Skip to main content
Food waste

Preventing food waste from school lunchboxes

Link copied

Learn how to prevent food waste from school lunchboxes with these helpful and practical tips. Make a positive difference and reduce food waste to landfill by packing food that kids want to eat!

Preparing school lunchboxes is part of the daily routine for parents and carers with school-aged kids. However, if food is uneaten it can contribute to household and school food waste. This blog provides tips to prevent avoidable food waste from lunchboxes.

Prevent waste

  • Involve your kids in preparing their lunch.
    • Get them involved in choosing new lunchbox ingredients. Give them two options and let them pick one. They will be more likely to eat food they have chosen.
    • Get your kids to help prepare their lunchboxes each morning or seek their 'okay' before packing their lunchbox.
  • Cut up fruit and vegetables, rather than including whole pieces.
  • Get the quantity right. Pack the right amount of food for breaks and lunch.
  • Involve the family. Learn about healthy eating and reducing food waste at home with activities from OzHarvest's FEAST at Home program.
  • Get your school involved to inspire kids to eat healthy and waste less with OzHarvest's FEAST at Home program.

Reuse

  • After school, encourage your kids to eat any leftovers in their lunchbox first before offering an afternoon snack.
  • Give vegetables a new life. When carrots have gone soft, place them in water to freshen them up. They make a great lunchbox snack.
  • Butter frozen bread straight from the freezer and sandwich it together with your kid's favourite fillings.
  • Make frozen yoghurt to prolong its shelf life. Take it from the freezer in the morning and it will remain cold for lunchtime.
  • Reuse leftovers from dinner in the lunchbox. Leftover pasta can make a great alternative to a sandwich.
  • Bottle your own drinks. Reusable water bottles are better for drinks than boxed juice.

Recycle

  • Feed leftovers to pets if it is safe to do so. Check the RSPCA web guides on feeding animals.
  • Compost leftovers. If there are any food scraps left in the lunchbox (e.g. apple cores, banana peels), place them in your home composting system.

Related links