Kid’s Lunches- Home Prep Or School Lunch

Children need to have three balanced meals a day, this is a known fact but with all the junk food available today, this is difficult; especially when they are in school. Once the kids are off to school, the meal options available are sometimes not healthy and if your child has allergies then the best choice is to prepare something easy for the kids to take from home. Here are some suggestions as to what your child could be given for lunch. Fruit is always a great option for lunch; they are rich in fibers and nutrients and have natural sugar which is needed for the growth of young children. The fresher the fruits, the better they taste and the healthier they are. However there is a downside, fruit no matter how fresh they can only stay fresh for so many hours. For this you can use the best lunch boxes for kids, which use special technology to keep food fresh for longer.

Another healthy lunch idea is sandwiches. You can use white or brown bread, the latter is healthier mind you, with selection of pastes such as cheese and mustard, vegetable, vegemite or meat. You also have the choice of using Nuttela as a special treat. Though a reminder, bread dries up sometimes and to avoid that you can wrap the sandwiches in a wet cloth or napkin and the best lunch boxes for kids. Then you have the option of making wraps or hotdogs, yes this might sometimes not be the healthiest option but it can be healthier than the deep fried and fatty foods on offer at schools.  You can use lettuce, tomatoes, onion and cucumber as a filling along with some meat as children need protein. To add flavor, you can add condiments such as mustard, salad dressing or mayonnaise.

Another great idea for school lunches is curry and bread. A small container of curry, you can either make a vegetable based curry or a meat one. The trouble is making the curry; if you make weekly bulks then you can freeze it and use small portions when you need it. It is common belief that freezing foods will compromise the texture but that is simply myth. However, a reminder- you have to properly reheat the food before serving it and make sure that the curry is well cooked. As for the bread, you can either make chapathi, which can be made in a jiffy with flour, salt, water and oil, or you can buy flat bread and heat it up. You can use bread bought at the bakers as no one says that curry must be eaten with naan.

One other alternative to school lunches- hummus and kebabs. The name alone makes you think, maybe not but in reality, it is quite easy. Hummus is a bit hard to make so the best choice for that is the store bought kind but kebabs are easy, all you need is a grill, a skewer and some meat. You can find various recipes from simple grilled dishes to the more extravagant ones with honey glazed chicken- start with simple and move on from there. School lunches may seem like they are yummy and fine but at the end of the day will that little effort to make your child eat heathier really make a difference? The answer is yes, by starting the habit of eating heathy at a young age will help them to develop a liking for healthy food and good immune system and this will go a long way.