'My kids always came home with barely-eaten lunchboxes from school, until I tried this hack.'

Thanks to our brand partner, Bega

With back-to-school upon us, it's not the buying of new school shoes, checking of uniforms or getting back into the daily schedule that terrifies me. It's the lunchboxes.

Or at least, it used to be.

With three primary school-aged kids, I've made hundreds of lunchboxes in my time, but it has taken me years to finally get the formula right. For a long time, my boys would take turns being "the fussy one" when it came to school lunches.

I'd look at the contents of their barely-touched lunchbox with my mum-detective hat on. Where was I going wrong? Had they gone off sandwiches? Was the fruit I'd chosen too hard, too soft and how could I find the Goldilocks of fruit that was just right?

But then someone told me something that changed everything. It's not about the food. 

The reason my kids weren't eating their lunches wasn't because they were picky eaters or because I was on a never-ending search for the holy grail of sandwiches. It was about the social aspect of lunchtime — kids care more about the social time of lunch breaks than they do about the lunch itself.

I'd been so focused on the food in the box that I'd completely missed the time and environment in which that food was being eaten (or not, as was often the case).

Think about it. Kids have a small window to eat lunch before playtime, and given the choice between a sandwich and fun, they'll always choose play. We parents care more about lunch than they do.

So, the key is creating a positive lunchtime experience that encourages them to eat and makes it easy to fuel up with something nutritious.

Snacks, but make them simple. 

I was going wrong by packing their lunchboxes to reflect the way I eat my lunch. One hefty sandwich or wrap, and then perhaps some fruit and a few snacks. But the gold star for lunches goes to those easy to eat, so they can focus on fun instead of chomping away at a sandwich that needs two hands and more than 10 minutes.

So small, snackable items are much more likely to be eaten, and they tend to survive their lunchbox journey better than a big soggy sandwich, too.

The problem is that so many ready-made snacks for lunchboxes aren't ticking many health boxes. They're crammed with sugar or lacking in any nutritional value — I'm looking at you, multipack bags of chips and biscuits.

Enter: cheese. Specifically Australia's favourite cheese, Bega.

Cheese is a natural source of calcium and kids love to eat it.

Bega has created clever options to make it easy to add to lunchboxes too. My kids love Bega Stringers, which are 100 per cent natural cheese sticks with a five-star health star rating. They taste great and are fun to peel into strings and eat. Lunchbox gold.

The lunch hack. 

The lunchbox hack that changed everything for us was the DIY cheese sandwich. Yes, yes, I know I've just been saying snacks win over sandwiches, but the simplicity of a cheese sandwich paired with the autonomy of "I made it myself" is a winning combo for my boys.

Here's how it goes.

I lay out a loaf of bread, some spreadable butter and a pack of Bega cheese slices — our favourite is Farmer's Tasty.

And then I tell the kids to make their own. Sometimes it really is just a cheese slice between two pieces of bread, other times they decide to fancy it up with add-ins — savoury spreads, cucumber, hommus, tuna or chicken.

I went from stressing over trying to create sandwiches or lunches that they'd all love, to handing the decision-making over to them. And the beauty of a cheese sandwich is it's easy to eat, quick to gobble down and stands up to being tossed around in a lunchbox on the way to school.

Add to it some easy snacks, fruit and veg, and it's a lunchbox you can feel good about, and they'll actually enjoy eating.

At the end of the day, we care way more about what they eat for lunch than they do. For kids, it's a fuel-up moment before getting onto what counts — time with their friends and doing what they love.

So keep it simple, and don't beat yourself up about trying to create the perfect lunchbox.

Your kids aren't necessarily fussy about what they eat for lunch, they've just got their eyes on the prize of socialising during those lunch and recess breaks.

Find Bega at your local Woolies, Coles and independent supermarkets.

Feature Image: Supplied. 

Bega has been making high-quality cheese for Australian families for over 100 years.

We help take the stress out of lunch boxes, helping parents create simple and tasty lunches that are guaranteed to be eaten by kids. Pack a lunch they'll love with Australia's most loved cheese.