Back
to school - Back to work - healthy lunch box ideas
A good
and healthy lunch is essential to ensure your child’s energy
and concentration
levels are kept in check throughout the long school day, and possibly
even for
after school. The basic healthy lunchbox should look like this:
Sandwich with a healthy filling
Choose whole-grain, low GI breads
and provide a fun yet healthy filling. Use wraps or pitas to be
different. For
younger children, cut bread into four smaller triangles or squares. Go
easy on
sandwich fillings that will make bread soggy and thus less likely to be
eaten. Some
examples of fillings include:
-
Peanut butter and sliced banana
-
Grated carrots and/ or pineapple mixed with
cottage cheese
-
Tuna mayo with crunchy onion
-
Avo and cooked chicken (from the previous
night’s dinner)
-
Low fat cream cheese and strawberries
Tip
Layer lettuce between the sandwich
filling and bread slice to prevent sogginess.
Fruit
Peeled
and pre-cut fruits make for easy and fuss free eating. Offer an
easy-to-peel
whole fruit like apple, banana, and naartjies.
-
Dice larger fruits like oranges into
wedges. Dust with cinnamon.
-
Cut apples and pears into cubes or wedges
and drizzle with lemon juice to prevent browning.
-
Make colourful mini fruit kebabs or fruit
salad.
-
Small fruits like berries are great to
nibble on.
Snacks
-
Dried fruit
-
Nuts and raisins mix (unsalted)
-
Lean biltong
-
Vegetable crudités with a hummus or
yoghurt
-
Small tub of yoghurt
-
Drinking yoghurt
-
Pieces of cheese
Water
Provide
a sturdy bottle with fresh water. Freeze overnight in the hot summer
months,
and teach your child to fill up during the day if he/she gets thirsty.
Other tips
Stock up the cupboards with containers of
different sizes.
With a packed lunch, your child has no
choice but to eat what is offered. Buy a colourful and exciting lunch
box.
Limit sweet treats like chocolates, sweets
and muffins to once weekly, for example, on a Friday or the day of a
test. Try
placing a marshmallow at each end of the fruit skewer to ensure fruits
are eaten
with the treat.
Don’t forget to pack utensils if
needed.
Keep a few plastic spoons and forks handy.
Keep servings small. Lunch time at schools
is often no more than 30 minutes, and teachers won’t
appreciate your child
eating during class.
On days where your child has extra after
school activities, be sure to pack extra foods.
Lunch for Mom and Dad
The
above mentioned snack and lunch ideas make great lunch box treats for
adults,
too, so make lunch in one go for all family members. However, portion
control
may be of concern to those moms and dads on kilojoule control meal
plans. Some
other snack and lunch options for adults include:
Lunch
o
Open tuna sandwich (go easy on mayo and
rather mix 1T mayo with 2T low-fat plain yoghurt; bulk up with fresh
rocket).
o
Chicken couscous salad (use chicken made
the night before).
o
Bean wrap (mix ½ cup tinned beans of
choice
with ½ cup diced tomato, onion and fresh parsley mix).
o
Salmon and low-fat/ non-fat cottage cheese
bagel.
o
Tuna pasta salad (go easy on dressings and
drizzle with lemon juice, balsamic vinegar and black pepper instead).
o
Parmaham and mozzarella sandwich.
Snacks
o
Fruit:
-
1 apple/ orange/ peach/ small banana/ pear
-
4 apricots
-
2/3 cup fruit salad
-
17 grapes
-
1 slice watermelon
-
1 cup strawberries/ melon
-
½ mango
-
¾ cup blackberries, blueberries or
raspberries
o
1 slice whole-grain bread with 2T low fat
cottage cheese (finely diced 2t dried pears or apricots and mix into
cottage
cheese, if desired)
o
¼ cup dried fruit
o
30g lean biltong strips
o
Dipped crudités: 1 cup baby corn,
baby
carrots, mange touts, sugar snaps, celery sticks dipped into 1.3 cup
low-fat
hummus, tsatsiki, yoghurt or apple sauce
o
3 Provitas with ¼ cup low-fat
cottage
cheese (garnish with basil or coriander and black pepper)
o
Smoothie: mix ½ cup strawberries
with 1
small banana and 1 cup low-fat milk or yoghurt.
Article
written by Monique
dos Santos (RD)SA
on behalf of
Lynne van Zyl Dieticians - the
network of dieticians
