Portion Sizes – Fruit and Vegetables

A question I get asked a lot is what makes up a vegetable or fruit portion in a child’s lunchbox. The answer is the same as makes up a portion outside of the lunchbox but that’s not especially helpful! ? So here I have taken information from the book ‘The Art Of Hiding Vegetables’ by Sally Child and Karen Bali, to create a list of lunchbox friendly fruit and vegetables and how much your child needs to eat to get a portion of each. Obviously these portion sizes are approximate and the size and weight of your child needs to be taken into consideration when judging what a portion size for your child is.

Unlike the 5-a-day we’ve been told about for years, recent evidence is pointing to a more likely 8 or 9 portions a day as a requirement for long term health. The lunchbox is just one meal in the day but if you can get at least two portions in at lunch it makes the evening meal and breakfast choices easier to decide.