How To Pack a Nude Food Lunch Box
Many schools these days ask for parents to pack 'nude food' for their kids' school lunches. So, we are going to share our best tips for how to pack a nude food lunch box!
But first...
What is a Nude Food Lunch Box?
A nude food lunch box is one where there is no disposable wrappers or single use packaging like plastic, foil or zip lock bags. It is also sometimes called 'litter free lunches.'
This concept has two goals. First, to encourage kids to eat more real food and less processed packet food. Second, to reduce single use packaging.
According to EnviroWeek, each packed lunch can create three pieces of litter. This equates to 30kg of waste per child, per year!
How do you pack a nude food lunch box?
We get it... parents are busy, so this can seem like one extra thing to do! But we have some tips for you to make it easy and soon it will become habit.
1. Get a 'Bento' style lunchbox
These lunchboxes make it super easy for food to stay fresh and separate without the need for any wrapping. Pop your food into each compartment and close the lid!
You can also get little cups or boxes for dips, yoghurt etc.
We have a range of quality bento lunchboxes that get rave reviews!
Not sure which lunchbox to choose? Read our blog How To Choose The Right Lunchbox For Your Child for our advice. You can also ask the team in store or by email too.
2. Make your own snacks
Baking a few things for the lunchbox is a great way to cut down on packaging and it's much more affordable.
We know not everyone has the time so you can also keep it simple with more fruit and vegetables and easy options like popcorn, dried fruit, nuts and boiled eggs. You might like to do some prep on a Sunday night and chop up some fruit and veg ready to go for the week.
Baking in bulk is also a great idea. An afternoon in the kitchen once a month can yield loads of lunchbox snacks for stocking up the freezer. Get the kids involved as well!
Need some inspo? Check out these yummy recipes:
3. Buy in bulk and portion
This is a great money saver as well as helping with nude food lunches! Individually portioned food is much more expensive and there is much more waste.
Buy large bags of dried fruit, popcorn, crackers and pretzels. Check out your bulk food store for snack options!
Grab a block of cheese and cut it up instead of buying individually wrapped sticks or slices. Make your own dips or buy bigger tubs of things like hummus to have with veggie sticks.
Buy big tubs of yoghurt or custard and use reusable food pouches. You can keep these cool with a freezable outer pouch.
This option also enables you to portion the right amount of food that your child will eat!
4. Use reusable drink bottles
Reduce packaging of juice and milk boxes by taking drinks in a reusable bottle. An insulated drink bottle will keep the contents cool and safe to drink all day.
Check out our reusable drink bottles.
5. Use reusable straws and cutlery
Avoid disposable straws and cutlery! As well as reusable straws and lunchbox cutlery, you can also get little picks, sporks and florks for using with bento boxes. Super cute and fun for the kids!
6. Use fun stickers
We know a big part of the appeal of processed and packaged snacks is the marketing with fun characters! Who doesn't want to eat Wiggles yoghurt?
But you can easily buy some stickers of whatever your child is into and pop them on lunchboxes, pouches, drink bottles or even on fruit!
7. Utilise dinner leftovers
This is one of the best lunchbox hacks, ever! It cuts down your time and avoids food waste. You can even make extra dinner in preparation for lunches.
For example, cook extra meatballs or chicken drumsticks. These are delicious cold or you can heat them and use an insulated food jar.
In fact one of our best tips is to make lunchboxes the night before while you wait for dinner to cook. It saves time on preparation and washing up!
8. Use reusable options
There are load of reusable ideas for lunchboxes that can help you avoid plastic cling wrap. Try beeswax wraps, fabric food bags and wraps or even these reusable silicone Wrap Holders!
9. Make it fun!
If you do have a bit extra time (or maybe a fussy eater!), then you can make bento lunchboxes a bit fun. Use cookie cutters, Stampies or sandwich cutters to make cool shapes with fruit, veggies and bread.
10. What to do with the food that comes home?
The kids will usually bring home some bits and bobs they haven't eaten for lunch. If possible, get them to eat it for afternoon tea to reduce food waste.
You can also freeze any fruit or vegetables to use for smoothies or iceblocks. Anything too far gone can be composted or given to the pets or chickens!
We hope these ideas for how to pack a nude food lunch box have given you some inspiration!
What other ideas have you got? Let us know!
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