A school lunch seems a small thing until Monday morning arrives. Eight o'clock, the child does not want to eat, and you have to pack the lunchbox in five minutes. By Wednesday there is an apple in the bag that will come back untouched, and by Friday you no longer know yourself what to put in. Let us make a menu for the week and a shopping list once, and everything becomes simpler.

Below is a simple scheme: what should be in the lunchbox, grams per schoolchild, an example menu for five days and a list of products. There are no prices in the text, they change every week: you will see the current shop offers in the live blocks.

What makes a good lunchbox

A simple formula: a base, a fruit, a vegetable and a drink. The base is a sandwich, a small curd snack, a bun or something filling. Fruit and vegetable add freshness and crunch. The drink covers the rest. If your child likes sweets, put in something small, but not as the main thing.

The rule is this: a lunchbox has three or four small compartments, each with its own thing. Children eat better when the food is cut and neatly laid out, not lying in one lump.

How much to pack: grams and pieces

For one schoolchild, for one day, roughly this is enough:

  • a sandwich of two slices of bread with cheese: bread about sixty grams, cheese twenty to thirty grams;
  • fruit: one apple, a banana or a handful of grapes, about a hundred and fifty grams;
  • cut vegetables: cucumber, carrot or cherry tomatoes, about eighty to a hundred grams;
  • a drink: three to five hundred millilitres of water or a hundred and fifty to two hundred millilitres of dairy.

In total that is about three to four hundred grams. For an older child or a sporty one add a second sandwich. If they go to after-school care or clubs, put in a second small snack separately.

Bread: the base of the sandwich

Bread for a sandwich is best fairly dense and sliced: it holds the filling and does not get crushed in the rucksack. For a week you need a small loaf: about five sandwiches of two slices, that is ten slices. For the whole family count separately. How to choose bread and how to store it is in the article on bread.

It is best to buy fresh bread for two or three days and keep the slices for the remaining days in the freezer. Take it out in the morning and by break it has thawed. What there is now in bread:

In the catalogues now: bread

All offers

Cheese: a filling and a snack on its own

Cheese is good because it is filling and does not make the bread soggy. A sandwich needs twenty to thirty grams, so for five days about a hundred and fifty grams. You can also cut it into cubes and put it in a separate container, and the child eats it as a snack. More about choosing in the article on brined cheese and cheese.

It is best to buy cheese for the week in one piece and slice it in the evening. Let us see what there is now in cheese:

In the catalogues now: cheese

All offers

Dairy: kefir, milk, yoghurt

Dairy goes to school as a drink or a snack. A portion of a hundred and fifty to two hundred millilitres is enough: a small carton of kefir, milk or drinking yoghurt. It is important that it does not lie for hours in the warmth, so in hot weather put it in with a cool pack. For a week you need a litre to a litre and a half of dairy for one child.

What there is now in milk:

In the catalogues now: milk

All offers

Vegetables and fruit: crunch and freshness

Vegetables for the lunchbox are cut into sticks: cucumber, carrot, sweet pepper, cherry tomatoes. Children eat more willingly what they can pick up by hand. For fruit apples, tangerines, bananas, grapes, pears and everything that does not need peeling with a knife work well. For a week you need about five to seven pieces of fruit, about a kilo, and four to five hundred grams of vegetables.

What there is now in vegetables:

In the catalogues now: vegetables

All offers

And here is what there is in fruit:

In the catalogues now: fruit

All offers

A menu for five days

  • Monday: cheese on bread, an apple, cucumber sticks, water.
  • Tuesday: cheese with greens on bread, a banana, carrot sticks, kefir.
  • Wednesday: cheese on bread, a pear or a tangerine, cherry tomatoes, water.
  • Thursday: cheese and cucumber separately, bread, grapes, milk.
  • Friday: the child's favourite sandwich, a fruit of their choice, vegetables of their choice, a drink.

Do not repeat the same thing too often. If the child likes a certain set, leave it, and change only the fruit and vegetable.

A ready-made breakfast basket

If you want to check yourself against a list, open the "Breakfast" basket: it has the basic products and shows where each is cheaper now:

What it costs: Breakfast groceries for the week: where to buy them cheaper

The whole set at the best prices78.98 leiFound 5 of 6 items

Where to get the set

  • Nr15 of 6 itemsMost items
    94.55 leiMissing: Eggs
  • Family Market5 of 6 items
    100.30 leiMissing: Eggs
  • METRO5 of 6 items
    430.60 leiMissing: Eggs
  • Bonus4 of 6 items
    144.96 leiMissing: Eggs, Bread
The whole basket

More offers of the week are in the discounts.

A shopping list for a week for one child

  • Bread: a small loaf.
  • Cheese: about a hundred and fifty grams.
  • Dairy: a litre, kefir or milk.
  • Fruit: five to seven pieces, about a kilo.
  • Vegetables: four to five hundred grams.
  • Bottled water and containers for the lunchbox, if needed.

How to pack quickly in the morning

In the evening cut the vegetables and fruit, put them in containers and put them in the fridge. In the morning all that is left is to make the sandwich and put everything in the bag. It takes two or three minutes, and the child gets a fresh lunch. And do ask the child to bring the containers back washed or at least empty: that way you can see what they ate.