Make Healthy Meals

This year I’ve faced the challenge of making lunch for my daughter to take to school. I just don’t see the point in buying school lunches when I can make something that may well be healthier at home. And if I plan it right it really doesn’t take much extra time in the morning.

The right lunch box really helps matters. I suggest the Laptop Lunches box available from ReusableBags.com. I am extremely fond of lunch boxes that give you compartments to work with. It allows for delightful flexibility and means you don’t have to waste plastic or paper with every single lunch. But you do have to trust your kids to bring it back home and not lose it.

A thermos is another good idea, so that your child can have a warm lunch on those cold days during the winter. I also like having reusable cups of one sort or another rather than pack juice boxes. It’s more cost effective over time and allows you to think more about what goes into the lunch, rather than just throwing a juice box in the bag.

One of the tricks of the trade is to prepare things in advance. My daughter loves the Sand and Shells recipe available elsewhere on this site. She thinks she wants it every day, but I make sure to vary her lunch.

Pasta salad is very easy. To vary this one I cook up a batch of pasta and keep it in the fridge. In the morning I can decide how to mix it up. Salad dressing or pasta sauce, cheese, cooked or fresh vegetables, and you can make a different pasta salad each day in very little time. Use whole grain pasta if you want this to be especially healthy.

If you keep presliced fruits and/or vegetables in your refrigerator you will have an easier time including these in lunches. Some fruits you won’t particularly need to slice, such as apples or pears, but oranges are far easier for kids to eat if you slice them first.

If you have one of the Laptop Lunches bags or other ways to separate the various parts of the lunch it can be easier to think of what you need to pack. Think of one for the main dish, one for vegetables, one for fruits, etc.

A lunch for my daughter may look like this:

Sand and Shells
chopped cauliflower
kiwi
string cheese
apple juice

Sometimes I will include an apple or pear as well, if I see that she has been finishing everything. Right now she is tending to finish her lunch at home, just a few leftover bites and often the string cheese makes it home. I add extra at those times I see she has been hungry enough to eat it all. Kids and growth spurts, after all.

As you try to make a habit of packing healthy school lunches, figure out what has made it too difficult in the past. Packing it the night before is not a bad thing for many foods, and makes life very much easier when you’re dealing with the morning rush.

Technorati Tags: healthy school lunches, healthy food, lunchbox, lunch box, bag lunch, school lunch, kids

No Responses to “Quick and Healthy School Lunch Packing”

1. Melody Says:
   November 11th, 2007 at 2:37 pm

   Thanks for the ideas. My kids are pretty picky eaters, but I want to feed them healthy foods. I can use all the help/tips/ideas I can get.

   Blessings

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