Your Top 5 Snacks

Help students understand food waste's environmental impact, make mindful snack choices, and explore healthy, balanced options.

45 minutes

- Examples or pictures of healthy snacks (fruits, nuts, yogurt, etc.)
- A whiteboard or poster for writing the class pledge
- Snack items for demonstration (if available)
 

This lesson teaches students about the environmental impact of food waste and how they can reduce it by planning healthy, balanced snacks for the week. Through interactive activities, they learn to choose their top five favorite snacks, focusing on minimizing waste and promoting sustainability.

Step by step:

1. Introduction to Food Waste (5 minutes)
Objective: Introduce the concept of food waste and its consequences.
Activity:
Start with a Question: "How many of you have ever thrown away food from your lunch or snacks?"
Discussion: Talk about why food sometimes gets thrown away—maybe it’s spoiled, maybe they didn’t feel like eating it, or maybe they packed too much.
Content:
What is Food Waste?: Explain that food waste happens when we throw away food that could have been eaten.
Why It Matters: Discuss how food waste is bad for the environment because it wastes water, energy, and creates pollution when it rots in landfills.
Facts:
It is estimated that approximately 88 million tonnes of food are wasted annually in the European Union. This figure encompasses all stages of the food supply chain, from production to consumption.
On average, this translates to about 173 kilograms (381 pounds) of food wasted per person each year within the EU. The economic cost associated with this food waste is estimated to be around €143 billion annually. This includes the costs related to production, transportation, disposal, and the environmental impacts.
The food service sector, which includes schools, kindergartens, restaurants, and other catering services, is responsible for about 12% of the total food waste in the EU. This sector generates an estimated 10.5 million tonnes of food waste annually.
Visual Aid:
Show pictures or slides of food waste in landfills and how much food gets wasted around the world every year.

2. Understanding Balanced and Healthy Snacks (10 minutes)
Objective: Teach students what makes a snack healthy and how balanced snacks can reduce food waste.
Content:
What is a Healthy Snack?: Explain that a healthy snack gives us energy and nutrients to help us learn and play.
•    Balanced Snacks: Describe what a balanced snack looks like. It should have:
•    Fruits and Vegetables: Apples, carrot sticks, grapes, or berries.
•    Proteins: Nuts, yogurt, cheese, or hard-boiled eggs.
•    Whole Grains: Whole grain crackers, rice cakes, or whole wheat bread.
•    Healthy Fats: Avocados, nuts, or seeds.
Interactive Element:
Show Examples: Use real snacks or pictures to show examples of balanced snacks (e.g., apple slices with peanut butter, a small yogurt with berries, whole grain crackers with cheese).
Discussion:
Ask: “What are some of your favorite snacks? Are they balanced? If not, how could you make them healthier?”

3. Choosing Snacks to Reduce Waste (10 minutes)
Objective: Show students how planning their snacks can help reduce food waste.
Content:
Plan Ahead: Explain that planning their snacks for the week can help them avoid wasting food.
Buy Just What You Need: Encourage students to think about how much food they actually eat and to pack the right amount.
Use Up Leftovers: Suggest that they use leftovers from meals as snacks. For example, if there are leftover vegetables from dinner, they can be packed as a snack for school.
Examples:
•    Fruit: If you have a bunch of bananas, eat the ripe ones first and save the rest for later in the week.
•    Vegetables: If you have leftover carrots from dinner, pack them with hummus for a snack.
•    Dairy: Use up yogurt by adding fresh or frozen berries and granola for a quick snack.
Interactive Element:
Group Activity: In pairs or small groups, students can brainstorm a week's worth of snacks based on what’s in their kitchen at home. Encourage them to think about using what they already have to avoid waste.

4. Selecting Your Top Five Snacks (10 minutes)
Objective: Encourage students to choose their five favorite snacks for the week, focusing on reducing waste.
Activity:
Top 5 Snack Challenge: Ask students to pick their five favorite snacks for the week. They should consider:
Health: Is the snack balanced and nutritious?
Waste: Can they avoid wasting food by eating this snack?
Simplicity: Is it easy to pack and eat at school?
Examples:
•    Apple slices with peanut butter: A healthy, filling snack that’s easy to prepare.
•    Trail mix with nuts, dried fruit, and seeds: A non-perishable snack that can be portioned out for the week.
•    Cheese and whole grain crackers: A balanced snack that can be packed in small amounts.
•    Carrot sticks with hummus: A vegetable snack that can use up leftover carrots.
•    Greek yogurt with honey and granola: A protein-rich snack that can be customized each day with different toppings.
Reflection:
Ask: “Why did you choose these snacks? How do they help reduce food waste?”

5. Pledge and Wrap-Up (10 minutes)
Objective: Conclude the lesson by encouraging students to commit to reducing food waste.
Activity:
Class Pledge: Create a class pledge focused on reducing food waste through smart snack choices. For example, “We promise to plan our snacks carefully to stay healthy and protect the planet.”
Sign the Pledge: Students can sign the pledge and display it in the classroom or at home.

Final Thoughts:

Recap: Summarize the key points: the importance of reducing food waste, how to choose balanced snacks, and how planning ahead can make a difference.

Encouragement: Encourage students to share what they learned with their families and help with snack planning at home.

Homework/Extension:

Home Activity: Ask students to work with their parents to plan their snacks for the upcoming week, using the tips from the lesson.
Creative Task: Students can create a poster or draw a picture of their favorite healthy snack and share it with the class the next day.
 

- Science and environmental studies: The lesson can be part of units on ecology, environmental science, or sustainability. It helps students understand the environmental impact of food waste, including resource depletion and greenhouse gas emissions; keywords: environmental impact of food waste, lifecycle of food, reduce food waste

- Health and nutrition class: This lesson fits naturally into health or physical education classes focused on nutrition and healthy eating habits. It connects the importance of balanced snacks to overall health and wellness; keywords: balanced nutrition, link between food choices and health, skills for planning and preparing nutritious snacks

- Mathematics: Use the lesson in math classes to teach students how to track and analyze food waste. Students can work on real-life data, calculating waste percentages, and understanding the economic impact of food waste; keywords: Analyzing data related to food waste and its impact, track food consumption and waste in practical scenarios, creating graphs or charts to visualize food waste statistics

- Social Studies and Citizenship: Integrate the lesson into social studies to discuss global issues related to food security and waste. It provides an opportunity to explore how food waste affects different communities and cultures around the world; keywords: global impact of food waste on communities and economies, ethical and social implications of food waste, solutions and initiatives to combat food waste globally