How to Plan Healthy School Lunches

Posted in January 23, 2011
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Overview

From the First Lady to the suburban mom, school lunch planning is a challenge. That middle-of-the-day meal should include some of the suggested daily servings of grains, fruit and vegetables -- but packing in a hurry can lead to nutrition downfalls. Planning healthy school lunches is a task any parent can master; healthy lunches start at the grocery store. Involve your child in the process -- not only will he feel more grown up, he will learn the importance of healthy food choices.

Make the Lists

Step 1

Sit down with the children and prepare a list of school lunch ideas. Include grains, protein, vegetables, fruits and a drink with each meal. Collaborating with the children improves lunch time success. Packing apples, carrots and oats is only healthy if the children will eat those foods.

Step 2

Use the lunch meal planning list for reference and create a well documented grocery list. Winging it at the grocery store can lead to forgotten menu items such as healthy juices for drinks and favorite meats for protein. Keep a hefty supply of snack sized baggies on hand for packaging healthy snacks in one serving size, such as six baby carrots.

Step 3

Allow time each evening to pack tomorrow's lunches. Hectic mornings or last minute lunch packings may encourage grabbing convenient and less healthy choices such as prepackaged lunches. Use a sturdy lunch box so those healthy goodies won't get smashed and be sure to include ice or a frozen ice box so perishable fruits and vegetables don't spoil.

Step 4

Avoid those all-too-convenient prepacked lunch meals. Although turkey, cheese and crackers sounds healthy at first, a closer inspection shows that many of these easy school lunch have a whopping 13 g of fat, 39 g of sugar and 750 mg of salt.

Step 5

Pack a variety of foods including at least one selection from the fruits and vegetables food groups. Five servings daily are recommended of these fresh foods -- some of which should be consumed during lunch. Pack fruits in their natural form, including orange slices, grapes and bananas, not the syrupy concoctions of fruit cups or drinks. Vegetables should be washed, peeled or sliced for easy eating during the child's limited lunch time.