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Mums and lunchboxes - September 2013

We’re two weeks into the new school term and lots of mums are thinking about lunches. Specifically what to put in their child's lunchbox that keeps them happy and ensures they have a full tummy but meets school deadlines and doesn’t break the bank!

As you can tell from that list lunchboxes have become a bit of a hot topic for mums. In the last few years parents have come under increasing pressure from the Government and schools to provide a ‘healthy’ lunchbox. Most parents would agree this is really important but what do you do if your child won’t eat fruit and veg? And many parents choose packed lunches as an alternative to more costly school dinners – is it possible for parents to make the healthiest choice possible when catering to a budget? Is there a place for brands to help mums make lunchboxes less stressful?

We recently carried out some insight work with mums looking at what decisions they make when filling their child's lunchbox.

• 74% of mums struggle to vary what they put in their childs lunchbox.
• 61% of mums said they had school lunchbox guidelines to meet.

Mums main criteria and wants when filling the lunchbox:

1. The children enjoy it (and fits their own personal needs i.e. allergies, fussy eaters, wants).
2. It fills them up, provides nutrients and vitamins and energy for the day.
3. It meets school guidelines. Mums look out for healthy additions, and if it provides them 1, 2 or 3 of their 5 a day that’s great. Another tick off the lunchbox list. But most mums don’t actively look for low fat products, it is more about what the lunchbox gives their child rather than avoiding the 'bad' choices. I

If you are developing products for mums then you might be interested to know…

Top 5 inclusions in lunchboxes:

1. 95% sandwich (cheese, ham and tuna are the top 3 filings)
2. 86% piece of fruit
3. 75% yoghurt
4. 61% cheese portion
5. 51% biscuit/mini packet of biscuits

But we did see indications that the usual lunchbox formula is changing ever so slightly in the quest to meet varying lunchbox needs.

About a fifth of mums mentioned some bespoke inclusions in the lunchbox, here’s how mums are doing it:

Most of all mums want to see more healthy and fruit based lunchbox items on supermarket shelves. And ideally kid sized.

From online survey of 565 UK parents.

If you’d like to talk to us about working with MumPanel to help you get your products right for mums then give us a call.
Posted by MumPanel team at 01:58 Labels: lunchboxes, mum opinions, mum survey, mums focus group, product development schools, school dinners

