{"id":919,"date":"2007-10-30T15:02:23","date_gmt":"2007-10-30T23:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.homewiththekids.com\/blog\/2007\/10\/30\/healthy-lunch-ideas-for-school\/"},"modified":"2007-10-30T15:02:23","modified_gmt":"2007-10-30T23:02:23","slug":"healthy-lunch-ideas-for-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homewiththekids.com\/blog\/healthy-lunch-ideas-for-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthy Lunch Ideas for School"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

I’ve really been enjoying being able to choose what my daughter has for lunch at school. It’s been a bit of a challenge to my creativity, especially when I didn’t think about it the night before to ensure that basic ingredients would be ready.<\/p>\n

Those are the days I resort to chicken soup in a thermos. It works well enough if not ideal.<\/p>\n

The simplest way to make providing a healthy lunch easy has been to send leftovers in the thermos or to have something precooked, like pasta, and add veggies and a sauce to it. Very quick and simple pasta salads go over quite well.<\/p>\n

I’m definitely not a fan of Lunchables and similar. I know a lot of people like them well enough but they really aren’t to my taste, mostly for nutritional reasons. I’d rather pick better quality meats and cheeses and make something like a Lunchable on my own for far less.<\/p>\n

I always include one or two kinds of fresh fruit. Since my daughter is in kindergarten she gets both a snack and lunch. If the fruit is small, two kinds can keep things a little more interesting.<\/p>\n

Fresh vegetables work really well for us too. Most common are carrot sticks or slices, but leftover salad, cauliflower and broccoli have gone over quite well on a regular basis. Then again my kids have what I understand to be a rare love of raw vegetables.<\/p>\n

On occasion I do include something that is more of a treat, aside from the fruit. The school forbids candy, but we have sent shortcake with berries on top for a really fun dessert.<\/p>\n

One of my best purchases was a container that could be split into several small sections. These are available in many forms, but I like the overall function of the Laptop Lunches bag from ReusableBags.com<\/a> best. It has a lot more room than the little box I have right now, and once my daughter needs something a bit bigger, that’s what I’m getting.<\/p>\n

Having a lunchbox that has compartments really does make packing healthy, interesting lunches easier. With my current little box I can pack a sandwich by cutting it in half and stacking it, then using the little compartments for veggies, sliced fruit, crackers or whatever. Or I can put pasta salad or other foods in place of the sandwich. I just love the flexibility.<\/p>\n

Things I don’t pack include fruit snacks or rollups, the aforementioned Lunchables or anything else with too much sugar or overly processed. I’ve put a lot of effort in avoiding those at home, so I don’t want to suddenly add them just because my daughter eats lunch at school.<\/p>\n

Do any of you have favorite school lunch recipes or ideas?<\/p>\n

[tags]school lunch,lunch ideas,kid lunches,lunch,laptop lunches,healthy food[\/tags]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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