Free school nutrition education backed by Foodstuffs

In-person and digital nutrition education Empowering healthier futures

Food for Thought - Empowering Healthier Futures

Food for Thought is a FREE school-based nutrition education programme for Year 5 and 6 students. Students learn valuable skills to make informed food choices through inquiry-based learning.

Sessions take place both inside and outside the classroom with a trip to your local New World, PAK’nSAVE or Four Square supermarket to put learnings into practice in a real-world setting.

Food for Thought makes for a unique and fun nutrition education experience.

Our qualified Nutritionists have been spreading knowledge across Aotearoa New Zealand since 2007, reaching more than 286,000 tamariki since the programme’s inception.

In 2025, we introduced an exciting digital learning component called ‘Food for Thought: Nutrition Quest’. This interactive online resource is now an award-winning programme that engagingly supports classroom learning. Nutrition Quest can be used in collaboration with our in-person programme or as a standalone unit, helping us educate more tamariki on the importance of food and nutrition.

10,800+

CLASSES

NGĀ

AKOMANGA

286,000+

STUDENTS

NGĀ

ĀKONGA

17,000+

ADULT HELPERS

NGĀ

KAIĀWHINA

Find Your Nutritionist

Our Programme

Food for Thought is governed by the Food for Thought Educational Trust, a New Zealand-registered charity.

Our Board of Trustees

The programme is proudly supported by Foodstuffs in both the North and South Islands and is delivered in partnership with the Heart Foundation. PAK'nSAVE, New World and Four Square supermarkets all back the programme to help educate our tamariki.

For over a decade, the Heart Foundation has been proud to deliver the Food for Thought programme to schools across Aotearoa New Zealand. Learning about food is important for our health, and starting early ensures students have the best opportunity to build on and practise this knowledge throughout their lifetime.

In-person and digital nutrition education Empowering healthier futures

"The presenter was great and had an excellent relationship with the children, they were fully engaged and interested in the content"

"This is such a cool initiative and I love that it ties it into our local community supermarket so the kids can see how they can actually use the information they learned in the real world!"

“I really really really really really really hope that you can come back again. I love learning about food because it’s food, who doesn't like food, you need food to survive”