What's For Lunch?

It’s time for school, and if your children take their lunch, it’s also a great time to rethink what you pack inside their lunch boxes. The key is to get your children involved and combine good nutrition with tasty food they like.

“I like to take my lunch because it’s something different and I get to pick the food,” says Cindy Haddock, a sixth grader at Maryville Middle School, in Maryville, Mo.

Lunch is one of the things children like about school. It’s a social time to talk to friends, and it’s a time to get some of the important nutrition kids need. But it doesn’t matter how nutritious a lunch is if your child isn’t going to eat it. Following are some tips to help children get interested in what they eat for lunch.

Tips for planning lunches

• Keep in mind that kids only have about 20 minutes for lunch; they need something fast and easy.
• Don’t send anything that’s too messy, mushy, or smelly.
• Imitate the prepackaged lunches: send small portions of meat, cheese and crackers, cookies or pudding, and a drink.
• Don’t send a whole piece of fruit. It’s awkward to eat, especially if your child has braces, and often is too much to eat. Pare the fruit and cut it into wedges. Dip in lemon juice, if needed, to keep fruit from browning.
• To prevent spoiling, keep food cold by adding a freezer pack to the lunch box.
• Don’t be concerned if your child wants the same lunch every day. Kids find this comforting and they don’t get tired of the same old thing.

Tips for getting children involved

With a little planning, you can get kids involved in choices that are good for them and make lunch preparation a learning experience as well. When children help decide what they want to eat, and help make their own lunch, they’re more likely to eat it.

• When reviewing the school lunch menu, children can circle the lunches they want to buy and plan to take a sack lunch the other days.
• While you are at the grocery store, talk about good nutrition with your children and guide their choices.
• Help your children get their lunch ready the night before. They can help in a number of ways such as:
  1. spreading peanut butter and jelly on bread
  2. mixing a salad
  3. placing foods in reusable plastic containers
  4. wiping counters after lunch is prepared

Another way to get children involved is to prepare a simple recipe. The following pasta salad (with variations) can be taken to school in a small container:

• 1 (8-oz.) package curly noodles, cooked anddrained
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1/2 cup green pepper, diced
• 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup Italian (oil and vinegar) dressing or mayonnaise
• Children can help measure and mix all the ingredients. Chill the salad. Spoon a portion into a small container with a lid, such as a butter or margarine tub. Be sure to include a fork in the lunch box.

Variations:

1. Add a can of tuna for a main dish salad.
2. Add 1 cup sliced steamed zucchini and 1/4 cup sliced black olives, and cubes of mozzarella cheese.

A sandwich is not the only answer

Sandwiches are traditional for lunch, but there are many other possibilities. Try pasta salad, fruit and cheese, or veggie sticks and peanut butter. Some other ideas for terrific lunch box combinations: White, whole wheat, or rye bread, bagels, or rolls can be substituted for the crackers. Check off the ones you and your child would like to try:

• turkey, Swiss cheese, rye crackers
• ham, American cheese, sesame crackers
• beef, Cheddar cheese, wheat crackers
• chicken, Monterey jack cheese, tortilla chips
• strawberries/banana, cottage cheese, melba toast
• tuna fish, gouda cheese, saltine crackers
• carrot sticks, Muenster cheese, animal crackers
• peaches, cream cheese, graham crackers
• tossed green salad, Parmesan cheese, bread sticks
• apple slices, peanut butter, rice cakes

All you add is love

“When the girls were little I would put notes and surprises in the lunch boxes,” says Mary Fran Stransky, mother of two. “When they got older. I stopped doing that because it embarrassed them.”

You might add a note to you child’s lunch. For younger children, write a note with simple illustrations such as a heart, rainbow, or flower. Making the sandwiches cute and appealing is another way to encourage good eating.

Stransky says of her daughter, “Megan doesn’t like crust, so I have always used cookie cutters to cut and seal the sandwiches.”

It doesn’t take much time to make your child’s lunch really special. It will mean so much to your youngster to see that you care.

After-school snacks

When your children get home from school, they may be “starving.” Some children eat lunch at 10:30 a.m., so by 3 o’clock they’re ready for a snack. Smart snacking doesn’t make a child overweight—it all depends on what they choose to eat. The best snacks are low in salt, sugar, fat, and preservatives, and close to their natural state (not highly processed).

Some examples of healthy snacks are: sliced fruits, vegetables and dip, whole grain crackers, pretzels, rice cakes, pudding, gelatin with fruit, plain cookies, or cereal bars. Popcorn is a favorite snack. It tastes good, it’s filling, high in fiber, and it can be low in calories if popped with an air popper and eaten plain. (Note: To prevent choking, children under the age of 4 should not eat popcorn.)

Amy Houts, freelance author, based this article on her cookbook, Cooking Around the Calendar with Kids: Holiday and Seasonal Food & Fun (Images Unlimited). For more information, check out www.snaptail.com.

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