Soon it will be time for our little ones [and not so little ones ] to go back to school and we will be faced with the age old headache of what to give them in their lunch bags!!! All summer long they have been in and out of the fridge, helping themselves to whatever, whenever they like. Now they are back to the reality of set times to eat and no snacking in between! So it looks like its up to us to provide a satisfying, tasty, nutritious and healthy lunch on a daily basis. Quite a tall order really when you take into consideration that it is our children we are trying to please here!! We have to keep in mind that they need a well balanced selection of foods, it's better to give them a little bit of a variety of things rather than a whole lot of the same! Pre-packed lunches like "Lunchables" and other ready to eat snacks, can be very expensive and are loaded with sodium [salt] and preservatives! So it is much healthier,and cheaper, to prepare your own! All you need is a little imagination and a few extra minutes of your time and you can come up with wholesome ,tasty items that your kids will love!
For starters let's think about snack ideas: raw nuts, dried fruits, yogurt covered raisins, homemade trail mix, dry cereal, veggie sticks [celery,carrot,]or pieces of cauliflower, broccoli or baby carrots with salad dressing, peanut butter or cream cheese on the side, cheese chunks, fruit wedges [apple, banana, orange, melon, strawberry, peach, mango etc.], seedless grapes, wholewheat crackers, I'm sure that you're beginning to get some ideas of your own now, based on your child's preferences and what you happen to have on hand. You can buy little snap and seal snack bags at the food store that are 6in. by 3in. and cost around $2 for fifty, and are the perfect size for holding just enough of one kind of snack to keep your child interested. You can chop up a load of fruits and veggies at the weekend and keep them in a sealed container in the fridge ready to fill up the little bags during the week. Next we need to think about the "main course", We need things that are more filling, yet are tasty and appetizing too! Sandwiches are a good staple, but we have to be careful not to overdo it or they will start coming home untouched! Try using more "interesting" bread for a change, e.g: crusty french style bread with ham and grated cheese, a big wholewheat roll stuffed with tuna salad, a toasted bagel with flavoured cream cheese [they even have a stawberry one now!], raisin bread with peanut butter and jelly, cinnamon roll with sliced bananas etc. etc. It's not too good an idea to just put it into a snack bag and put it in their bag, because it usually ends up all wet and squishy and totally unappealling!! It is much better to put it in a sealable container where it can be kept dry and protected. "Ziploc" do a wide variety of containers in every shape and size and they are light weight, but strong and can be thrown away when they become well worn! The price is reasonable too. Finger foods make a tasty and easy to handle lunch. Chicken drumsticks, nuggets, sticks and wings go down well, as do fish fingers and patties. Frankfurters [hot dogs!] can be cut into bite sized pieces, slices of cooked ham or turkey can be rolled around cottage cheese, creamcheese or peanut butter. Tuna, egg, chicken or even lobster salad [if you are very lucky!!] make an appetizing lunch along with wholewheat crackers. Home-made hamburger patties served on a sesame seed bun, can bring a smile at lunch time, you could even make mini ones and put them on those little, light and fluffy dinner rolls. The emphasis is on variety and nutrition, you have nothing to lose!
Of course no lunch is complete without a nice dessert to round it off! They have already eaten their fruit at snack time and so now we have to come up with some different ideas for something "sweet" [but without too much sugar!!] Fruity yogurt is always a favourite, most companies make them in 4 oz pots, which is just about the right size for little stomachs, apple sauce also comes in 4oz. containers and "Motts" do different fruit and apple sauce combinations to add a little variety. Dried apricots, dates and apple slices are sweet and apppealling too.
Drinks are the final concern. Always put in a bottle of water, particularly in the hotter months, it's no fun spending the whole of your lunch break standing in line at the water fountain!! A small carton or can of juice is good, but not thirst quenching, better to use a sugar free drink mix , like "Crystal Light" [comes in numerous fruity flavours], or "Country Time"[ they have tasty sugar free lemonade] made up with water in a recyclable bottle or thermos. A carton of milk- plain or chocolate can be an added treat.
So there we have it, a happy, healthy lunch bag and no complaints from the kids either!!!!!
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