Making Your Child the Perfect School Lunch
August 27, 2008 by Tracey Thompson
Filed under Recipes
image: www.freeimages.co.uk
How many of you pack your children’s lunch each day? My oldest son has started kindergarten this year. I checked into the school lunch and decided against it.
First of all, he has autism and would probably have a hard time making it through the line. The very basic social skills he would need to survive the lunch line are non-existent for him at this time. Then I spoke with a few teachers and some parents. The food choices are frozen, canned and processed.
His teacher said that the dessert choices consist of canned pears, canned peaches, canned fruit cocktail or a brownie. You can only imagine what the children choose. After discussions with teachers, parents and taking a look at the school menu my decision was made. Mother knows best and it is a homemade lunch for my boy.
David Zinczenko, from Eat This Not That for Kids, shared some suggestion on the Today Show. The key is a balanced lunch with a good main course, a nutritious side, a low calorie drink and yes…a treat.
Here are some suggestions he offers up for what Zinczenko calls the “Sturdy Anchor”:
Avoid a lunch built on refined carbohydrates, as the intake of quick-burning carbs will leave your kid with an energy and attention deficit for the rest of the day. Focus instead on protein, fiber, and healthy fats that will help keep your kid satisfied, keep his metabolism running high, and provide some meaningful nutrition along the way.
For sandwiches
Meats should be lean (no salami or bologna), breads should be whole wheat, and condiments should be used sparingly.Turkey or roast beef and Swiss sandwich on wheat bread (sans mayo, but loaded with produce, if you can get away with it)
Sliced ham, cheese, and Triscuits®
PB&J (made on whole-wheat bread with a pure-fruit jelly like Smucker’s® Simply Fruit®)
Thermos of hot soup
Grilled chicken breast
Hard-boiled eggs
Tuna or cubed chicken tossed with light mayo, mustard, celery, and carrot
Read more of Zinczenko’s suggestions and watch the video. What do you pack for your child each day? Have any suggestions that are healthy hits with the little ones?
I work in the school cafeteria. I see kids throw away a lot of healthy food. I can try to steer them toward eating it, I can say, hey put it back, don’t throw it away, maybe you’ll want it later, but I can’t MAKE them eat it.
My suggestion would be to make it fun. Kids love fun stuff for lunch. There are a number of fun re-usable food containers (better for the enviroment anyway). I’ve also seen these shapes that can be used to make sandwiches look like animals or hearts or well, fun stuff.
And they love notes in the lunch box. I used to send them for my girls and I wondered if they paid any attention to them, but I see the kids at school always set them beside their lunch boxes proudly. One parent, he draws a silly picture on his kids lunch bag.
My daughter is also going into Kindergarten this year and I also have the question of lunches. She has special needs and would not be able to go through the line by herself but she does have a parapro to help her out. We get a menu each week so I plan on letting her eat school lunch on the days they serve something she likes and I will pack lunch on the others. She can be a picky eater so I think having both options open will help.
i go to school everyday wondering what to put in my lunch i barely have anything because the big ones in the house always eat my lunch stuff so what do i do?