Nutitious and Enjoyable Lunch Ideas for School
Packing Lunch Bags With Foods Kids Will Eat
Making a lunch that is nutritious but that also gets eaten is something many parents strive to do. However, many times lunch bags will come home with food half eaten, or with the treats gone and the nutritious stuff still in the bag. You can try some changes to what gets packed in the lunch bag to help make lunch more nutritious and enjoyable.
Nutritious Lunch Foods Served and Packed in a Variety of Ways
Fruit is healthy to include, but one child's preference may be different from another:
- Some might like to bite into a whole apple
- Some might prefer the apple sliced
- The same child who likes it sliced might not like the lemon juice sprinkled on it to keep the slices from browning
- Some might like sweet apples but not tart ones
- Some may prefer the texture of apple sauce
Some kids might like taking a banana to school, some might not like that it browns so easily, and some children might find an entire banana too much to eat or prefer to it at home. Some kids like bananas when they are first ripe and some prefer them much riper. Green grapes might be a preference over red grapes, or unseeded grapes being better than seeded ones.
Vegetable preferences may also be different:
- Raw vegetables might taste better with a dip
- A child might like carrots roasted but not raw
- Baby carrots might taste better than full grown carrots, cherry tomatoes might be preferred to tomato slices
- For some kids it might be about the length or thickness of the carrot, for others it might be about the sweetness
Watching what comes in the lunch bag and trying to find why it wasn't eaten can be a bit like detective work, especially with younger kids. Try to ask in different ways, without guilt about what they didn't eat, about what they prefer eating and why. Watch for the answer. Sometimes it doesn't come when the question is being asked, but it can come at unexpected times.
Main Lunch Ideas
Preferences combined with healthier choices make an enjoyable nutritious lunch:
- A wrap, bun, or fresh bread - one may be preferred over the other
- A sandwich - some kids enjoy assembling it themselves at school
- Chicken, as an example, is healthier than processed lunch meats
- Spaghetti, or macaroni and cheese with some protein added
- Cheese sliced, cubed or grated, added in or on the side
- Soup, rice, beans, etc.
Try to include something from every food group and keep watching to see what gets eaten most often. Remember to check that the food is warm enough to be tasty in the thermos by lunch time and that the cooler ice pack included is packed in a way that it doesn't leave condensation in the sandwich container for example.
Drink Options to Send in Lunch Bags
Water, juice, and milk are the best drinks to send. Remember to keep the milk cold for safety reasons, and the water and juice if that is how the child will enjoy it more. As a treat, another beverage could be sent occasionally, but keep in mind sugar content and nutrient value.
Treats can be Included in a Nutritious Lunch
A cookie, mini size chocolate bar, a few chips or pretzels, or a pudding in their lunch bag would be a nice dessert. Treats should be small and limited, so that if the child is hungry they will not fill up on the sweets first. However, including a small treat is enjoyable at school, and a nutritious lunch is about balance.
Coming up with lunch ideas for school, making lunches nutritious and enjoyable, and packing a lunch bag with food kids will eat becomes easier after realizing the variety of ways which food can be prepared, and knowing how tastes and textures effect what is eaten. Packing healthier drinks and a small treat will help make a nutritiously balanced lunch and simple changes can help get kids to eat their bagged lunch at school.
Balanced Lunches are Nutritious and Enjoyable
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