Eating a healthy school lunch is important to your children's education. It not only gives them the energy they need to get through the day but provides the nutrients to optimally learn and study. By allowing your children to help pack their lunches, you can control what they eat and ensure they make smart choices.
The Components Of a Healthy Lunch
The building blocks of a healthy lunch should consist of a fruit, vegetable, whole grain, lean protein and a calcium-rich food. Fruits and vegetables contain lots of vitamins and minerals that will make your children thrive. Allow them to pick one or two new fruits and vegetables that they would like to try each week and make sure to include it in their daily lunch. Apples, bananas, oranges, strawberries, carrot sticks, celery sticks, broccoli florets and cucumber slices are all good options. Add a serving of whole grains for fiber. Smart whole-grain choices include a slice of whole-grain bread, whole grain crackers, pita, grains such as brown rice, quinoa, barley and pasta. Protein is good brain food and will help children keep focused. Cut-up chicken breast, turkey, canned tuna, salmon and vegetarian options such as beans or tofu are smart options. Calcium-rich foods will help keep your kids' bones nice and strong. Low-fat milk, cheese, yogurt, kefir and non-daily foods like green leafy vegetables would be optimal choices.
Healthy Packed Lunch Ideas
The most common packed lunch for school is a sandwich, usually peanut butter and jelly. To make your child's lunch more exciting, opt for more interesting alternatives such as a soup and salad combo, with lots of crunchy vegetables, a tasty low-fat dressing, some croutons and a tomato- or vegetable-based alphabet soup. Another idea is to build your child a taco kit that includes whole grain tortillas, chopped tomatoes, shredded lettuce, grilled chicken chunks, low-fat cheese and perhaps sour cream, salsa or guacamole on the side. A quick and easy alternative is to pack some leftovers from dinner from the night before or make your child breakfast such as scrambled eggs or a hard-boiled egg, a couple slices of turkey bacon and fresh fruit with a whole grain muffin. You can also send your child pasta with meat sauce, wraps, and of course, the ever popular sandwich made on whole-grain bread.
Foods To Avoid
Packing a healthy lunch gets easier with practice and when you know what not to include in your child's lunchbox. Ingredients that will do more harm than good for your child include foods that contain partially hydrogenated oils and trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners including sucralose, aspartame and saccharin, and nitrites, which is an additive that turns carcinogenic in the body. You might also want to contact your school district or look up their policy on foods they inhibit due to allergic reactions and medical concerns.
Keeping The Packed Lunch Safe
The most important part of packing a healthy lunch is to ensure that the food is safe until your child eats it. That simply means keeping the foods at the right temperature until consumption. Use a thermos or an insulted container to keep hot foods hot and use a cold pack to keep all the cold foods, especially any dairy products, cold. It is also important to wash your child's lunchbox out daily or pack the food in a biodegradable paper bag.
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