(Family Features) It’s a dilemma parents all over the country face – how to come up with healthy lunches kids will actually eat.
The first step is to get the kids involved in planning. They are much more likely to eat foods they choose and help make themselves.
Terese Allen, Organic Valley food editor, suggests establishing a theme for each day of the school week. “You’ll save thinking cap time if Monday is soup day, Tuesday is sandwich day, and so on,” she says. “Keep a file of recipes for each day’s theme, and on the weekend select one from each file for the week ahead.”
Try to include fiber-loaded fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts, calcium-rich dairy products and lean proteins. “Add in things like roasted nuts, yogurt cups, corn chips and salsa, veggies and dip, and pretzels and barbecue sauce,” says Allen. “And don’t forget ready-to-eat edibles, such as Organic Valley Stringles cheese sticks, or beef jerky and deli slices from Organic Prairie. Single-serve milks from Organic Valley are a good addition, too – since they’re shelf-stable you don’t have to worry about refrigeration.”
A daily theme, a homemade main dish and no-fuss sides: the result? Wholesome lunches and happy kids. For more healthy lunch ideas and recipes, visit www.organicvalley.coop.
Lunch Money
by Terese Allen for Organic Valley
Instead of giving them cash to buy junk food, give them coins they can actually eat—that is, offer a balanced meal of round, coin-shaped edibles.
Cucumber slices
Green or yellow zucchini slices
Thick asparagus spears, blanched and cut crosswise
Broccoli stems, peeled and slice into rounds
Sliced radishes
Carrot coins
Organic Prairie Hot Dogs, cooked, cooled and cut into rounds
Organic Prairie Italian Chicken Sausage or Bratwurst, cooked, cooled and cut into rounds
Organic Prairie Pepperoni
Sliced dried bananas
Dried apricots
Fruit leather, cut into rounds
Sliced kiwi
Organic Valley Stringles, cut crosswise into rounds
Organic Valley deli sliced cheese
Oyster crackers
Small, round pretzels
Small, round corn tortilla chips
Round ravioli, cooked and cooled
Garbanzo beans*
Let your child choose his or her favorites from the array of finger foods above. Pack the little piles of “coins” into a rectangular container to make a lunch-size treasure chest.
*Call these “gold nuggets” instead of coins–and offer nuggets in other colors, too (think peas, blueberries, grapes, etc.)
Courtesy of Family Features
