Ready For School?

Lunch is am important meal during the day. Whether you are young or old, you need to eat. Your need for nutritious meals does not decrease in importance proportionate to your age. The packed lunch, therefore, needs to be healthy and nutritious. Many children do not automatically know what foods are good for them, so children could be included in planning and preparing their lunches. You can teach your children to assist you and give you ideas about what they like, how much they can eat and what their friends have in their lunches. By including children when packing their lunches, you can teach them how to plan and how to prepare a good lunch as well as teach them good hygiene in the kitchen.

You need to plan a good lunch. If your time is limited, you might try to plan or prepare the lunch while preparing the evening meal. Sometimes “planned-overs” are great for lunches. Planning and preparing lunches with your children gives you quality time together, gives children a positive attitude to lunches and encourages them to eat healthy food. It is a good investment of time in your children’s future and good health.

A good lunch should include food that is, nutritious, satisfying, and tasty, It should be wrapped so it will fit into the school bag easily.

Something Nutritious

Try to include a piece of fruit in your child’s lunch and limit the fat content of the sandwich or salad. Prepare a good meal to provide energy.

Something Satisfying

A lunch includes two functions. It can provide a snack and a main meal. It is important to provide lunches which your children will eat and which they can eat during the time allotted to them. Snacks are important as they, too, provide the energy children need during the long school day. If your child does not eat much, it is important that you think about how much nutrition you are providing your child..

Something Tasty

Do not forget a dessert. Fruits and breads which contain fruit, spice or nuts are both tasty and nutritious.

If possible, wrap the lunch and put it in a box or other container. If you have containers in various sizes, it is easy to put the “planned overs” in them after dinner or in the evening to reduce the hectic schedule in the morning. Salads, fruit, or breads can be wrapped and still look good when children open their lunch boxes. You can prepare the lunch in the evening and keep it in the refrigerator over night if it is wrapped and in a container ready for the school bag. Do not forget the napkins and straws for small drinks, as well as plastic spoons and/or forks and knives when necessary.

Home-made bread and rolls are also an excellent and tasty idea for sandwiches. It is better not to cut the rolls if you freeze them before you put them in the freezer. Sometimes they dry out too fast when you defrost them.

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