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Healthy meals take time to prepare

A good packed lunch takes time to prepare

View packed lunch menus from the School Food Trust

• Packed lunches (School Food Trust) Opens new window

The School Food Trust is responsible for transforming school food and food skills. It says that packed lunches which meet the standards of healthy school lunches can take 50 to 190 hours to make, per school year. The timings are based on the Trust’s sample packed lunch menus.

Sample menus from the School Food Trust

If you still prefer to give your child a packed lunch, the Trust provides low cost, low effort and vegetarian sample menus. Chef and Trust Chairman, Rob Rees, said: "Our menus suggest that filling a lunchbox with foods that meet the same standards as school meals can take a lot of effort – and that’s before you add in the time it takes to shop for ingredients."

You can view the sample menus by following the link below.

• Packed lunches (School Food Trust) Opens new window

School meals have got healthier

Since the introduction of standards for school food, the average school meal is designed to provide children with about a third of their daily intake of energy and nutrients.

National standards for school food now ensure that every pupil gets:

• a portion of fruit a day
  
• a portion of vegetables or salad a day
  

Other foods have been restricted or removed from school menus:

• restricted foods: meat products and starchy foods cooked in fat or oil
  
• foods no longer provided: crisps, confectionery and sweetened drinks

More on Directgov

• Nutrition and school lunches (parents section)