Healthy School Lunch Ideas

Healthy School Lunch Ideas

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Many school's idea of a healthy school lunch is a choice between pizza and nachos! Although choices have improved at many schools, the only way to be sure your child has a healthy school lunch is to make it yourself. But how do you make up a healthy school lunch and how do you get your child to eat it?

A healthy school lunch will consist of a lean protein, a fruit, a vegetable and a nutritious drink.

1. Step one in this process is to take your child grocery shopping with you.

2. Step two is to get them involved in making the lunch. You might be pleasantly surprised at the choices your child makes that you hadn't thought of.

3. Don't stress out if your child wants carrots every day and refuses other vegetables. At least it's a vegetable and in time, if other vegetables are offered, eventually, he or she will probably try something else.

Here are some great healthy school lunch ideas:

Healthy sandwiches can be made up of whole grain bread, a lean protein and lettuce, which covers two of your necessary foods-the protein and the veggie (although you might want to also add a couple carrot or celery sticks to make up the vegetable portion).

Lean protein:

Low fat peanut butter

lean turkey

lean chicken

tuna fish

Healthy sandwich tips:

Use low fat mayo or mustard on the sandwich to cut down on fat.

If you make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, choose low fat, no sugar added types of peanut butter and no sugar added jam or jelly. You could also make a peanut butter and banana sandwich for variety and take care of the fruit for lunch at the same time.

Instead of peanut butter, try almond or other nut butter for a varied flavor.

For whole grain bread, check the label on the package. The first ingredient must be a whole grain like wheat, oats, etc. If it says "enriched whole wheat" or "enriched flour" it IS NOT a true whole grain bread.

Options for a hot lunch (be sure to put into a thermos which will keep the food to the temperature of 140 degrees F)

Make your own spaghetti's with whole grain noodles and spaghetti sauce. Add shredded carrots or small chunks of other veggies to it. If your child doesn't like "lumps" in their spaghetti sauce, put veggies in a blender and add to sauce)