Lunch Tips

• Dedicate one drawer for all lunch supplies like thermoses, containers, and reusable plastic bags, and one part of the fridge for lunch-only items including yogurt, precut vegetables, sandwich fixings and lunch-sized portions of leftovers.

• Get the kids involved in the process of preparing their lunches.

• Take a tip from the prepackaged foods - make it fun and bite size. Put cut-up fruits and vegetables, melba toast, dark bread, or mini-pita, low-fat cheese, luncheon meats.

• Bake the cookies they like instead of buying packaged ones.

• Make a list of the foods your children like according to the four major food groups. Then you mix and match.

• Set limits on what foods are acceptable in your household. Explaining about media advertising can help them understand about making healthy food choices.

• Keep everything clean when packing the lunch, keeping cold foods cold in an insulated lunch box, and hot foods hot in an insulated bottle stored in an insulated lunch box.

• Vegetable soup to start or warmed leftovers in a thermos.

• Juice "punch" or "cocktails" are little more than glorified soda. Even drinks labeled as juice may have only a small percentage of real fruit. Buy 100 percent fruit juice when you have the choice.

• A truly healthy bread should be more than to hold a sandwich’s contents. Buy whole grains and try a mix: look for oat, corn, multi-seeded or even gluten-free. Tortillas and pita pockets can also be used as alternatives to slices of bread.

• Children like fast finger foods, so cutting a salmon sandwich into finger strips is more appealing than having a half or whole sandwich. Graham crackers or mini-rice cakes are perfect sizes for adding toppings.

• Set a good example.

• Choose lean meats - Chicken, turkey, lean ham, low-fat lunchmeats, and tuna packed in water are excellent choices for protein-packed meals.

• Use vegetables in a creative manner-Garnish sandwiches with spinach, bean sprouts, grated carrots or tomatoes instead of just lettuce. Pack a salad and put dressings in a separate container. Cut peppers or cucumber into bite-sized pieces with a low fat dipping sauce.

• Go nuts! Peanuts and almonds are easy to eat on the run. They are high in fat, but some of the kind of fat they have is actually good for you!
• Rice or pasta salads with chopped vegetables, pineapples, apples, chicken, fish, spinach, tomatoes, or cucumbers.
• Hard-boiled eggs or egg salad sandwiches are a good source of protein. Add fresh veggies to the egg salad.
• Tortillas spread with cream cheese and filled with chicken, fish, rice, beans or cheese are good.
• Baking an extra chicken at the beginning of the week will give you healthy meat to use in lunches for the rest of the week. This is much healthier than using processed luncheon meats.
• Organic peanut butter sandwich wedges with jelly, honey, raisins, sliced bananas, strawberries, applesauce, grated carrots, apple, or zucchini.
• Remember that a variety of food means a variety of nutrients.

• Your child doesn’t have to finish everything — if he or she feels full and is growing properly.

  
   

  Mix-And-Match For A Healthful Lunch Keep a variety of foods in your pantry, refrigerator and freezer to mix-and-match for innovative lunches.
  Start with one....	Add...	Top with any...	Add...	Snacks
  whole wheat bread	turkey	broccoli sprouts	mustard	baby carrots
  7-grain bread	ham	1 slice cheese	low-fat mayo	raw broccoli
  pita	lean roast beef	spinach leaves	low-fat dressing	raisins
  bagel	hummus	lettuce	applesauce	celery
  mini-bagel	tuna salad (low-fat)	cucumber slices	honey	low-fat dip
  whole wheat roll	sliced chicken	tomato slices	peanut butter	whole fruit
  tortilla	roasted eggplant	sweet peppers	jam	applesauce cups
  rice cake		pickles	low-fat yogurt	pineapple spears
  		onion	salsa	juice boxes
  		shredded carrot		pretzels
  		sliced apple		low-fat popcorn
  		alfalfa sprouts		low-fat granola bar
  		banana		grapes
  				yogurt