thermos open, for example).
• At home, teach them how to use utensils and let them eat on their own. This will help them become independent.

Making lunch prep easier

With so many lunches to prepare throughout the year, you might feel overwhelmed by the task. Here are some tips to make the process more efficient.

• Pack lunches in the evening rather than in the morning. You’ll feel less rushed.
• Double your recipes when you make dinner so you have leftovers to use for lunch. When tidying up after dinner, divide the leftovers into individual portions that can go directly into your child’s lunchbox.
• If the leftovers are too difficult to reheat, turn them into another meal. For example, pieces of fish are great in a sandwich, and chopped chicken is a nice addition to a rice salad.
• Wash and cut fruits and vegetables ahead of time so you always have a two- or three-day supply. Pineapple, melons, carrots, celery, and broccoli can last for a little while, so feel free to cut them up in advance. Apples, cucumbers, and peppers, on the other hand, don’t last quite as long, so don’t prepare them too far ahead of time.
• Rice, pasta, and quinoa can also be cooked in advance. You can keep them for a few days in the fridge or a few weeks in the freezer. This way, they’ll be ready to go when you’re packing your child’s lunch.
• Plan out the week’s meals and shop accordingly so that you’ll have everything you need on hand when it’s time to pack lunch.
• Keep your pantry stocked at home so that you always have ingredients for a meal (e.g., legumes, canned tuna or salmon, eggs, cheese, and single-serving foods like applesauce).
• Give your child a meal they can assemble themself. For example, lunch can be a small can of seasoned tuna (one your child can open without a can opener) combined with mini pitas, raw veggies, and pieces of cheese. Another possibility is a hard-boiled egg with good crackers (like Triscuits^®), hummus, and raw veggies.
• When you have time to make homemade snacks and desserts, double the recipe so you can freeze some (e.g., muffins, banana bread, energy bars). You can put snacks and desserts that are still frozen right into your child’s lunchbox or backpack. They’ll thaw quickly.
• When your child gets home, throw away any perishable food that your child didn’t eat. You can save things like whole fruits, muffins, and packaged snacks for another time. Wash the lunchbox, bottles, containers, and utensils. Air out their lunchbox to prevent it from getting smelly.

How to involve your child in lunch prep and why it matters

If you ask your child to help you pack their lunch, they’ll not only feel a sense of pride but also learn a few skills. Being involved will help them get more interested in and knowledgeable about food while developing their tastes.

They can also adjust the portion sizes to better suit their needs and their appetite, so there will be less waste. Plus, you’ll be preparing them to make their own lunches in a few years.

Here’s how to get your child involved:

• Ask them to suggest some meal ideas to add to your own ideas
• Let them assemble their sandwich
• Make some muffins, banana bread (links in French only), rice pudding, and other desserts together ahead of time
• Ask them to let you know what size portions they want
• Have them pack their lunchbox
• Give them the responsibility of emptying and washing their lunchbox when they get home from school

Things to keep in mind

• Your child’s lunchbox should ideally contain a combination of fruit or vegetables, grains, and protein.
• It’s a good idea to keep your kitchen stocked to make preparing lunch easier (legumes, tuna, eggs, pasta, frozen fruit, etc.).
• Involving your child in preparing their lunch gives them a sense of pride and make them more interested in eating it.

Scientific review: Stéphanie Côté, M.Sc., nutritionist Research and copywriting:The Naître et grandir team Updated: July 2026

Photos: GettyImages/FatCamera, courtneyk, RuslanDashinsky, and MachineHeadz