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Packing a school lunchbox is a daily puzzle at the best of times. Add a nut-free rule to the mix, whether because of an allergy at home or a whole-school policy, and it can feel like your options shrink overnight. The good news is that a nut-free lunchbox can still be varied, filling and, crucially, one your child will actually eat. Here are plenty of ideas to keep things easy all term. The nut-free hero: seed butters If the ban on nuts has taken your peanut butter off the table, seed butters are the answer. They spread just like a nut butter, taste creamy and satisfying, and are completely nut-free. Our Raw Organic Sunflower Seed Butter is made from nothing but organic sunflower seeds, which makes it perfect for lunchboxes and nut-free classrooms alike. Spread it on wholemeal bread with sliced banana, swirl it with a little fruit jam, or use it as a dip for apple and carrot sticks. For a change, our hemp seed butter does the same job with its own nutty character. Simple sandwiches and wraps The humble sandwich still does the heavy lifting, so keep it interesting. Beyond seed butter and banana, try hummus with grated carrot or cucumber, mashed avocado with a squeeze of lemon, cream cheese with sliced tomato, or a wrap rolled around hummus and roasted vegetables. Cutting sandwiches into fingers, triangles or shapes genuinely helps with younger children, and swapping bread for a wrap, pitta or oatcakes now and then keeps lunch from feeling repetitive. Naturally nut-free snacks This is where a well-stocked cupboard pays off. Dried fruit such as raisins, apricots and dried mango satisfies a sweet tooth without a sugary wrapper. Seeds like pumpkin and sunflower add crunch and are a safe nut-free alternative for lunchboxes. Plain popcorn is light and fun, oatcakes and wholegrain crackers travel well, and a little pot of natural yoghurt with fruit rounds things off. Add some chopped fresh fruit and a few veg sticks, and the box is looking colourful already. Easy homemade treats A batch of homemade snacks at the weekend saves money and means you know exactly what is in them. Seed-butter oat energy balls come together in minutes: mix sunflower seed butter with oats, a little honey or mashed banana, seeds and dried fruit, roll into balls and chill. Flapjacks made with oats and seeds are a lunchbox classic, and homemade granola bars beat the shop-bought kind hands down. All of these are naturally nut-free when you build them around oats, seeds and dried fruit rather than nuts. A few tips to make it stick Getting children to eat what you pack is half the battle, so a little strategy helps. Let them help choose and assemble their lunch, since a child who picked it is far more likely to eat it. Keep some variety across the week so nothing gets boring, and don't be afraid to repeat the things they love. Above all, keep it simple: a nut-free lunchbox does not have to be elaborate to be healthy and happily eaten. With a jar of seed butter, a cupboard of dried fruit, seeds and oats, and a few easy homemade treats, nut-free lunches stop being a chore and start being genuinely enjoyable, for them and for you.

Take a look inside a typical school lunchbox and you'll often find the same cast of characters: a bag of crisps, a shiny cereal bar, a fruit-flavoured yoghurt, maybe a packet of sweets dressed up as fruit. They're convenient, and children like them, but most are ultra-processed, and British children now get a striking share of their calories from these kinds of foods. The good news is that you don't need a total overhaul to change that. A handful of simple swaps can quietly whole-food your child's lunchbox, without a fight at the kitchen table. Why bother swapping? Ultra-processed snacks tend to be high in sugar, salt and additives, and low on the fibre and goodness of real food. They're also designed to be moreish, which is exactly why the packet always comes home empty. Swapping them for simple whole-food alternatives means fewer hidden sugars, more of the nutrients growing children need, and often a smaller bill too. And because the swaps below are built around foods kids already enjoy, they rarely notice they've been made. Swap crisps for popcorn, seeds or oatcakes The lunchtime crisp packet is the obvious place to start. Plain popcorn gives you the same light, crunchy, moreish appeal for a fraction of the cost, and you can pop a big batch at home in minutes using our Organic Popping Corn. Roasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds are another satisfying, crunchy option that happens to be nut-free, which suits most school policies. Wholegrain oatcakes and crackers do the job too, especially with a little hummus or cheese. Swap sugary cereal bars for homemade oat bars Cereal bars sound wholesome, but many are closer to a biscuit, held together with syrups and sugars. Homemade oat bars and flapjacks are far better, and genuinely easy to make. A tray of flapjacks made from oats, a little honey or mashed banana, seeds and dried fruit will fill lunchboxes all week for pennies. Our Organic Jumbo Oats are the base for these, as well as for no-bake energy balls, which children love helping to roll. Swap sweets for dried fruit and fresh fruit Those brightly packaged fruit sweets and winders are usually more sugar than fruit. Real dried fruit satisfies the same sweet craving with fibre and nutrients along for the ride. Raisins, chopped apricots and dried mango all travel brilliantly and keep for ages, so a bag of our organic raisins in the cupboard is a lunchbox lifesaver. Add some fresh fruit too, cut into easy-to-eat pieces, and the sweet slot is more than covered. Dried fruit is sticky and sugary, mind, so it's best packed alongside a meal rather than grazed on all day. Swap fruit-flavoured yoghurts for plain yoghurt and fruit Flavoured children's yoghurts can carry a surprising amount of sugar. A pot of plain natural yoghurt, topped at home with fresh or dried fruit and a sprinkle of seeds, gives you all the creaminess with none of the syrup, and lets you control the sweetness. A drizzle of honey keeps fussier eaters happy. Swap biscuits and chocolate for simple homemade treats Lunch doesn't have to be joyless, and a treat has its place. Rather than shop-bought biscuits, tuck in a homemade oat cookie or an energy ball made with seeds and dried fruit. If it's chocolate they're after, a couple of squares of good dark chocolate, or a homemade seed-and-fruit bar, does the trick with far less sugar than most lunchbox chocolate bars. Make it easy on yourself None of this has to mean more work on a Monday morning. The secret is a little batch cooking at the weekend: make a tray of flapjacks or a jar of energy balls, portion up dried fruit and popcorn into small tubs, and the week more or less packs itself. Get the children involved in choosing and making their snacks, and they're far more likely to eat them. And don't aim for a perfect lunchbox every day, just a bit more real food and a bit less of the ultra-processed sort. Small swaps like these are the everyday heart of our Whole Plate idea, that most of your plate, most of the time, should be real food. Start with one or two, build from there, and before long the lunchbox looks after itself. If you'd like more gentle ideas, our free Whole Plate Pledge shares a simple swap or recipe a day.