Two months into the new school year and you are looking for inspiration to pack the 180 snack boxes over an average school year. How can you fill it with tempting, healthy food so that it comes back empty? Breaks at school often don't allow much time for children to eat a proper lunch and they have to rely on a variety of small snacks to keep them going.

Snacks are an important part of daily food intake for active children and they need to be nutritious, tasty and quick to prepare. It is very easy for busy parents to throw in a bag of crisps, biscuits or other high fat, commercially prepared snacks. This teaches your child that these are every day foods rather than occasional treats. A bit of planning and imagination can relieve the boredom of that daily sandwich and turn everyday foods in your child's lunchbox into tempting taste sensations.

With definitive research to support the health and environmental benefits of organic food, children are the big winners. Their small body size means they concentrate pesticides, hormones and other chemicals from artificial additives that can have a cumulative effect over time. Behavioral problems, learning deficits, increased susceptibility to illness and increased incidences of allergies have all been associated with exposure to pesticides and other artificial additives in conventional food. Now with a huge range of organic food available (2 outlets of Organic Foods and Café now open www.organicfoodsandcafe.com) that bans the use of additives like trans fatty acids, MSG and aspartame, we have a wonderful selection of snack box ideas to choose from.

Breakfast

But first of all your child needs to start the school day balanced – with breakfast. Breakfast provides important nutrients like iron, calcium, protein and slow releasing carbohydrates. Research shows that children who skip breakfast are more likely to be anaemic, lack energy and have difficulty concentrating.

Healthy breakfast suggestions include:

• Fruit smoothies: blend yoghurt, milk or soya milk with fresh fruit and a little honey
• Layer fresh berries like blueberries with yoghurt in a glass to look like a parfait, topped with crunchy muesli
• Wholegrain toast, muffins, crumpets with cream cheese and sliced banana or cucumbers
• Porridge or unsweetened wholegrain breakfast cereal with milk/soya milk and a quality runny honey
• Baked beans on wholemeal toast.
• 1 hard boiled or poached egg with wholegrain toast soldiers
• Spelt pancakes with sliced banana or stewed fruit

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Avoid having sugared breakfast cereals like coco pops or fruit loops in the cupboard as these will become the norm for children rather than an occasional treat. If you are really organized, try making Bircher Muesli: soak oats overnight in yoghurt/milk/soya milk making the mixture very moist. Add ground nuts/seeds and any dried fruit you like. Sweeten with honey or a little apple juice and add fresh fruit the following day such as grated apple. This keeps for three days and makes a great home-from-school snack.

Snacks

It eases the early morning routine if you can prepare some snacks in advance (your children can help??) and store them in airtight containers. Think small. Your children have small hands and mouths so they need food prepared in ways that are easy to eat and appealing. For example peel mandarins and store in containers or put different varieties of grapes into a small container. Check the school's policy for nuts. Many schools allow nuts but have a policy of not sharing lunchboxes. Raw unsalted nuts like almonds, Brazil nuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds make a nutritious, high protein snack with essential fatty acids for brain function:

Try:

• Pita bread crisps with grated parmesan grilled in the oven
• Hummus or yoghurt dip with cucumber sticks/mini organic carrots and cherry tomatoes
• Mini pizzas/quiches or slice of frittata
• Corn/rice thins with almond/cashew nut butter and honey
• Trail mix: pop corn, cocnut, sultanas, dried apricots, pineapple, prunes, nuts and seeds
• Date balls: combine finely chopped dates and walnuts with sultanas, rice bubbles, crushed cornflakes. Roll in coconut
• Homemade muffins and oat cookies
• Actimel/Yakult/soy milk
• Sushi rolls

Children need to be exposed to a variety of tastes and textures so they can become adventurous with their food choices. Check the Organic Foods and Café for their array of muesli, nut and fruit bars as well as individual packs of nuts and seeds, dried fruit, flavoured soy milk and crisps, perfect for snack boxes.

The humble sandwich

Most lunches revolve around sandwiches. Popular variations include wraps - small pita breads can be split in two and filled like pita pockets. Make sure the filling does not fall out or become too soggy and wrap tightly with glad wrap. You can roll up fillings in larger pieces of Arabic bread or flour tortillas. Roll tightly in glad wrap and cut in half just like a shawarma. Experiment with different organicwholegrain breads . If you want to make a filling moist such as tinned tuna, salmon or chicken, mix with half low fat mayonnaise and half low fat yoghurt.

Try these sandwich fillings:

• Ricotta cheese, diced apricots and slivered almonds
• Cottage cheese, chopped dates/raisins and walnuts
• Roast turkey, lettuce and cranberry sauce
• Tinned salmon, cucumber and lettuce
• Grated cheese, pineapple and lettuce
• Egg, alfalfa sprouts and lettuce
• Diced chicken, lettuce and avocado
• Tuna and sweetcorn
• Cream cheese, banana and cinnamon

Children's appetites vary enormously so don't be discouraged if food comes back uneaten. It is best to look at the variety of food that is eaten over one week rather than over a day and get your child to help buy and pack the snack box. Choose days when you might add a treat like chocolate coated rice cakes or crisps. What goes into the snack box now will help lay the foundation for your child's future growth and development.

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