Back to School: Tips for a Fun & Healthy Lunch

A kid-friendly lunch doesn’t have to mean a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Not only can dishes such as fruit kabobs, pizza quesadillas and noodle bowls be just as easy to make as a sandwich, you may be surprised to discover how popular and kid-friendly such healthy choices are.

Ideas for spreading the lunch love:

• Give kids something they can assemble themselves. They love dipping, stacking and rolling up their food into fun treats.
• For kids, anything “mini” equals fun. Serve them things like mini whole grain bagels, potstickers or cheese cubes.
• Make food into fun shapes. Colorful or interestingly shaped pasta, sandwiches cut into shapes with cookie cutters, or fruit cut into triangles, circles, etc.
• Try to expose your children to at least one new flavor each week. This could be an item they’ve never eaten before or one they haven’t had in awhile.
• Include a fun container, special note, napkin, cartoon or joke in the lunchbox.

BUILDING THE IDEAL LUNCHBOX

Like the ideal breakfast, lunch should have lots of fiber and whole grains, some protein and healthy fat, a veggie and just a bit of natural sugar, like a piece of fresh fruit.

To give kids a sense of control and a vested interest in eating their lunches, involve them in the prep-work and the decision-making process about what goes in the bag. Best to do this on the weekend or the night before to avoid morning meltdowns.

Tips for building a kid-friendly lunch:

• Involve them in the prep-work.
• Include a protein.
• Choose whole grains, whole grain breads, crackers and pasta for fiber.
• Choose one fruit and at least one veggie per lunch.

INSPIRED LUNCHES

Stuck in a peanut butter and jelly rut? Try these ideas for a little something different:

• Whole wheat tortillas spread with peanut butter sprinkled with raisins or dried cherries, rolled up and cut in two.
• Pizza quesadilla or a tomato cheddar soup and cold antipasti spread including tortellini, meats, cheeses and green beans served with grapes any other fresh, bite-size fruit.
• Hummus and spinach wrap, cherry tomatoes with string cheese, and yogurt.
• Baked corn chips, black beans, cheese wedges and fresh pico de gallo with jicama sticks.
• Whole wheat or buckwheat noodles with peanut sauce, sugar snap peas, a pear, almonds and a fortune cookie.
• Tuna salad with grated carrots, served with crackers or in a pita.
• Cheese triangles served with pepperoni and whole wheat crackers for stacking.
• Crostini (toasted French/Italian bread slices) served with chopped olive salad, roasted turkey and hard-boiled eggs.
• Vegetarian brown rice sushi rolls with soy or ponzu sauce.
• Smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumbers on mini bagels.
• Shumai dumplings/potstickers packed cold with ponzu sauce or peanut sauce.
• Vegetable fried rice (make the night before or use dinner leftovers).
• Chocolate almond butter with graham crackers.
• Fruit kabobs made from assorted colors of melon balls and other fruits on a bamboo skewer, served with yogurt for dipping.

Find out how to stock a tempting selection of healthy snacks. – WholeFoodsMarket.Com