How to Pack a Healthy Lunch Box for Your Kids
The kid’s packed lunch has a lot of work to do: it has to fill their belly, be tasty enough not to be thrown in the bin, and healthy enough so that you don’t feel the guilt associated with juice and twinky.
So we asked Marianne Jacobsen , a registered dietitian writing about baby food, what is the most important thing to know about packing lunch for your kids. Here’s what she said:
Parents need to consider nutrition, children’s preferences, and the time the children need to eat. Parents should try to use as many food groups as possible – protein, dairy or non-dairy, grains, fruits and vegetables – to maximize nutrition. It is important for the children to express their opinion on what is included in their lunch, and the older children help make key choices, and sometimes even prepare the lunch themselves. … Parents can regularly inform their children about meals. Enough or Too Much Food? Do they like it? What changes would they like to see?
It might sound like a daunting task, but all of the above can be accomplished with a little planning. Let’s dig in.
Know how much to pack
The larger the child, the larger the lunch. While this is obvious advice, it’s easy to get carried away with cooking the same size meal for your big brother and little brother, or packing a tiny adorable lunch for a preschooler without realizing that you are failing.
Here’s your reality check of how big baby food should be, straight from the American Academy of Pediatrics . They indicate the number of calories and the number of servings per day, so I give around this number to estimate lunch. If you know your child has a lot of breakfast or dinner, adjust it accordingly:
- Age 2-3: 350 calories
- Age 4-8: 400-450 calories
- Age 9-13: 550-600 calories
- Age 14-18: 600-750 calories
Strive to get these healthy and healthy calories: mainly from vegetables, healthy fats, and protein-rich foods. Here’s a tip I learned (no kidding) from the zoo keeper: If you want your mentees to eat all of their food, not just a few of their favorites, go wrong and give them a little less or less of their favorites. , or less food in general. If leftover food comes home with your child every day, this is a hint to adjust portion sizes.
Make it filling
Whatever you take, it should be enough for your child for the rest of the day. Nobody likes to be in a carbohydrate coma during the day, whether it’s corporate meetings or, you know, math classes. Remember that fat, protein, and fiber slow down digestion and make your baby feel full; sugar and starch are digested faster and have the opposite effect.
Don’t fall into the trap of packaging all non-fatty foods as healthier. Babies need about a third of their calories from fat ( babies need even more – about 40% for one year olds). If you think that lunch looks too high in calories, do not rush to give up fat; leave in whole milk and look for sugar or starch instead.
And it’s a good idea to run numbers, especially when you’re packing fresh fruits and vegetables: they’re healthy, but don’t provide a ton of calories. An apple can take up a lot of space in a lunch box, but it won’t fill a baby’s tummy. Don’t forget to pack some high-calorie foods – maybe peanut butter (or sunflower oil ) for the dipping?
Make it appetizing
Your hard work will be wasted if the child does not want to eat the food you packaged. Jacobsen recommends involving children in planning and packing: asking younger children about preferences and teaching older children to pack lunch: “They don’t just give parents a break – they learn to cook.”
When all the food is open, when they open the lunch box, they see all the food – a great way to make it appetizing. Some lunch sets, such as Bentology , are designed to make as many things visible as possible. If you’re creative, you can completely immerse yourself in bento style with visually pleasing arrangements, or even do something as simple as molding sandwiches with a cookie cutter .
All of this means that you can keep the kids interested without resorting to unhealthy foods. A little sugar is fine, but use it as a dessert, not your entire lunch full of it. It can be difficult to wean your child off juice or soda, but hey, going back to school is a great time to start a new routine.
Especially for young children, you will be amazed at what a container with your favorite character is capable of. It was easy for my kids to give up juice and chocolate milk when they found out they might have water in a dinosaur bottle .
Make a jump list
Don’t lose sight of your plans when the critical moment comes – early in the morning or late at night when you really need to put food in your breakfast box. Here’s a strategy that works equally well for parents with blurry eyes and kids who are learning to put together their own lunch: you need a formula and a list of guidelines.
The formula is just a small number of categories: if you have one of each, you have a complete meal.
MyPlate , despite its flaws, is a great rule of thumb: roughly equal servings of fruits, vegetables, protein, cereals, and optional dairy products. It can be tricky to include every food group in every meal, so you can shorten your formula to keep it simple. For example, I believe that you can mix fruits and vegetables in a bunch, and I consider dairy products a protein food, like cheese in a lunch with cheese and crackers.
As a result, we get the following formula:
- Fruit or vegetables
- Protein
- Drink
- Small dessert
- (and everything that completes the meal – grains, etc.)
Here I go to the list: review your kids and make a NOW list of packable products in each category that they have. Place it somewhere you see it and reference it when shopping. As long as you have one or two items from each category in your home, packaging is as easy as shelling pears. Teach your kids the rule and they can pack their own meals.
Here’s what a sample list might look like:
- Fruits: raisins, apple, banana, applesauce
- Vegetables: carrots, broccoli
- Grains: bread, crackers, rice
- Protein / dairy products: Meat for lunch, peanut butter, cheese, yogurt.
- Drinks: milk or water.
- Dessert: fruit snacks
The formula may include leftovers from lunch, but you can exclude them from the list if you don’t have them regularly. For example, I would count pizza as grain + protein or chili as protein + vegetable. Fruit apple pie + dessert.
However, keep the list large enough not to fall into a rut. Jacobsen notes that it is important to teach children to eat a variety of foods: “I think the biggest mistake parents make is that they serve the same food every day. Parents can inform their children that they will not cook the same meal for two days in a row, and that they need to introduce more variety. Working with children at lunchtime is the best way to make them successful. “
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