Parents of school children know all too well that dreaded feeling of having to pack a lunchbox each morning while you’re still frantically getting ready for work yourself. And let’s not mention that half-eaten vegemite toast left on the kitchen bench because you ran out of time to actually eat it!
Then along comes Sydney-based mum-of-two, Alizah Maryanka, and her super cool idea of Foodie Packs, the pre-packaged lunch box that will save you the time of packing ANYTHING yourself!
“This all came about when I unfortunately became a single mum two years ago and my daughter started preschool. I really struggled with making her daily lunches - knowing what to give her and actually having the time to prepare something fresh, while also juggling a newborn son on my own,’ founder Alizah tells Kidspot.
“Being a single working mum of two kids under 4 made me extremely time poor. Quality time with my children was non-existent and morning lunch making just tipped me over the edge.”
Founder of Foodie Packs Alizah with her family. Image: Foodie Packs
And the idea of Foodie Packs was born!
“I needed a pre-packed school lunch solution and there was absolutely nothing on the marke that was an all-in-one pack, healthy, fresh, and kid portioned. Buying an adult sized sandwich at the petrol station when we were running late for school, just wasn’t going to cut it,” Alizah reveals.
At $10 a pack, families have a variety of options to choose from. From sandwiches on wholemeal bread and a variety of fillings, to sushi packs and even a pasta option that will cater for the fussy ‘no sauce mum!’ types.
Not only with the packing get the little ones excited with fun little cardboard cutouts included, the snacks will also keep them interested. Each pack comes with sides of snacks including: pretzels, apples, grapes, cheese, strawberries, cucumber and rice crackers. And if your kids are anything like mine, they’ll be the first to be consumed!
It’s a big thumbs up from the Kidspot kids! Image: Supplied
A passion for ditching processed food
For Alizah, making sure our children eat wholesome, fresh food is just as important as cutting our time in actually making school lunches.
“In today’s society we have completely lost touch with feeding our children real food: nutrient-dense whole unprocessed foods, ethically sourced and traditionally prepared, being the very food that served and nourished us for millennia,” she says.
“Somewhere along the line we swapped fresh healthy and nutritious for highly processed convenience. The result is an epidemic in chronic childhood illnesses, allergies and degenerative diseases, which older generations did not suffer from.”
How to break this? Making food FUN!
“The most effective and easiest place to start to repair the damage done by all the processed foods our kids have been eating is to provide them with a cool fun and enticing healthy fresh option, which is also convenient for parents to supply,” says Alizah.
“When children are fed healthy fresh foods on a regular basis from a young age, it becomes their normal and they grow up loving healthy fresh foods. They too will pass this love down to their children for many generations to come.”
The Sandwich option. Image: Foodie Packs
But at $10 a pop?
While $10 for your child’s lunch may seem a bit on the expensive side, the Foodie Packs team ensure you are getting good value. The side snacks can be saved for morning and afternoon tea, and of course there is that reassurance your children are getting fed in the best way.
“Yes, it may be slightly more expensive than the highly processed foods parents are shoving in the school lunch boxes currently, but the real price of not providing their kids a healthy fresh variety of fruit and vegetables on a daily basis is immeasurable and irreparable,” declares Alizah.
“The highest quality recyclable packaging has also been used to ensure that the fruit and vegetables remain nutrient rich throughout the pack shelf life. We know our packaging adds significantly to the costs, but it is necessary to ensure the longest shelf life and highest nutrient value possible by keeping the separate components of the pack all individually sealed.”
While Sydney-siders can get excited about the idea of cutting out the morning rush, the rest of Australia will just have to wait for the company to spread their wings into other states.
What do you think of the Foodie Packs? kidspot.editor@news.com.au
