Packing a Healthy Lunch Box

In the picture, a lunch box has been packed with several kinds of food. There is rice, some steamed vegetables, a boiled egg and a portion of cut fruit at the side, and a water bottle stands beside the box. A parent and a child are standing at the counter looking at it together. What I also noticed is that the food is arranged in separate sections, so the fruit will not become soggy from the warm rice.

I helped my mother prepare bee hoon for my grandmother's birthday breakfast last month. My job was to soak the noodles and to tear the vegetables while she handled the wok, because she does not let me near the hot oil yet. It looked simple when she did it, but the noodles clumped together when I did not stir them enough. She just laughed and separated them, and my grandmother said she could not tell the difference anyway.

I feel bringing food from home is healthier, though the canteen has its advantages. Home-packed food usually has less oil and less salt, and parents can include vegetables and fruit that a child might not buy on their own. However, buying at the canteen means the food is hot and there is more variety, and it saves parents time in the morning, which matters in families where both parents work. That is why I feel a mix works best, rather than insisting on one or the other every day.