Parenting Children

Today is the last day in our back to school week series, I hope you found great things and enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. I think today we should talk about lunch. Brown bagging it can be a pain sometimes to come up with new and healthy things that you know your child will eat and not just throw away. I don’t want to see you buy those pre-made sodium and fat filled lunchable things in the grocery store either!

We need some alternatives to PB&J, while it is healthy it is also high in sugar and my PB&J sandwiches would always get soggy before I got to eat them. Try whole wheat bread with apple butter and apple slices instead.
-Rolls- roll up some deli meats and cheeses, like ham and cheese. Kids love eating things with their hands and they love “different” things.
-Hummus- Use hummus instead of fattening mayo on sandwiches
-Drink your lunch-make fruit smoothies the night before and put one serving aside in the freezer. Put that along with a straw in your child’s lunch box, by the time it is lunch it will be defrosted and delicious. This is my children’s favorite.
Or put some soup in a thermos, healthy and will warm her up on a cold day.
-Dip-cut up some veggies and put some spinach dip into a container
-Yogurt- serve yogurt with some granola or with some cut up fruit.
-Wrap it up- put your favorite lunch meats and cheeses in a wrap instead of bread, kids love variety. Put a salad in a whole wheat pita and serve a little dressing on the side. This one is my favorite.
-Crunch- serve celery with peanut putter and raisins on it. Call it “ants on a log”. Try cream cheese instead of peanut butter.
-Cut it out- if your children only want plain sandwiches, try cookie cutters to cut out different shapes. This gets even the pickiest of eaters to eat.

Now lets discuss snacks. Try to stay away from the variety pack of chips at the grocery store, there are healthier choices to make:
Fruit
Whole wheat chips with salsa
Yogurt
Granola bars
Apple sauce
Homemade, healthy muffins
All natural fruit leather
Crackers and cheese

Do something special with lunch so you don’t fall into a rut and your child doesn’t have to trade away his lunch every day! My mom always would put notes in our lunches, with an “I Love You” message or “Happy Birthday” that was so special and my sister and I loved it. Once in awhile put a surprise snack in the lunchbox. Pudding, leftover dessert from the night before or a cookie from a bakery. Lastly put an antibacterial wipe in the lunchbox so your child could clean their hands before eating.

What are your child’s favorite lunches?

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