Ordering

How do I know if the lunch is ordered?

Once you choose your preferred lunch you will have the option to order just for one day or repeating the order. After you choose your preference this lunch will then be placed and shows in green on the dashboard. You have until 12noon the day BEFORE lunch is due to make changes to that order. You can also tap the ? on the cartoon’s tummy to view the orders.

There are three ways to know lunch is ordered:

 

  1. The day on your dashboard shows in green. Each day that is marked in green are days you want lunch. Any days in red days are days you are NOT getting fed. Please remember to check the calendar for EACH of your children.
  2. You will receive a push notification at 12noon the day BEFORE lunch is due to let you know the order has been processed for the following day.
  3. Every Friday you will receive an email with you order for the week ahead.

How to change my order?

To change an order for a day, simply select the day and it will bring up a new menu option. Your lunch options are:

  1. Trad 3 Piece – Sandwich/roll/wrap, fruit or dairy, and a healthy snack.
  2. Infant 3 Piece – Half sandwich/roll/wrap, fruit or dairy, and a healthy snack.
  3. Cold Pasta/Salad
  4. Build Your Own – You can choose your own bread, spread, fillings and salad
  5. Snacks only – Choose up to 4 of our snacks

Please note that additional snacks can be added at the end of any of these options.

Choose the new lunch that you would like and it will be changed on your dashboard, tap the ? on the cartoon’s tummy to double check that your order is perfect. You can amend the order as many times as you like and whichever order is in place at 12 noon will be the order that goes through.

If I am happy with my order do I need to log in every week?

Not at all. You can choose to repeat your orders so you don’t have to worry about adding them each week. In the event you want to cancel a day, if the school is closed or your little one is out sick, just tap the day on the calendar and set the day to red.

If I am on holidays how do I suspend my order?

Simply tap the day(s) on the calendar that you would like to turn off the lunch and click ‘Confirm’ to save them as a holiday. A day marked red is a day you do not want your lunch delivered.

Am I still charged for the order if the school is closed?

We liaise with the schools to ensure that we have an up to date school calendar and we then know which days to suspend our service in the school. Some holidays, such as teacher training days, are sometimes missed from the school calendar and may not be saved as a holiday on our side. In these cases, we ask parents to make sure that they save these dates as holidays on their individual calendars to ensure that lunches aren’t charged while the pupils are off.

If you notice that your calendar is not in red for a scheduled day off, please let us know before 12 noon the day prior to the school closure and we will be able to add it as a holiday for the whole school in case some parents forget to cancel the lunches.

What if I my child is absent from school?

If your child is absent from school, you have up until 12 noon the day before an absence to amend or cancel your child’s lunch. Simply log into your account, go to the calendar and tap the day that you don’t want a lunch to save it as a holiday.

Please contact us at info@thelunchbag.ie if you missed the 12 noon deadline for cancelling an order.

Can I add an order after the deadline?

Our master file of orders is automatically completed at 12 noon each week day for the following day of lunches. After this file is completed, we unfortunately cannot make amendments to it and add further orders. We are very sorry if you have missed the deadline and this causes any upset. We send out push notifications through the app to remind our customers to order before the deadline, as well as giving them the option of setting repeat orders so they don’t have to open up the app each day. You will also be able to order the lunches in advance, in case you don’t get a chance to add them before 12 noon on a particular day.

What if I only want lunches on some days?

Our service is available 5 days a week – but you can pick and choose what days you would like to avail of it. We aim to make lunch as stress free and convenient as possible. To cancel a lunch, simply tap the date on the calendar and click ‘Confirm’.

How do I cancel a repeat order completely?

If you would like to cancel a repeat order, you can click the ‘Clear Order’ button underneath the order that you would like to cancel. Please note that this will cancel the lunches for each day, for example. if you clear the repeat order for one Monday, it will be cleared for each Monday going forward unless you add it again.

If you would just like to cancel a repeat order on a particular Monday, etc. then you can go to the calendar, tap the date that you don’t want a lunch and save the date as a holiday. Your dashboard will be red for the days you won’t be receiving a lunch.

Using the App

How to I add another student to the app?

 

Click the three lines in the top left hand corner of the screen, and choose the ‘Students’ option. From here you click ‘Add New Student’, choose their school county and the name of their school. Then simply choose their correct classroom and enter their first name and surname.

 

How to I add myself as a staff member?

 

Staff members add themselves to the app much the same as you would add a student. Choose your school’s county and then the school from the drop-down menu. During the next step when choosing a ‘Which class’, scroll to the bottom and select ‘Staff Room’ rather than a classroom. For the ‘Student first name’ and ‘Student surname’, you can enter your own details.

Once you attach yourself to the ‘Staff Room’ will have access to the staff menu.

 

How do I view the orders?

 

If you tap on the ? on the cartoon icons tummy, you will see a list of all that is ordered on each particular day.
For previous orders you can click your wallet balance in the top right hand corner and click ‘View Transactions’.

How does the loyalty scheme work?

Our loyalty scheme allows students, parents and staff to be rewarded for their orders. We send out vouchers via email once there have been 5 processed orders in the 10 day loyalty block. Our loyalty blocks last 2 weeks and you can view the dates in the blocks at the bottom of your dashboard. If you have 4 processed orders in one 10 day block and 1 pending order in another block, this means you will not be eligible for a voucher in that block as all 5 orders have to be processed from the same block.
Once the 5 orders have been processed in the one 10 day block, you will then receive a voucher to the amount of the lowest value lunch that was processed in the block. If you have not received your voucher please make sure to check your spam folder in your emails as they can sometimes be sent to this folder in error. When you have received your voucher please go to the wallet section of the app and select Top Up by Voucher to add the amount back to your wallet.

Only 1 voucher per child within the 10 day clock card is sent once there has been 5 lunches are ordered.

The Food

What is in a fruit pot?

Our fruit pots contain fresh pineapple and melon slices.

Are you a nut free establishment?

Please know that our kitchens are 100% nut free premises. No nuts are allowed in our production facility under any conditions. Furthermore, we ensure that any produce supplied is 100% nut free. We very proudly stand over the fact that there will be no nuts in any child’s school lunch ordered from our kitchens.

We take our ‘Nut Free’ approach very seriously. To this end, we even have our pesto made in a nut free environment, specially designed to not contain any nuts.

Where does your meat come from?

Our Bord Bia approved meat is sourced from ‘Farney Foods’, Carrickmacross and ‘McCaughey Foods’, Castleblayney. Quantities are 43g slice of high quality ham and 30g slice of whole breast roasted chicken. There are no sulphites in any of the meats we used in our kitchens.

We also offer halal meats of the same exceptional quality.

What if my child wants the contents of a sandwich, but not the bread?!

No problem, you can order this through the ‘Build Your Own’ section. Simply select ‘No Bread’ and ‘No Spread’ from the drop down list and continue to order the fillings and/or salads you want. We will pack the contents in an easy open recyclable container for your child.

Do you cater for children with allergies?

Yes, we absolutely do. When you first register your child, you will be able to select any allergens that they may have. Once these allergens are saved, anything on our menu that contains this allergen will be removed so that it cannot be ordered. We have an individual allergen station for each of these allergens so rest assured that there is no risk of cross contamination during the preparation of each of these lunches.

The Service

Why would I spend extra money on lunch when I can just use what’s in my fridge?

People forget that the food in your home isn’t free! On average, Irish families spend €8.10 per week on a child’s lunch. With our lunches, you take the money you would spend on your shopping and use it towards our service. As a result your child’s lunch will be fresh everyday and we can provide so much more variety, without the worry of extra cost or waste.

How much are your lunches?

You can get our ‘Trad 3 Piece’ for only €2.50 and this includes one of our most popular sandwiches/rolls/wraps with a fruit/dairy and one healthy snack. We have an ‘Infant 3 Piece’ for €2 which is a half sandwich/roll/wrap and also includes a fruit/dairy and one healthy snack. Our ‘Cold Pasta/Salad’ options are only €1.70 are are a huge hit. You can choose to ‘Build Your Own’ sandwich for €1.70 where you can choose your own bread, spread, fillings and salad. Our snacks are all individually priced and range from €0.40-€1.35. All of our menus have the option to buy these additional snacks.

How do I know the food is as good as what I make at home?

Very often, money and time will dictate what quality of food a child brings to school. The Lunch Bag use only high quality, branded food products, which is guaranteed Irish. Very often it is difficult to tell if the food you buy is of a reputable source. We have the advantage of having our produce delivered fresh to our door daily, directly from the farms and ovens of origin! Not only that, each lunch is individually made with love by parents and grandparents in our state of the art, sterile and friendly kitchens.

How is food delivered?

Each morning our fleet of experienced drivers set off from our local depots nationwide to the whole island of Ireland. Refrigerated vans carry carefully marked containers of lunches for each school. Each classroom has their own individual polyfoam box where the lunches are further kept cool after leaving our van. Each lunch has the children’s name and classroom printed on them so they will know which lunch is theirs and can enjoy the excitement of getting their own lunch bag.

I’m concerned about the use of packaging

Rest assured, all our bags, sandwich wedges, and cutlery are 100% compostable. We are also actively working with our suppliers to ensure they have plans in place to address their sustainability. While we are advocates of compostable materials, we are very aware that Ireland is not fully resourced to deal with heat compostable materials. Please be aware that the most environmentally responsible option is to recycle plastic, rather than to use compostable plastic which is not disposed of properly.

We encourage children to compost and recycle responsibly through educational school talks and visits.