by Isabelle Esteves

Created on: October 13, 2010

When it comes to school lunches it can be easier for a mom or dad to just pay for hot lunch at school. The problem with that is that you have no idea what your children are actually eating. Many children don’t really like the food that is offered in the hot lunch programs at schools and often they are very carbohydrate heavy and quite light in the fresh fruit and vegetable areas. If you want to make sure that your children have a good and nutritious lunch you need to pack it yourself. Here are some tips that will help you to provide a quick and vitamin filled lunch that your children will enjoy.

Sandwiches

Sandwiches are a traditional lunch food.  There are many sandwich fillings that most children will love. With many schools being designated nut free zones it has now become impossible to have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. If your child is an adventurous eater you can try to introduce them to hummus which when served with crispy vegetables in a wrap is quite a delicious sandwich. Carrots can be grated into the wrap with slices of cucumber. Turkey and ham are traditional sandwich meats, why not use a pita and stuff it with meat and cheese. The meat and cheese can also be cut into small squares and serve with crackers. By using whole wheat bread, pitas, wraps and crackers you can raise the nutrition value of the lunch.

Use leftovers to make great lunches. By taking last night’s chicken and slicing it with some dried cranberries, cherries or grapes you can make a delicious filling for a pita or wrap. You can add thin slices of apple to the chicken. If your school is not nut free, peanut butter and apple is a delicious and nutritious choice.

Celery is a nice crunchy choice for lunch, it can be stuffed with peanut butter, cream cheese or other cheese spread. Children like crunch and carrot sticks, cucumbers and pickles are all low calorie options.

When it comes to a drink, some of the new vegetables juices that taste like fruit juice are delicious and children love them. Freeze up a small yogurt and place it in the lunch box in the morning, it should be thawed out just in time for lunch. They sell things like gogurt which are made to do just this.

You need to include snacks in a lunch. Steer clear of the too sweet too salty snacks. Popcorn is a good choice and pretzels are quite good as well. Apples, melon slices, low fat chocolate pudding and bananas are all great sweet snacks that are easy to fix and child friendly.

It doesn’t have to be a lot of work to fix a nutritious lunch, it just takes a little creativity.

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