Wondering what to put in your child’s lunchbox without breaking the bank? As hard-pressed parents continue to battle with ever-rising back-to-school costs, a survey shows that children can get their recommended 3 servings of dairy a per day for just 65 cents.
The survey of prices in Ireland’s four biggest supermarkets found that packing a lunch box with a portion of milk, yogurt or cheese offers good value for money and packs a great nutritional punch.
Dr Mary Harrington, Senior Nutritionist with National Dairy Council said: “Back to school is one of the most expensive times of the year for parents and, with food prices rising across the board, it has never more challenging to feed a family affordably whilst also guaranteeing that kids get a healthy balanced diet.
“Our survey of supermarket prices found that the recommended 3 servings of dairy per day for 5-8 year olds, costs on average €0.65, so putting a dairy product in your child’s lunchbox provides excellent value for money while also packing a real nutritional punch.
“One serving each of milk, yogurt and cheese, provides a wide range of nutrients, including calcium, protein, iodine, phosphorus and B vitamins – all of which play an important role in your kid’s health. For example, calcium is needed for normal bone growth and development and iodine contributes to normal growth and brain function.”
The NDC survey of prices in Dunnes Stores, Tesco, SuperValu, and Aldi supermarkets found that it costs an average of 21c for a 200ml serving of milk, 14c for a 25g serving of hard cheese, and 30c for a 125g pot of yogurt. It comes at a time when food price inflation in Ireland is running at more than 10%.
A 2023 Safefood report notes food as one of the largest proportions of minimum essential spending in 2022, and the largest category of spending for an urban household with children, apart from childcare. The cost of a child’s minimum food needs in an urban area was: €22.53 (pre-school), €33.98 (primary school) and €49.89 (secondary).
The Department of Health’s recommendations for healthy eating includes 3 servings from the ‘milk, yogurt and cheese’ food group for those aged 5-8 years; with 5 servings recommended for 9-18 year olds due to the importance of calcium during this life stage.
Dr Mary Harrington added: “Most Irish children bring a packed lunch to school and given that it is one of your three key meals a day, it’s important that it should contain all the major food groups. However, if you’re concerned that something won’t be eaten, a good approach is to try it at home first before putting it in the lunch box, that way you’ll know whether your child will enjoy it. Another good idea is to get your child involved in preparing the school lunch so they become more interested in what they eat.”
A typical packed school lunch should contain:
- 1 portion of starchy carbohydrate (e.g., wholegrain breads, pittas and wraps, brown rice/pasta)
- 1 portion of meat or meat alternative (e.g., chicken, fish, egg, pulses)
- 1 portion of dairy (e.g., yogurt, cheese)
- 1(+) portion of vegetable (e.g., carrot sticks, peppers, sweetcorn, lettuce, onion)
- 1(+) portion of fruit (e.g., apple, orange, banana, pear, kiwi)
- A drink of water and/or milk
