Easy & Healthy Lunches They Won't Want to Trade!
As you open your She-Ra lunch pail and slide the thermos off of your PB&J you would see them...the healthy things Mom snuck into your lunch. You look up suddenly, eyes akimbo, to find the person at your cafeteria table that had the ding-dong, the oatmeal cream pie or even the bag of off brand chips. ANYTHING has to be better than carrot sticks!
An entire generation has passed thru those same cafeteria doors and the story, I’m sure, has stayed the same. Now YOU are the Mommy and are trying to do what your parents could never do….pack the perfect lunch!We have asked the experts and gotten some great ideas to help you along your way. As your lunch box used to say, “May the force be with you”.
1. The simplest and healthiest foods look extra-yummy when they're tucked inside colorful little compartments.
That's the idea behind Laptop Lunches, the company that sells these cute plastic sets (starting at $21; laptoplunches.com). We filled the containers with a protein, some fruit, a vegetable, and a small treat -- all in perfect-size portions for kids 5 to 8.
All Dressed Up
* 1 cup bow-tie pasta salad with veggies
* 1 cup baby greens salad with 2 tablespoons low-fat dressing
* 3/4 cup watermelon
* 2 fig cookies
2. Be Creative Mommy!
Here is a great exerpt from HappyLittleBento's Blog:
Tomorrow is Chinese (Lunar) New Year! So today TinySprite brought a horse bun to celebrate the Year of the Horse. I didn't bake it (only decorated with cheese and nori for the face), but she was pretty excited. There's a hot dog in there, and it fits diagonally perfectly inside the EcoLunchBox Solo Cube. I packed some satsuma, tomatoes, and pickled veggies, plus a little cup of sunflower seeds in case the horse gets hungry. Gung Hay Fat Choy!
3. Enlist the Troups!
I know it's not always easy to get the kids to help out but AllRecipes.com has a great collection of easy and healthy treats for your little ones to help you make! Who knows, at some point you may get them to make them on their own. Getting them to clean up afterwards is a totally different story!
Recipe by Mike B. "Bored of 'plain old meatloaf'? We tried a recipe with a twist. All you need is some smaller pans in the shapes of characters, or whatever. The kids love the shapes and rave about the taste!!! Mine like to use Winnie the Pooh. Be creative and have fun."
4. Take your kids shopping with you
Unfortunately we don’t all live near farms or farmers’ markets, so it’s not easy for us or our children to feel a connection with good, whole (unprocessed) foods. One way to help them learn is to make a point to take them grocery shopping with you. Of course it’s probably easier to go alone when there’s someone at home to watch them or they’re at school, but it’s important for them to see foods in their raw states so they can explore and ask questions.
Take them when you’re not in a hurry and spend a lot of time in the aisles that contain unprocessed foods — the produce, meat, and fish departments, for example. If your child appears to be interested in a certain type of fruit or vegetable, encourage him or her to explore that item; don’t just assume that your child won’t like it. Take it home and let him try it so he can make his own decisions.
When Ben, Lisa’s son, was a baby, he liked to ride in the cart holding an avocado. Every time they went shopping he’d point at the avocados until Lisa gave him one. When he was three he asked if he could bring some mangos home. He was also intrigued by the spiky orange exterior of the unusual kiwano fruit (also known as the African Horned Melon). He carried it for the duration of their shopping trip and insisted it be cut the minute he got it home. Its green, seedy interior was a bit off-putting to him, but he tried it anyway.Exploring food this way gives Ben and his mom a chance to talk about how something is cooked and where it comes from. It also allows Ben to feel like he’s making choices about what he eats. from life.giaim.com
