A new initiative is taking away students' lunch money and sending it straight to their phones for healthy canteen meals.

Nayland College is one of two schools in Nelson, along with Garin College, which has adopted the Txt My Lunch scheme, a cashless system enabling parents to buy a $6 voucher online.

The voucher is then texted to the student via a link which is scanned at the tuck shop counter to purchase a meal from the menu.

The initiative is part of a programme through Libelle Group, ensuring students have better choices at the tuck shop.

Libelle Group CEO and founder Johannes Tietze​ said the 'Eat Smart' menu was created in collaboration with Nelson Marlborough Health, the Heart Foundation and Diabetes Projects Trust.

"We have been working hard to turn all the items we are doing into Heart Foundation approved foods."

He said previously at the school there would have been a lot more foods classed in the 'sometimes' category, "and we've ruthlessly just taken everything out".

One of the more popular items on the menu, the cheeseburger, has had vegetables added to make it more compliant with nutritional food, he said.

"That's the whole idea behind the Eat Smart campaign, to do something about the huge obesity problem."

Lollies, deep fried foods and sugary drinks are nowhere in sight at the school's tuck shop, foods which were readily available from the local dairy and takeaway shop.

Tietze said the Txt My Lunch option gave parents assurance that the money they were giving their children for lunch would be spent on nutritional food, "rather than a 1.5 litre Coke ... on the way to school".

The schools have a large menu of foods to choose from and adopt the ones they think are best suited to their clientele.

Then all the foods are made fresh on site at the school tuck shop.

Canteen team leader Janene Sutherland said all the items, including burgers and wedges were baked, not fried.

She said the sandwiches and filled rolls were going out the door, "which has been great, because usually in the old days it was pies and burgers".

Another part of Txt My Lunch that has yet to be implemented at Nayland, is gifting lunches for disadvantaged students.

When the lunch is gifted, a pointer at the school would be able to select a student from a database of qualifying students to receive it.

A 'pointer' could be the health nurse, school executive officer or student services dean.

Tietze said he was in process of rolling out a lunch gifting programme.

"We're trying to get corporates on board to give heaps of those tickets."

Principal Daniel Wilson said the students had embraced the move to healthier options.

"I think some of the more popular items have been healthy recently but I think, kids, if they had a choice, would probably still head towards pies, so there has to be a balance and students have to be educated to make the right choice."