Evidence-Led Nutrition Designed by CORU Registered Dietitians
Our Nutrition Policy guides the planning, preparation and continuous development of our menus, ensuring that every meal is developed with children’s nutritional needs, food quality and dietary inclusion in mind. We are commited to providing safe, balanced and nourishing meals that support the health, wellbeing and development of every child. We believe that good nutrition is fundamental to learning, concentration and lifelong health. For this reason, our menus are carefully designed using evidence-based nutrition principles, age-appropriate portion sizes and a varied selection of wholesome ingredients.
We continually review our offering to reflect current nutritional guidance, seasonal produce and feedback from the schools and families we serve. These standards ensure that every meal we provide is not only enjoyable, but prepared with consistency and care. In Ireland, most primary schools weren’t originally designed with commercial kitchens or catering facilities, making the delivery of school meals a unique challenge as the programme continues to grow.
Our approach brings together specialist chefs, CORU Registered Dietitians, food safety teams, production staff and logistics under one roof. This gives us complete oversight from sourcing to the child’s desk, ensuring every meal is prepared, quality checked and delivered to one trusted standard, while continuing to evolve alongside Ireland’s school meals programme. We are committed to delivering a school meals service that schools, parents and pupils can trust.
Healthy Ireland Compliant
Our meals are designed in line with Healthy Ireland nutritional guidelines, with ongoing input from dietitians, suppliers, and food experts to help create balanced, inclusive, and nutritious meals for children.
Sensory-Inclusive & Allergy Aware
Our digital ordering system helps families safely manage allergens, dietary needs, and cultural or religious food preferences. Unsuitable meal options are automatically filtered within the app.
Full Transparency
We make it easy to see what’s in every meal. Each meal includes clear nutritional information, a Nutri-Score, and a comparison with the Healthy Ireland guidelines.
Actively Improving Nutrition
We address the nationwide deficit in childhood fibre by adding hidden lentils to our mince dishes. We work with experts like Ballymaloe and Culinary Food Group to develop Lunch Bag specific sauces that are low in salt, sugar and fat – yet pumped with vegetables!
Our Reformulation Project
"We spent 12 months rebuilding our menu with chefs and registered dietitians. We challenged our suppliers to meet our specific needs. We reformulated familiar favourites to meet new guidelines. We rebuilt our menu to deliver 100% compliance without compromising on taste."
- Colin Kenny. Our inhouse CORU registered Dietitian
What is it?
Through our reformulation project, we’ve improved the nutritional profile of children’s most popular meals while maintaining the taste and texture they know and enjoy. The result is a range of familiar favourites that are compliant, inclusive and accessible. We’ve worked closely with families, professionals and children to understand what matters most when it comes to school meals.
Our findings
Familiarity matters – particularly for children with autism or sensory needs, where familiar foods can help children access meals consistently.
Inclusion matters – reducing the risk of children being excluded from meals because of sensory preferences or dietary needs.
Nutrition matters – meeting evolving standards around salt, sugar, fat and additives, while keeping the meals children know and enjoy.
What We Created
Together with Glenhaven, we created a chicken goujon that meets the standards. Baked, not fried, with reduced salt and fat, it delivers the taste children love with the nutrition they deserve. A game-changer in food production!
Loughnane’s of Galway has created a sausage exclusively for The Lunch Bag. Made with 100% Bord Bia Quality Assured Irish pork, it’s steam cooked, free from MSG, phosphates and preservatives, and produced in a fully sustainable seaweed casing
What Reformulation Means For…
Children
It means familiar, safe, sensory friendly meals they look forward to.
Parents
It means confidence in nutrition and transparency with every meal backed by facts.
Schools
It means complete compliance, reduced waste and healthier, happier students.
Us
It means standing by our promise to set the standard in school meals and to always go beyond whats expected for the children, for the schools and for the future.
Understanding your Lunchtime Choices:
We’re all about transparency, giving you a full picture of each meal, including ingredients, nutritional information, plant-based variety and Nutri-Scores. Our educational guide (find it in hot meals menu below) is designed to support informed decision making and build confidence in the food we provide. We are committed to providing high quality, thoughtfully prepared meals, using ingredients sourced from trusted suppliers. Our menus are developed with care and guided by our commitment to quality, transparency and balanced choice.
Understanding the Facts
- Nutritional Information: This gives parents a simple view of what’s in each meal, including energy, fat, sugars, protein and salt. It gives you the information per portion, so you can easily understand what your child is eating.
- Healthy Ireland Comparision: Our Healthy Ireland comparison helps you see how our meals measure against the nutritional standards used for hot school meals in Ireland. It gives parents additional context by showing how meals align with the guidance and standards that support healthier food choices for children.
- Variety: Variety helps you see the range of foods and plant-based ingredients included in each meal. The more plant-based foods in a meal, the more diverse the bacteria in your little ones gut!
- Ingredient Lists: Our ingredient lists give you a clear breakdown of what’s in each meal, helping you understand the ingredients used and easily check for allergens or anything that may be important for your child.
