Healthy Food Ideas For Back To School
- Double your recipe when you make dinner, and freeze the extra in small lunch sized portions. The day before you need it, move it from the freezer to the refrigerator and it’s ready to be heated in the morning.
- Your child is more likely to eat food they have helped prepare. Have your child write up the shopping list, and find the items at the grocery store, even preparing the foods for the refrigerator or cooking/baking. This is a great way to teach your children about new foods they may not have tried yet.
- Use whole grains in their lunches like aats, rye, brown rice, whole wheat and buckwheat. Whole grains will fill them up longer due to the natural fiber content. Whole grains also boast a wonderful array of vitamins and nutrients to help your child stay focused and on track all day like B Complex, Vitamin E, Magnesium, Iron and Zinc to name just a few. Try whole grain breads or wraps, use long grain brown rice or buckwheat groats in your soups and stews or with vegetables and chicken.Provide a source of protein: fish, beef, chicken or turkey breast cut thinly. Nut or seed butters that are low in sodium and sugars are a great option. Soups with lentils/legumes provide a double hit of fiber and protein in one thermos. Stay away from processed sandwich meats as much as possible, they are high in sodium, and preservatives and provide little in the way of nutrition.
- Ensure that there is at least one portion of fresh fruit and or vegetables in their lunches each day to provide the much needed fiber, vitamins and minerals they need to last until the bell rings for home.
- Fill a reusable thermos or bottle with filtered water not juice. Fruit juices are low in fiber, high in calories and low in nutrients, unless freshly juiced prior to consuming. Filtered water is always the best bet.
- Send a note of love to finish it off. Either a message or a small drawing, trust me it will warm their hearts, which is also calming on their digestive system.
While trying these ideas, you will come up with some variations of your own.