Healthy School Lunch Items Kids Will Eat

Guest post by Kimberly Hurd.

Many parents find themselves stuck in a rut when it comes to packing lunch for their child. If you have a picky eater then your job is even harder. Choosing to send a homemade lunch rather than buying the cafeteria food at school is a good decision for promoting healthy eating and saving money. As a mother of two little ones who have very different tastes in food, coming up with school lunch ideas has become twice as hard.

Here are some tips and ideas that have helped me make healthy lunches that my kids actually look forward to eating.

Color-code your fruits & veggies

There are two ways to engage your child in trying new fruits and vegetables by playing the color game.

First, you can choose a day of the week to correspond with a color and buy fruits and veggies to go along with it. For example, Monday could be red day. Take your child to the grocery store to pick out red foods for lunch, such as red grapes, red bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, etc. This way your child has input into the menu also.

Second, you can have a color contest to see if your child can eat every color in the rainbow in his or her lunches that week. Again, take your child shopping to plan ahead for this fun contest.

Say goodbye to the boring sandwich

Try to replace the standard sandwich with something similar but more exciting like a bagel, a wrap, or pita-pocket bread. You can find whole-wheat bagels and a variety of healthy wraps at most grocery stores.

Create your own version of a “Lunchable” by packing crackers, cheese, and meat in small containers for your child to assemble their own little cracker sandwiches.

Send a homemade mini-pizza that is made from a wide variety of ingredients. For a simple pizza crust use an English muffin, pita or flat bread, or even a half of bagel. Use traditional tomato sauce topped with mozzarella, veggies, and pre-cooked meat, or try a new sauce such as cream cheese or alfredo sauce. These mini-pizzas taste good at room temperature so they’re great in a school lunch.

Put it on a stick

Food takes on a whole new creative level for kids when you put it on a stick, such as a skewer, straw, or toothpick. One tasty example is fresh fruit kabobs with melon, grapes, mango, strawberries, and bananas. We call them a fruit wands and serve with Pink Princess Dip (see recipe below).

Make a “sandwich on a stick” where you layer cubes of cheese, turkey, ham, or chicken breast, and veggies such as cherry tomatoes and cucumbers.

Go for a dip

If your child likes to dip, there are an abundance of delicious, healthy dips that will encourage him or her to eat the healthy foods that can go with dip. Many children love ranch dip, bean dip, hummus, and mild salsa. Sending a small container of dip along with vegetables or fruit cut into bite size pieces is a great accompaniment to any lunch.

Dip Recipes Round up dips that my kids love (and can help make):

Pink Princess Dip:

1/4 c. Plain yogurt

¼ c. Strawberries and/or raspberries, pureed

1 tbs. lemon juice

Mix well and send in a small container with a “fruit wand” as a great lunch side dish.

Green Slime Dip:

2 tbs. Plain yogurt

2 tbs. Sour cream

½ c. cooked spinach

1 tsp. garlic

dash of salt & pepper

Saute spinach in a non-stick pan with garlic for about 3 minutes, adding a tablespoon of water to the spinach to help it wilt. When the spinach cools, either puree or finely chop it (depending how your child feels about the texture of the dip). Mix spinach & garlic with the remaining ingredients. This dip is great with vegetable sticks, like carrots & celery.

Avocado Dip:

1 whole avocado, mashed

1 tbs. lemon juice

1 tbs. sour cream

dash of salt & pepper

Mix well and serve with veggies or crackers.

Overall, what has worked for me, as the mother of two young kids - one a reformed picky eater - is trying to offer a variety of healthy choices and making food fun for the kids. I sometimes think of myself as a marketing expert for the food I offer my kids. Using creative packaging and shapes, along with involving the kids in the shopping, preparing, and cooking process as much as possible have helped encourage their healthy appetites and made meal times an enjoyable family experience. Teaching healthy eating habits at home at an early age prepares children to make good decisions when they are faced with eating lunch independently at school.

Kimberly is the Portland Early Childhood Parenting columnist for examiner.com. You can find more of her articles on parenting and feeding the family, and this one on healthy snacking, here. For more from Kimberly read her blogging about her family adventures here.