Make Healthy School Lunches a Breeze with These 5 Simple Tips

Struggling with ideas for quick and healthy lunches your kids will actually eat? Have no fear! I’ve got you covered.

Our children’s health should be top priority and the best way to make sure our children are eating healthy is to send them to school with the good stuff! But, spending time figuring out what the “good stuff” is, and how to make it, can be overwhelming and time-consuming. So, I put together 5 healthy lunch making tips that makes preparing lunch a breeze. Plus, I also share some easy lunch recipes to try with the help of our “5-Minute School Lunches” guide.

5 HEALTHY LUNCH MAKING TIPS:

MAKE WHOLE FOODS PRIORITY – If you make a sandwich, use veggies to boost flavor and nutrition like cucumbers, greens, tomato, onions, sprouts and green pepper. Not only are they healthy, they add flavor and crunch, making for a heartier tastier meal. Broccoli salad, chicken salad, tuna salad and pasta salad packed also make great healthy cold sides for packed lunches.
LET THEM BE CHEF – Instead of preparing the sandwich, wrap or taco for the kiddo, stock their lunch box with all the ingredients and let them be the chef. They can have fun putting it together and it also prevents soggy disasters. Another wonderful way to teach your child about nutrition, while giving them some say in what they have for lunch, is let them prepare their lunch the night before and offer to help them search for fun lunch recipes online.
MAKE IT SIMPLE – Lunches don’t have to be fancy. For decades kids had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with an apple and kids were happy and healthy. Sadly, we have so many fast food and snack options for kids these days, it has led us away from what is most important- nutrition. You also don’t have to be confined to only room temperature foods. Use insulated lunch bags with cold packs to keep lunches cold and thermoses to keep hot food, like yummy soups, hot. Let them go shopping with you and pick out their lunch bag, thermos, tupperware and any other helpful tool they need so they are involved in every part of the process.
IMPROVE SNACKS & SIDES – Avoid or limit processed foods. Instead of relying on chips, crackers and cookies to make your kid “happy”, choose real food like whole fruit, greek yogurt cups, cheese sticks and nuts.
MAKE A SNACK MEAL – What do I mean? I mean lunch doesn’t have to be a recipe, wrap or sandwich. They can enjoy snacking on a variety of different foods that make complete meal. For instance, a “snack meal” can have a couple of fresh snackable veggies like cherry tomatoes or sweet peppers, some healthy fats like string cheese, olives and almonds, some yummy high quality cold cuts or slices of last night’s grilled chicken for their protein, and something fun to dip veggies in like some hummus or homemade tzatziki. Add a small piece of whole fruit, like a few strawberries, blackberries, tangerine, plum or a few grapes for dessert.

FIT TIP: For parents with kids struggling with their weight.

If your child is overweight, teach them the value of a calorie like you teach them the value of a dollar bill. Most parents know that a child can learn how to make the most of $5 pretty quickly and they can do the same with calories as long as they are taught some of the basics.

One way you can do that is by teaching them how to look up calories for some of their favorite foods. Teach them to read labels and give them a budget, like 100-200 calories for a snack. Just like looking at price tags, looking at labels helps them to make better decisions when given a budget. Once they understand the “cost”, they can begin to make better decisions with their food choices and decide what is worth the calories and what isn’t.

Another tip is give your children options. If your child wants a snack before dinner, give them the option to choose between a snack now with less dinner later – or no snack now and more dinner later. You’ll probably be surprised how often they prefer to wait for a yummy, healthier bigger dinner.

CALORIES FOR KIDS

According to the American Heart Association, children should consume the following calories, along with average calories per meal if they only ate 3 meals a day (not including snacks).

Female 4-8 years: 1200 kcal/d (400 per meal)
Female 9-13 years: 1600 kcal/d (533 per meal)
Female 14-18 years: 1800 kcal/d (600 per meal)

Male 4-8 years:1400 kcal/d (466 per meal)
Male 9-13 years: 1800 kcal/d (600 per meal)
Male 14-18 years: 2200 kcal/d (733 per meal)

Is Peanut Butter a High in Protein?

Believe it or not, Peanut Butter is a fat, not a protein. Surprised? CLICK HERE to find out the truth behind some of the most common foods often marketed as “high protein”.