10 Tips for Packing Healthy School Lunches

Packing lunches can be frustrating, especially when the food comes home mostly untouched. Here are a few tips to help pack nutritious lunches that kids will love:

1. Involve your child in packing lunch. Take them grocery shopping and help them pick out healthy foods for their lunches. Offer them some healthy options, and ask for their opinion (for example, ask what kind of fruit they would like to take).
2. Involve your child in choosing the containers that lunch gets packed in. Do a practice run and make sure the containers aren't too difficult to open.
3. Use the time it takes to pack lunch as an opportunity to teach about what foods are good for you and why.  Children love to learn and may end up passing their new knowledge on to their friends.
4. Children are usually more keen to get outside for recess than they are about eating lunch. Pack foods that are bite-size and easy to eat quickly.
5. When sending something messy (like orange slices), pack a napkin.
6. Make a bit of extra food for dinner and send leftovers. If your child liked dinner, he or she will probably still like it as lunch the next day.
7. Send foods that are a variety of colors and textures.
8. Make food fun. Try cutting sandwiches, veggies or fruits into interesting shapes.
9. Try to include 3 out of the 4 food groups in a lunch.
10. Try to avoid the stress of packing last-minute lunches. Aim to do most of your prep work the night before. Fruit and vegetables can be cut and packaged, sandwiches can be assembled, juice can be poured into a reusable container.