Diet and Nutrition – Fuelling Farmers’ Lunch Boxes

Farming men, women and workers often work long hours and need to pack a lunchbox to keep them fuelled and energised for the farming task at hand. At certain times of the year lunch is often eaten ‘on the go’.
Coming up with a nutritional lunchbox and having food items that are easy, appealing to eat and also store well in a lunch box can be a challenge.
Being familiar with The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating and recommend daily servings can assist with incorporating the five core food groups into lunch boxes.
The bulk of foods in a lunchbox should come from:
Followed by:
- Lean Meat and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds and legumes/beans
- Milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or their alternatives ( mostly reduced fat)
With a small touch of:
A farmer lunchbox which provides a variety of foods from a variety of food groups is key ingredient to fuelling a successful day’s work. A healthy lunchbox will:
- promote health and wellbeing
- reduce the risk of diet-related conditions, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure and obesity; and
- reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some types of cancers.
For more information on Food variety and a Healthy diet visit Better Health Channel
Healthy Eating Tips for the Farmer Lunch Box
- choose healthy fats instead of saturated and trans fats
- limit salt and added sugar
- limit high kilojoules/calorie food and drink
- eat well– have a healthy breakfast, don’t skip meals & snack on healthy snacks
- switch to eating mainly low GI carbohydrates (oats, barley or bran-based cereals, grainy breads, a variety of fruit and vegetables, a variety of carbohydrate-containing foods) as they provide a more sustained source of energy
- prepare and store food safely
Drink plenty of water
Farming men and women should always have a drink bottle of water packed and drink plenty of it throughout the day. There are many benefits from drinking water and keeping hydrated.
- increases energy & relieves fatigue
- promotes weight loss
- flushes out toxins
- improves skin complexion
- maintains regularity
- boosts immune system
- natural headache remedy
- prevents cramps & sprains
For more information on the importance of drinking visit Better Health Channel
Health Star Ratings
A Guide to Healthier Farmer Lunchboxes
The Health Star Rating is a front-of-pack labelling system that rates the overall nutritional profile of packaged food and assigns a rating from ½ a start to 5 stars. It is a quick, easy and standard way to compare similar packaged foods.
The more stars, the healthier the choice! Read more – Make the Healthy Choice the Easy Choice
Looking for inspiration
Better Health Channel
Lunch box tips
Healthy living recipes
References used for this topic page
More information:
Australian Government
Eat for Health – The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating
Nutrition Australia
Healthy Eating Pyramid
Better Health Channel
Healthy living
CSIRO
VegEze App – creative recipes & ideas to increase vegetable intake
Clinical care:
National Health and Medical Research Council
Dietary Guidelines 2013
Research & reviews:
World Health Organization (WHO)
Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Disease
Fast facts:
- Healthy eating is essential for health and wellbeing.
- At times during the annual farming calendar, farming men and women and workers may require to pack a lunchbox due to long hours of work.
- Increasing your knowledge on the 5 core food groups and recommended servings from each will assist in placing healthier choices in lunchboxes.
- Using the Health Star rating system can assist with buying healthy packaged foods for the lunchboxes.
- Drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration.
- Care, prepare and store food safely.
Last updated: 13th February, 2018