• You may be one of the lucky mums whose children love fruit and will always grab something from the fruit bowl to munch. They won’t mind a whole orange, apple or banana being tucked into their school bag. But there are other children who don’t handle whole pieces of fruit so well – especially smallies with small hands. In this case, we suggest making a little portion of fruit salad with a mix of chopped up fruit – little orange segments, chopped apple, grapes, and a little fruit juice to make it sweet and juicy. This will be a good snack at morning break time and included as part of their five a day portions of fruit and vegetables.

• Use wholemeal brown bread instead of white if you can for more fibre. Seeded bread is particularly good, they introduce extra nutrition to an ordinary sandwich.

• Be wise in the evenings when cooking pasta, couscous or rice. Do a bit extra which can help make a wholesome school lunch salad with some veggies and chopped ham, cheese or tuna stirred in.

• As the season moves on and the weather gets nippy, if your child is allowed a little vacuum flask, a homemade soup will bring a bit of warmth and comfort to school lunchtimes. Autumn seasonal vegetables like butternut squash, carrots and parsnips make gorgeous smooth soups with a naturally sweet taste.

• Jinny’s Bakery and Tea Rooms Tortillas and pitta bread make good filling holders, for a change from bread. Easy to hold and munch too.

We have a number of Good Food Ireland® members whose produce is a great addition to school lunchboxes.

• Killowen Farm individual pots of natural yoghurt with a layer of fruit puree in the base make delicious treats at lunchtime.

• The Apple Farm & Farm Shop produce juicy, crisp apples that in turn give their bright, fresh flavours to the handmade and pressed apple juice. There are apple juice mixtures including strawberry, raspberry, and blackcurrant juices, and some sensational sparkling juices. The farm also grows four varieties of strawberries, three of raspberry, four of cherry, three types of plums, and two pears. High quality fresh fruit for your kids to take to school.

•  Robert Ditty’s Traditional Irish oatcakes are great little munchers. A naturally made oatcake with the goodness of Irish oats, they make a great replacement for commercially made sugar-packed biscuits and sweets.  Spread them with cream cheese for a lunch bite. Older kids and teens might like them with some slices of Irish cheddar, smoked meats and smoked fish too.