Tips for Packing a Healthy School Lunch

Lawndale News Chicago's Bilingual Newspaper - Health

Lawndale News Chicago's Bilingual Newspaper - Health

For those parents who need tips on packing healthy school lunches, here are a few simple tips to make it easy and enjoyable for everyone.

Tip #1 Get Your Kids Involved
• Give your kids healthy food options from each food group and let them make the final decisions on what goes in their lunch.

• Take your child grocery shopping with you and let them have a say (to a certain extent) in what goes into the cart. This promotes feelings of responsibility and empowerment.

Tip #2 Turn Healthy Foods into Fun Foods
• Use cookie cutters to make shapes out of bread, deli meat, cheese, or a melon-baller for fruit.

• Create a theme for the day and have all the foods in their lunch relate to the theme.

Tip #3 Food Groups
A balanced diet includes all of the food groups. Use ChooseMyPlate.gov as a visual to help you structure what should go into your child’s lunch. Luckily, there are so many different ways to enjoy each food group:

• Fruits: fresh, frozen, dried, canned, baked (think apple chips!) or pureed.

• Vegetables: fresh, frozen, or baked (think kale chips!)

• Lean protein: baked chicken, deli meats, hard boiled eggs, beans or nuts (be aware of nut allergy regulations at your child’s school.)

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