14 Healthy Lunches Your Kids Will Love
One way to ensure that children eat well both at home and elsewhere is to prepare useful lunch boxes for them.
How children learn to eat depends on what we teach them. They need to know from an early age how to make the best choices for good health and growth.
Eating healthy does not mean that you can no longer use yummy recipes. A healthy diet includes healthy recipes based on variety and the right balance between food and nutrients.
Useful lunch boxes for your children
Day 1
- Tortellini pasta salad (cook pasta, add peas and a little pesto )
- Dried fruits
- 1 peach
Day 2
- Cottage cheese and jam sandwich with a sweet cinnamon bun. Add some grapes.
- 1 mandarin
Day 3
- Wholemeal sandwich with peanut butter and banana
- Fruit yogurt with low fat content
- Red grapes
Day 4
- Soup (with skinless chicken, pasta or noodles, peas and carrot)
- Wholemeal biscuits
- Raspberry
Day 5
- Chicken rolls: wrap grilled chicken breasts and carrots in iceberg lettuce leaves.
- Popcorn
- 1 mandarin
Day 6
- Sandwich with grilled chicken or turkey and salad
- Fresh grapes
- Popcorn
Day 7
- Vegetable roll in corn tortilla. Add the baby’s favorite ingredients.
- 1 medium-sized apple
Day 8
- Wholemeal bread with hard-boiled eggs, grilled cherry tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and a little olive oil. Add a large piece of melon to the side.
Day 9
- Burrito with roasted chicken, peas, cherry tomatoes and corn tortilla. Add slices of fresh watermelon to the side.
Day 10
- Chicken salad: pieces of chicken, mayonnaise, salad and cucumber. Add guacamole or tomato sauce to taste. Also pack an orange.
Day 11
- Brown rice with chili beef
- Tortilla chips or nachos
- Green grapes
Day 12
- Toast with chicken and cheddar cheese
- Popcorn
- 1 medium-sized apple
Day 13
- Low sodium ham in pita bread with pieces of squash, carrot and vinaigrette
- Blueberry
- 80 grams of dark chocolate
Day 14
- Wholemeal bread with salad, tomato, turkey or bacon, and mayonnaise
- Carrot or celery sticks with sauce
- 1 pear
Tips for preparing healthy lunch boxes
Find the balance
Balance is the key to healthy lunch boxes, so make sure there is a little bit of each food group on the menu every day. A lunch should include carbohydrates, protein, vegetables, fruits and a healthy source of fat.
You can not always add everything to a single meal, but try to cover all food groups most days. In this way, your child gets all the energy and nutrition he needs.
Give them val
You are the adult and always have the last word. But you can also give your child a choice by making a list of useful lunch boxes and letting the child choose between them.
Also live as you learn: if you ask your children to make healthy choices at lunchtime, you should do the same.
Make sure the containers are child-friendly
This is especially true for the youngest children. Make sure they have no problem opening the lunch box or any container inside.
When buying a lunch box, have your child try it on to make sure it can be opened without any problems.
Get them to help prepare lunch
If you have time, ask the children to join in and make their own lunches. When they are involved in cooking and food preparation, they learn to feel more independent while developing healthier eating habits.
In time, they will learn to eat the food that is best for them and follow what you teach them.
Teach them to follow a routine
When your children are in school, you can not tell them what to do and when to do it, but what you can do is establish a clear routine at home, which they can also apply in other places outside the home.
Show them that meals are only for eating and that play can turn around in a few minutes.
Try to avoid processed foods with artificial ingredients in your children’s lunch boxes. Swap flavored soft drinks for natural juices and avoid both sweets and chocolate.
