Packing your child’s lunchbox can be a daunting experience, especially for new school parents. In fact, I’ve heard of corporate executives who admit to having more anxiety about what they’re putting in their child’s lunchbox than they do about big presentations!

And it’s no wonder. Not only is there nutrition to think about, there are also food safety issues, school packaging and allergy policies, and most importantly what your child will actually eat! And then there is of course the pressure to send your child off to school with Pinterest inspired lunch boxes complete with sandwiches shaped as Disney characters, homebaked ‘sugar free’ muffins and origami handwritten notes which, lovely as they are, almost no one actually has time to make.

But packing a nutritionally balanced, safe, school rule abiding lunch that kids will actually eat doesn’t have to be another source of stress in your day.  I’ve broken it down into five basic steps to try and make it a bit easier. [Read more…]