It’s that time of the year again! No…not just Back to School but Back to School Lunches! What do I make for the kids’ school lunches?
I am not concerned about getting all their school supplies on time; nor am I worried about not getting the uniform discount that we just missed, but my biggest concern is making sure that my kids eat healthy lunches every day. And that’s not easy!
Since our kids go to a private school, the school doesn’t offer a daily hot lunch, only once a week on Fridays. With a busy schedule, the idea of having school lunches available is nice; but then again, not having hot lunch available causes me to be more diligent about ensuring that my kids are eating healthy.
Over the years, I’ve made every effort to make sure that they have healthy lunches. With one of our kids having peanut allergies, it has really forced me to pay closer attention to what is the ingredients of most of the foods that I’ve purchased. I’ve discovered more junk- hidden sugar, preservatives, and chemicals that I can’t pronounce which has opened my eyes to what’s really being marketed to consumers.
Let’s say… it’s not always easy and can be a challenge at times! This doesn’t mean that I always send brown rice and gluten free cookies. The biggest challenge is making sure that they are getting the proper nutrients while being at school all day. Eating the right combination of food will enhance their concentration level and energy which comes from a balance diet of protein, fat and carbohydrates.
Below are a few healthy lunches that we’ve prepared for our kids…and we try to be creative and add more:
- Applegate Farms deli meat: Applegate Farms cold cuts does not contain chemicals, preservatives, nitrites or nitrates. To make sandwiches more interesting, we’ve put the deli meat in flat bread or whole grain soft tacos and roll them up with lettuce and cheese.
- Thermos insulated mugs: The Thermos mugs have been a blessing! Left over healthy dinners are reheated over the stove in the morning and it keeps warm until lunch time. In the winter, they’ve been great for soups, sometimes several times a week.
- Salads with grilled chicken strips: Pre-made salad in container the night before with a separate container for salad dressing. Place chicken strips in snack size bags, and a separate bag for toppings, such as croutons.
- Tuna Fish on whole grain crackers instead of on bread. Place tuna fish in a container and put crackers in sandwich bags or snack size bags. Pack a plastic fork and voila, it’s a perfect protein packed lunch with just right amount of carbohydrates. Any type of fruit or vegetable on the side is perfect and nutritious. New this year (August 26th, just added)
- Wild Smoked Salmon on crackers, cream cheese from Trader Joe’s and capers (place each in separate container, bag- My daughter packed this for her first lunch tomorrow, grapes on the side) Salmon has omega 3 fats and a great brain food!
Do you have any healthy lunch ideas you want to share?
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
I just discovered this great website for some great lunch ideas: http://www.laptoplunches.com
-Cherry tomatoes with cubed fresh mozzarella.
-Grapes mixed with sliced pineapple.
-Apple fries (cut them into sticks) with honey dip.
-Carrot sticks, yellow/orange/red pepper with humus dip.
-Fresh diced tomatoes mixed with goat cheese and a dab of olive oil.
-Make a whole chicken on Sunday and use it for various lunches
throughout the week in lieu of sodium filled lunch meat:
*chicken mixed with wacky mac (made from real, all-natural tomato, spinach and beet ingredients), cucumber, feta, Greek olives, etc . . . add what they like and send a little tub of dip (Italian, Ranch, etc).
-Peanut butter and banana sandwich on whole wheat bread.
-To make yogurt more interesting, I send a small baggie/container of organic granola for him to sprinkle into it. I only buy all natural yogurt with fruit.
-Whole wheat mac & cheese mixed with tuna – it’s good cold too.
-Boil whole grain pasta, corn & peas the night before. Add sliced black olives, crumbled bacon and toss in light Italian dressing. Put in fridge overnight and serve cold the next day.
-Fruit medly – Fresh watermelon, cantaloupe, blueberries, mango.
-A mixture of nuts, yogurt covered raisins, dried mango/pineapple/cranberries and a few dark chocolate covered pomegranates (found at wholesale store BJ’s).
-Whole wheat quesadilla. When I melt the cheese, I sneak in some pureed carrots, sweet potato or even spinach.
-I always send something fun too. Sometimes a cookie or bar that I made (usually with granola/organic jelly, oats, etc) and often times I just send a mini-candy bar. It’s not too much, but just enough for him to have a little treat.
I highly recommend Jessica Seinfeld’s book on how to sneak pureed veggies into your meals. It’s awesome. I also add flax seed meal to all of my baking. I am a huge fan of lap top lunches fro teh kids to take their lunch to school (www.laptoplunches.com).
Stacie, Thanks for the many great ideas. I love Jessica’s book…I actually gave one away on the blog a while ago!
You’ve already given some great ideas, but here are a few others that come to mind:
-Whole grain bagels or soft pretzels with cream cheese to dip them in
-Hummus with pitas and raw veggies
-Apple slices with soynut butter
-Cubes of meat and cheese
-Hard boiled eggs
My mom used to freeze our drink for the day to keep other foods in our lunch cold until it was time to eat.
What a great topic! Here are some quick, easy ideas:
- Raw fruits & veggies with almond butter or hummus dips are always excellent choices.
- Spelt wraps filled with spinach, olive oil, herbs, avocado, & tomato are popular with my kids. (The spelt and avocadoes provide more than enough protein.) The options for fillings in wraps are endless.
-A fruit & veggie smoothie made with frozen fruits, dark leafy greens and a variety of veggies in a thermos is another great option.
-Stuffing red, green or orange peppers with brown rice and beans or lentils and spices works well when put in an insulated container.
- Raw marinara over shredded zucchini or summer squash is also very popular in our house. The great thing about raw foods is that there’s no need to worry about heating!
Most kids with peanut allergies do well with almond butter or brazil nut butter. I find either works well stuffed into celery, spread on other veggies, or put into sandwiches with sugar-free whole fruit spreads.
I look forward to seeing everyone else’s ideas! Thanks for sharing! Many blessings!
Great topic – and a hard one! We can’t do the tuna b/c my son is allergic to fish and my other child is allergic to nuts – makes it difficult to get a healthy protein which is why I like the “organic” deli meats. For my little one I did make a healthy-ish classroomn snack today of cheese cubes speared with pretzel sticks. She is very picky so that was pretty good for her. I am also looking for some good cloth lunch kits – anyone have a favorite?
That is tough when you have 2 different allergies! We have to watch the peanuts so no pbj’s here for my youngest hence has caused us to be very creative and cautious over the years.
I just blogged about healthy school lunches! Our favorite is veggies or baked torilla chips with hummus. I love hearing what others put in their kids’ lunchboxes. Here’s a link to my other ideas: http://livinghealthynaturally-beth.blogspot.com/2009/08/healthy-school-lunches.html
My kids love taking pasta in a thermos. My son also likes turkey jerkey. He also loves chicken ceasar salads. A little trickier to contain, but doable in multiple small containers. We keep our snacks on shelves in the garage by the door so that the kids can grab the extras that they want on the way to the car.
SMILE On!
ML
http://www.MissLori.TV
http://www.MissLorisCAMPUS.com
This is my first year packing lunches and I’m looking for healthy solutions. Thank you for posting your ideas!
Duong, this is a concern for me as well with the enriched flours and HFCS we really need to let our voices be heard and let these food companies know that we do not want these things in our food! Its really tough because my daughter has gotten SO picky, I think we need to “think out of the box” so to speak. What I mean by that is looking at the big picture of their daily food consumption and realize even though its “lunch” and we typically think of sandwhiches maybe instead we can look at food groups and be creative as to how to make sure they are getting all of the fruits and veggies, proteins and whole grains…that being said thanks for this article and the lunch ideas! I heard one that I thought was pretty yummy (although it won’t be much help fo rthe peanut allergies) take a wrap and spread peanut butter and then slice apples and drizzle a little honey over it. Can’t wait to read the other ideas everyone else will post. Have a great day!!
Thanks for sharing, I have one picky eater and one w/ peanut allergies also. My daughter also goes to a private school & like you, we have the same concerns, fortunately her meals are made in the school, and peanuts are not used, but other nuts might be present.
The teachers at her school do an awesome job of being aware of the kids w/ allergies and making sure that meals w/ other types of nuts are avoided.
My son however is the picky eater and we struggle w/ making his school meals on a daily basis. He has come a long way in a summer by adding some different types of food, but he still doesn’t like most sandwiches.
Again thanks for sharing.
Cheers,
Tillman
I’ve been thinking about school lunches too.. esp. with oldest going to Jr.High now.. worried about the ‘cool’ factor of taking a lunch.. but with 3 kids in school now.. can’t afford 3/day/week!!
Love the wraps idea!