Pack a lunch & snacks for kids and teens.
by Dorothy Wilson
The Basics
Keep Them Well Fed
Growing children and teens need to be well fed all day. They use up lots of energy in all their school activities and that includes sitting at a desk and absorbing information. Good nutritious food is a key part in a good education. The challenge to feeding your family at school lies in the short lunch periods, fussy appetites and peer pressure. Providing a variety of tasty meals will ensure your child’s lunch does not become monotonous.
Keep it Clean and Safe
Safe food preparation and appropriate food containers for keeping meals chilled or hot are important too. Check out these websites for food safety tips:
Safe School Lunches (Government of Canada)
How to keep your kids’ lunches from making them sick – Huffington Post Canada
Get Participation
Do you want the healthy, wholesome lunch you packed to be eaten, forgotten or traded away for junkier foods? The best way to get the food consumed by your own child is to have their participation about what goes into the lunch box. Use a food guide to provide the basis for your balanced lunch box selections. Talk with your kids to find out what they like that falls within the realm of good nutrition and work out a system that allows a variety of tasty choices that can be mixed and matched each day. Check out these websites for some of the creative ways parents have gotten their kids to choose the foods they like and still keep the meals healthy.
VegKitchen: Healthy School Lunch Recipes & Tips
Southern U.S. Cuisine: Lunch Box Ideas
Next – School Lunch Tips & Recipes
Above feature image by Rimma Bondarenko photo / Shutterstock.com.
Above image of cold packs by michelaubryphoto / Shutterstock.com