Healthy School Lunches

I have one daughter that will eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the rest of her school lunch life and would rather eat almost anything than the lunch offered by the school - in fact, she has a hard time even sitting next to kids who get the school lunch, she says it smells that bad!  My other daughter is fine picking and choosing from the school lunch offerings and seems to get enough to get through the day.  But, they just changed the school lunch rate from $1.25 to $2.25 per day. 

I know economic times are tough, but I also know that the extra dollar for school lunch isn't going for healthier or better tasting options.  A few simple tips to packing your child's lunch are:

1.  Keep it simple - offer a few simple food items such as a sandwich, cheese squares, and fruit.  Nothing fancy, or gourmet.  Chances are they don't have a lot of time to eat whats in there anyway.

2.  Aim for protein - its hard to make protein appealing after its been sitting in a lunchbox for a few hours, but peanut butter on rice cakes, PBJs, sliced meat or tuna and veggies in a pita, a cheese stick, or even a frozen go-gurt or other yogurts with mix-ins for fun (granola, dried fruit, etc).

3.  Ask for help - take you child grocery shopping - you might be surprised when they ask for carrots or celery because one of their friends brings that.  They can give you some good ideas at the store, although steer clear of the cookies and candies aisle!

4.  Think outside the box - make a big pot of pasta salad at the beginning of the week and pack it in tupperware for a few days of lunches, or even heated foods like soups or cold foods like smoothies in a thermos as the main course supplemented with a few other things like crackers or fruit.  Bagels with cream cheese or tortilla wraps are also good sandwich alternatives.