By Adrian Kohrt
With the new school year starting, it is time to think about lunch. The best way to ensure your child has fun and healthy lunches is to pack them at home.
Why would you want to pack a lunch for your child? Over the past 30 years, childhood obesity has risen greatly. Packing lunches at home can ensure that your child eats healthy meals to help their immune system work to its full capacity.
Packing meals at home also can be a fun experience for children.
Engaging children in the lunch planning process will give them a sense of ownership over their lunch, and they will be more likely to eat it. Some suggestions would be to sit down with your children and plan a week of lunches. Take them to the store and allow them to assist in buying food for their lunches.
This will also teach children how to shop for healthy foods and get them to experiment with new foods.
One very popular way to pack a lunch for children is using Bento boxes, a Japanese box with multiple compartments. These boxes allow you to place food in small compartments, control portion sizes, and keep food in its own place. Some children do not like food touching, and this is a wonderful way to solve that problem. They also allow you to be creative and place foods in an attractive and fun way in the compartments of the box.
Here are some ideas of things to pack in the lunch box:
Protein
Turkey, roast beef, or ham roll-ups
String cheese or cheese cubes
Hummus and pita bread
Yogurt
Hard-boiled egg or an egg salad sandwich
Cottage cheese with fruit
Chicken salad with whole grain crackers
Grains
Mini bagels
Whole wheat pita pockets
Whole grain crackers
Rice cakes
Fruit
Melons cut into balls
Grapes (you can freeze them, and they help keep food cool)
Sliced oranges
Apple sauce
Dried fruit
Vegetables
Celery with peanut butter and raisins
Rainbow carrots or baby carrots
Bell pepper
Cucumbers and hummus
Snap peas
Grape tomatoes
For a healthy lunch, the bulk of your lunch should include the above food groups, but you can also include savory foods such as pretzels, tortilla chips and salsa, popcorn and trail mix.
When it comes to something to drink, the best thing to pack is water. You can get a small water bottle and freeze it. By the time your child has lunch, it will have thawed but still be cold enough for them to drink. If you want variety, add milk or 100% fruit juice to their lunch.
Adrian Kohrt is a family nutrition coordinator for Cooperative Extension Service, a part of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, working in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. For questions, she can be contacted at amkohrt@alaska.edu or 907-474-7930.
