Simple and Nutritious Lunchbox Choices

Given the array of prepackaged, convenience foods, it’s often hard to make nutritious lunchbox choices for our children. The best way to encourage our children to eat nutritious is to make them part of the shopping and meal selection experience. Let your children make soup, bread, sandwich spreads and fillings, and fruit and vegetable treats. Often we pack too much food in our child’s lunchbox and children tend to eat the “sweet stuff” – such as cookies and soda – first. Although it’s often more expensive, many individual serving foods like pretzel sticks, applesauce, cheese sticks or cubes, vegetable dips and yogurt are nutritious, easy to pack and attractive to children.

Try to make gradual changes that will result in a healthier lunch. You can pack the usual sandwich and add vegetables and dip instead of chips, or put in half of the child’s usual sandwich and add half of something new. Try white bread on one side and whole wheat on the other.

When making food choices for your child or guiding him to make his own nutritious choices, be aware of food allergies. Speak to your pediatrician before serving anything new like peanut butter or strawberries especially for children under one year.

Here are some guidelines to try to follow:

• Soup choices: lots of good canned soups, look for low salt
• Bread choices: whole wheat, muffins, crackers, English muffins, bagels, mini-bagels, raisin bread, rolls, and tortillas
• Filling choices: peanut butter, cream cheese, apple butter, hummus, American cheese, mozzarella, turkey, ham
• Vegetable choices: carrot and celery sticks, cucumber slices, green beans, tomato wedges, broccoli
• Fruit choices: apple wedges, banana, orange slices, melon pieces, applesauce, peaches, pineapple chunks, kiwi slices
• Drink choices: milk, water, 100% fruit juice

Getting Organized

Learning menu alternatives is helpful, but actually getting the food packed and out-the-door can be the real challenge when we are rushed. Shop for the week and, if possible, invest some time to cut all fruits and vegetables for the week.

Refrigerate lunches in individual serving-size bags. Avoid precutting apples, pears and bananas, which can turn brown easily. Although the fruit is still good to eat, brown food may not be appealing to children.

Making lunch the night before is very helpful. Try preparing your child’s lunch after dinner, before you have cleaned up the kitchen. Put the whole lunchbox in the refrigerator. In the morning, grab it and go! School-age children can make their own lunches, but remember to do a quick lunch check, just to make sure they actually put good, nutritious food in there.

Lunchbox Extras and Kid Connections

Unlike in child care, school-age children don’t always have a chance (or the inclination) to wash their hands before lunch, so throw in a hand-wipe. All children, except infants, usually need a napkin, and young children enjoy colorful, party napkins. Leftover birthday or holiday napkins can be a lunchbox treat.

Connect with your child by adding a lunchbox note for him or a picture for your pre-reader. Pre-readers enjoy a letter, shape or color of the day drawn on an index card. You can also cut out magazine pictures or drop in a photo your child can put his fingerprints all over. For readers, print monthly messages on your computer, cut into small notes and add a handwritten, “Love, Mom or Dad." Lunchbox notes can include words of encouragement such as, “I know you’ll do great on your spelling test,” or reminders like, “Pick you up for karate after school,” or simple notes such as, “You’re very special!”

For additional information and ideas on children and nutrition: The Child’s Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine: http://www.bcm.tmc.edu/cnrc

Snack ideas can be found at a resource center for health information maintained by Blue Cross and Blue Shield: http://www.ahealthyme.com/topic/kidsnacks