Pack a Nutritious Punch into Your Kid’s Lunch

by Kelly Jones with Rachael Richardson

The new school year has arrrived, and children and parents across the globe are flooding stores to buy school supplies and clothes. Everyone’s re-establishing their routine and that includes breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner.  

Most parents are always on the look-out to save a buck here or there. And everyone is concerned with their health, and is finally starting to really get the importance of nutrition and it’s impact on our health. One great way to save money and increase your child’s nutrition is to pack their lunch. If you don’t have much experience packing your child a lunch, here is a simple guide to get you started!

1. Pack foods that your child will eat.

It’s great if you fill your child’s lunch with fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and other healthy foods. But if your child swaps their apple for a friend’s pudding cup, your efforts are useless. If your child does not like many healthy foods, start introducing new foods. Integrate new foods into their after school snack or dinner which you prepare for your child. This way, if your child does not like the new food, he or she will not be hungry because they can grab something else.

2. Be creative

Some kids steer away from eating plain raw fruit and vegetables. Here are a few suggestions to make eating raw fruits and vegetables delicious and fun:

• Apple slices, banana slices, celery, or carrots with real peanut, almond or macadamia nut butter
• Fruits such as peach slices or strawberries with organic yogurt for dipping
• Raw vegetables with an olive oil based salad dressing, guacomole or hummus for dipping
• Fruit salad with all different shapes and sizes of fruit
• Veggie salads such as Cesar, Israeli Cucumber, or a Greek Salad
• Dried unsweetened mangos or cherries

Almond butter, olive oil based dressing, and hummus all have healthy fats in them, particularly monounsaturated fats. Not only is dietary fat essential for energy and a healthy brain, but it also helps kids absorb fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K from fruits and vegetables.

3. Make the food appealing

While your chicken sandwich on whole wheat bread and hummus may taste delicious, it may lack visual appeal and texture. People, especially picky kids, may not even try a food if it does not look good. If you wrap the sandwich in cling wrap, any dressings can splatter and the sandwich can be smashed. To keep your sandwich and other fragile lunch items intact, pack it in a small plastic container. Pack sauces, peanut butter, yogurt, or anything else messy in its own container. These steps will keep your packed lunch looking clean and appetizing.

The other aspect that the chicken and hummus sandwich lacks is color. White bread, white chicken, and light brown hummus makes for a drab sandwich with no color. Add a leaf of romaine lettuce for a splash of green, some slices of tomato for a dash of red, a few thin slices of avocado for an addition of olive-green color. Not only do vegetables add beautiful color, but they add different textures. The lettuce adds crunch, the tomato slices add juiciness, and the avocado adds softness.

4. Change it up

Kids will get bored of opening their lunch box to the same meal every day. Even simple changes, such as using a different sauce or using a spelt or brown rice tortilla instead of bread, will keep your child interested in your packed lunches. Even if your ingredients list is not long, switch up the way you serve them. For example, one day you may pack a string cheese, while another day, you may pack a small container with assorted cheeses cut in cubes. Include a baggy with different colored toothpicks to pick them up with.

 5. Include treats, sweets, and even vitamins or nutritional!

While your main goal as a parent may be to pack your child’s lunch with as much nutrition as possible, your child should not be deprived of all things sweet or fried. Completely eliminating unhealthy foods may make your child crave them even more. However, serving Debbie snack cakes and candy bars is not required. Here are some ways to make healthy, nutritious foods seem like treats:

• Include dark chocolate nibs or low sugar granola into trail mix with nuts

• Dip fruit (such as strawberries or raspberries) or nuts like pecans or macadamia nuts into melted chocolate and put in the fridge to harden

•  Include chocolate chips, gluten free cookie crumbles, or real fruit gummies to stir into yogurt

• Include home made pan fried or baked French fries or chicken nuggets

• Include a couple of their favorite chewable vitamin C’s or Juice Plus gummies in a baggie for a daily snack.