Organix No Junk Lunchboxes Campaign – Join us and say ‘no’ to junk in children’s food.
Children need sustenance to grow properly and excel in life and more parents are jumping on the bandwagon to ensure that children have a healthy and balanced diet from as early an age as possible. However, a survey of mums across the UK, to mark the launch of Organix’s No Junk Challenge Lunchbox Campaign, revealed that over 8 out of 10 mums believe that children’s food options marketed at parents for lunch boxes are often unhealthy, or of limited nutritional value. 87% of fed up mums think the food industry need to provide healthy nutritious food for children and a whopping 97% of parents say that they want to have more healthy options for lunchboxes for their children.
Organix launched the ‘No Junk’ challenge, a campaign to encourage parents to look into fresh natural ingredients and to challenge the food industry to remove the ‘junk’ from children’s food. The No Junk Challenge aims to offer parents advice on how to read ingredients on the back of packets and identify the dirty dozen. These are:
- Peaches
- Apples
- Sweet Bell Peppers
- Celery
- Nectarines
- Strawberries
- Cherries
- Pears
- Grapes (Imported)
- Spinach
- Lettuce
- Potatoes
Facts about children’s food
The ‘No Junk’ campaign responds to what is found in children’s food:
- Official statistics show that one in five children starting school are overweight or obese.
- Children’s food brands making health claims are found to be higher in salt, fat and sugar.
- Artificial additives are widely used to disguise cheap ingredients.
- Nearly half of the best-selling brands are high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS).
“We know it’s not always easy to make good food choices. So, the Organix No Junk Challenge, with the help of blogger supporters and experts, like the Lunchbox Doctor, aim to help and inspire families to use real ingredients and to try to avoid foods with artificial colourings and flavourings, or foods high in added salt, fat and sugar. Statistically, one of the hardest elements of a nutritionally balanced lunchbox for parents is the veg portion…. Just 1 out of 10 lunchboxes has a vegetable portion in it.” Organix Managing Director, Anna Rosier.
It’s tough as busy parents to fit in being able to provide the best possible nutrition for your children. With tons of media from various sources advertising their brands heavily as decent children’s food, crossed with a busy parent’s daily lifestyle, finding the precious time to shop regularly to maintain children’s 5-a-day portions of fruit and veg can become a challenge. 61% of parents find it difficult to keep lunchboxes varied and interested. So, Motherhood Diaries has teamed up with Organix, the UK’s pioneering food brand, to come up with 5 days’ worth of healthy lunchboxes that are quick and easy to make, yet provide the vital building blocks for children to excel at school, as well as adopt a healthy approach and lifestyle to eating in general. 57% of parents say they need more advice on what should go into a child’s lunchbox, so here is 5 days’ worth of lunchboxes made from one bona fide parent with little time and amateur kitchen tools and skills.
Day 1, Monday
| Food | Benefits |
| Banana |
(Information and statistics taken from www.lifescript.com.) |
| Natural Greek Yoghurt |
(Information and statistics taken from www.livestrong.com.) |
| Organix No Junk Pork, Leek & Feta Cheese Sausage Rolls |
(Information and statistics taken from www.healthyeating.sfgate.com, www.juicing-for-health.com, www.nhs.uk and www.ehow.com.) |
| Carrot Sticks |
Information and statistics taken from www.healthonlinezine.info.) |
Day 2, Tuesday
| Food | Benefits |
| Organix No Junk Sweet Potato, Leek & Goat’s Cheese Mini Quiches |
(Information and statistics taken from www.whfoods.com, fit.wemd.com and www.livestrong.com.) |
| Fruity Couscous |
(Information and statistics taken from www.care2.com, www.livestrong.com and www.canadianliving.com.) |
| Salmon, Cream Cheese, Seasonal Leaves & Chives Dip |
(Information and statistics taken from www.bbcgoodfood.com, www.webmd.com, |
| ½ Red Bell Pepper (cut up into sticks) |
(Information and statistics taken from www.nutrition-and-you.com.) |
Day 3, Wednesday
| Food | Benefits |
| Organix No Junk Lunchboxes Mini Pepper & Sweetcorn Tarts |
|
| Pasta salad with Crème Fraiche and Mixed Vegetables |
|
| Cucumber Sticks |
|
| Red Grapes |
|
| Parmesan Cheese |
|
(Information and statistics taken from www.livestrong.com.)
Day 4, Thursday
| Food | Benefits |
| Fruity Couscous |
|
| Banana |
|
| Organix No Junk Pork, Leek & Feta Cheese Sausage Rolls |
|
| Sweet Potato & Leek Snack |
|
| Green Grapes |
|
Day 5, Friday
| Food | Benefits |
| Organix No Junk Pork, Leek & Feta Cheese Sausage Rolls |
|
| Sweet Potato & Leek Snack |
|
| Salmon, Cream Cheese and Seasonal Leaves Sandwich |
|
| Tomato |
(Information and statistics taken from www.netdoctor.co.uk.) |
| Mango |
|
| Cheddar Cheese Cubes |
(Information and statistics taken from www.livestrong.com.) |
| Babybel Cheese |
|
All lunchbox options are offered with water or milk. There are lots of other ways you could dress up a child’s lunchbox by chopping and changing all the healthy ingredients you have at home. If you have a little more time spare, you could use a biscuit cutter to cut the food into little shapes, like stars or fish.
Eats Amazing’s Top Tips for Making Lunchboxes fun:
Cut sandwiches into fun shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife. Don’t waste those crusts though – whizz them up to make bread crumbs and freeze until you need them.
- For the fruity couscous, I packed it with some added side dishes to make a simple star-themed lunch. I cut tiny stars from raw carrot and sprinkled them over the top of the couscous. On the side I added half an apple with a star cut from the skin to decorate (dip any cut surfaces of apple in orange or lemon juice to prevent browning), stars cut from cheddar cheese and a few more raw carrot stars. I used a reusable silicone cupcake case to hold the portion of cheese, which also added an extra splash of colour to the lunch box. All of the star shapes were cut out using a mini cutter, but a small sharp knife would do the same job.
- Use reusable silicone cupcake or muffin cases to hold smaller pieces of food. They’ll help with portion control and add a bright splash of extra colour to your lunch.
- Food on a stick is always a hit with children! Try making sandwich ‘kebabs’ with pieces of bread, ham, cheese, cherry tomatoes and crunchy veggies like peppers or cucumber, or use brightly coloured fruit to make a rainbow.
- Keep your lunches interesting by varying the contents as much as possible. Write a list of all the foods your children will eat (plus a few new ones for them to try!) and stick it to the fridge for inspiration when you’ve run out of ideas.
- Try occasionally swapping sandwiches for pasta, rice or couscous salads. Add shredded meat, veggies and fruit in as many different colours as possible to make it a rainbow salad!
- With a bit of imagination, you can turn your leftovers into fun and creative lunches. Turn a jacket potato half into a fun boat with a cocktail stick and ham sail, add pairs of eyes cut from cheese to a pasta salad or cut fun shapes from crunchy veggies such as carrots and peppers and hide them in leftover rice to make an edible treasure hunt!
- Visit http://eatsamazing.co.uk/lunches/no-junk-lunch-challenge-with-organix for more information on Eats Amazing’s fabulous lunchboxes.
Top Ten Tips for No Junk Lunchboxes by the Lunchbox Doctor
- Provide water rather than fruit juice or squash in your child’s lunchbox. Try adding real fruit to the water for something different e.g. lemon or strawberries. Keep cool with ice-cubes added at the start of the day or freeze the water overnight.
- Sweeten natural yoghurt with fruit/fruit purée instead of buying already sweetened yoghurt.
- Wholegrain crackers or oatcakes will keep your child going for longer than white bread. Try serving with cheese and grapes or tuna and cucumber.
- Calcium is important in kids’ lunchboxes. Include cubes of cheese or yoghurt, and seeds and green veg are also great sources of calcium. Try adding pesto to sandwiches or pasta salad for added calcium.
- Protein helps build and repair bodies and comes from animal sources, such as meat, fish and eggs, and plant sources such as pulses and lentils. Include a variety in lunchboxes. For example a hummus dip one day, a boiled egg the next, then a tuna sandwich and a chicken drumstick the day after. You can add an ice pack to keep this cool.
- A healthy lunchbox can include salad vegetables as they are but also baked foods with vegetables included, such as sweet potato muffins.
- Mini versions of vegetables are great with children – baby beetroots, mini sweetcorn, cherry tomatoes. The size difference is sometimes enough to keep children intrigued.
- Soup – add lentils for thickness and protein. These can be served in a mini thermos flask and eaten at school whilst still warm.
- Children love the colour. It’s why foods for children are in the colourful packaging. A bento box style lunchbox can make real food look great and appealing. A box containing fresh fruit, vegetables, yoghurt, in sections is likely to get eaten where copious amounts of foil or cling film wrapped components won’t.
- Try lunchbox bingo. The idea behind this is that your child can design their own packed lunches but they must be nutritionally balanced. Each day there must be each of the following groups represented in their lunch – protein, carbohydrate, calcium, fruit and drink. You can use the blank menu plan below to get you started. They like the simplicity, and it helps to plan and shop.
Lunchboxes are healthier than free school meals
Six out of 10 mums think a lunchbox is a healthier alternative to school food and more than half would rather their child has a packed lunch, so they know what they are eating and they can ensure quality.
“We know that parents want to give their children good, healthy and nutritious food, and we know that food marketed at parents for their children’s lunchboxes is a particular area for concern among parents across the UK. We want the food industry to take their responsibility seriously to make honest and nutritious food for children to support their health and wellbeing.” Anna Rosier, Managing Director of Organix.
If you would like to provide good food for your family and you want to help Organix and Motherhood Diaries to call on the food industry and government to do more in protecting children’s food, join Organix at www.organix.com/nojunk and join the conversation at #NoJunk.
Notes
The Lunchbox Doctor is Jenny Tschiesche (BSc (Hons) Dip (ION) FdSc BANT, a mother of 2 and one of the UK’s leading nutrition experts. Jenny is the award-winning author of ‘Not Just Sandwiches – 5 Ways to Improve Your Child’s Lunchbox’, and founder of www.lunchboxdoctor.com. Lunchboxdoctor.com is a free information website covering all issues related to providing healthy recipes for kids and advice for parents wanting to create healthy packed lunches. Mumpanel Survey – Conducted during July 2014. It examined the attitudes and eating habits of over 700 mums of children aged 6 months to 5 years, across the UK.
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This is a beautiful post, well done. We are what we eat. But please remember that very first lunch box that a child is faced with, a human breast. If we are to produce truely intelligent, healthy humans for our future survival then breast feeding is the first most important step. Junk food begins when you present your child with that very first bottle of cow milk. Cow milk does not develop the brain, just how clever do you need to be to stand in a field eating grass all day?
http://www.painfreelabour.blogspot.co.uk
Hi Ann, Thank you so much for reading the post and the lovely words. Of course, the importance of good health starts from day 1 and it’s good to teach children earlier rather than later how No Junk food can get be monumental to their health and well-being.
On the note about the cow’s milk, I think there is no reason why you shouldn’t include cow’s milk as part of a child’s diet from 1 year onwards because of the calcium boost they receive from it. I breastfed my eldest for 15 months (Aron came off naturally the day before I gave birth to Aidan), but I included cow’s milk in his diet from around 12 months because he developed such a taste for it. He would, if I would let him, drink cow’s milk until the cows go home (pun not intended)! He’s definitely a milk fiend… Aidan, on the other hand, is still breastfeeding at 2 years, 4 months and he has had absolutely no interest in cow’s milk until quite recently. I’m hoping that a little bit of cow’s milk will sway him from coming off naturally, but there is no chance of that happening right now… But, both boys are big eaters, though, and enjoy cooking/baking healthy meals with me. I get them really involved in the cooking/baking process most times I cook.
So, I would say, cow’s milk isn’t very good for a baby under 1, but not in relation to brain development, but because cow’s milk can be too strong for their little stomachs and they can become anaemic if they drink too much.
Thank you, as ever, for your input, really appreciate it and keep it coming. 🙂
xx