Packing Healthy School Lunches That Kids Will Eat

What Favorite Foods are You Packing in Lunches?

“Snack size hummus (from Whole Foods [ and Costco]) with veggies. Also, edomame.” – Lisa Copeland

“Reese loves carrots and Ranch dip and surprisingly enough…she barely touches the Ranch.” – Melissa Maddock

“Make your own uncrustables – using whole wheat bread and mostly peanut butter (make a lot on the weekend and freeze them, they will thaw out by lunch time.” – LaDonna Goodwin

“We pack cucumber slices, snack-size hummus, different fruits and beef jerky, pita chips, celery, yogurt frozen overnight.” – Jill Byrd

“Whole wheat sandwich rounds, with light veggie cream, cucumbers, bell peppers, and sprouts….delicious! “ – May Tolson

“Catie really loves couscous. Sometimes I throw in dried fruit and pine nuts; other times I add diced tomatoes & green onion. Couscous is very versatile and can be served hot or cold! I mix up the pb & j together in a bowl before spreading it on the bread for Jake’s sandwiches. It saves on trying to get jelly stains out later. I also do pb & honey, pb & nutella, and pb & fruit.” – Cleette Harrison

“Apples, Yogurt, turkey and cheese!” – Karin Klemm

Entree Tips

• Use whole wheat tortillas to make wraps.
• Use whole wheat bread without artificial preservatives, colors, flavors; and high fructose corn syrup (i.e. Nature’s Own).
• Select meats that are nitrate and nitrite-free to avoid harmful chemical preservatives.
• Select healthy peanut butter (hint: very short ingredient list without added sugar or oil), and 100% fruit spread for pb&j’s.
• When the weather cools down, send hot leftovers in thermos containers, to offer variety.

Side Ideas

• Greek yogurt s are a good source of protein (usually 13-20 grams, while standard yogurts average 5-10 grams).
• Standard yogurts have their plus, too: they have two to three times the calcium of Greek yogurts (which lose some calcium in the triple straining process).
• Snack-size hummus
• Choose pretzels or baked chips over regular chips.
• String cheese (tasty and full of calcium)
• Boiled egg (package in insulated lunch bag next to frozen drink to keep cold).
• Almonds
• Grapes
• Baby carrots
• Bananas (seal in plastic baggie so its smell does not permeate other foods)
• Oranges,  quartered and bagged
• Apples
• Unsweetened apple sauce
• Strawberries
• Pineapple
• Kiwi (slice it in half, and send a plastic spork for the child to eat it out “bowl-style”)
• Melon
• Clementines
• Cherry tomatoes

For Fun

• Organic fruit snack chews made with real juice and not containing artificial coloring (i.e. Annie’s)
• Organic granola bars without artificial preservatives, flavorings, etc. (i.e. Clif bars, KIND bars) Select whole grain granola bars that are low in fat and sugar – take a look at the food label and choose the ones that contain less than 1g of saturated fat per serving and are no more than 35% sugar by weight. To figure the percentage of sugar per serving, divide the grams of sugar by the gram weight of one serving and multiply this number by 100.
• Kettlecorn (again, look for a short ingredient list).

What should I buy organic?

According to the Environmental Working Group, produce pesticide exposure can be greatly reduced by buying organic in the following twelve foods, termed “the dirty dozen”:

• apples
• celery
• strawberries
• peaches
• spinach
• nectarines – imported
• grapes – imported
• sweet bell peppers
• potatoes
• blueberries
• lettuce
• kale/collard greens

For more detailed information on the dirty dozen and produce’s “clean fifteen”, see http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/.

*This is not a sponsored post.