Making sure our kids eat a nutritious lunch at school while also filling their bellies to make it through the day can sometimes feel overwhelming. Some days we barely have time to make dinner and then we also have to think about packing lunch for the day.
Here are some tips and tricks to making sure packing lunch is less stressful and healthier for your kids!
Pack what they’ll eat! Kids are more likely to eat their lunches at school when you pack things they like (even if it means packing the same thing every day!).
Include them in the process of picking out a main food (pasta, sandwich, turkey rolls, dinner leftovers etc.) and include a fruit and veggie. Keep it simple and ready to eat. And yes, you can pack a small treat for them without it completely derailing their healthy lunch.
Eat the rainbow! Try to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. It doesn’t always have to be green to be healthy. There is a whole rainbow out there of options that taste good, are good for you and pack well in a lunch.
Model healthy eating habits - let your kids see you eating a balanced diet at meal times. Kids watch us all the time and are learning from our behaviors. If we are chowing down a packaged protein bar and calling it breakfast then our kids will begin to think that’s what a meal is.
One change at a time-I always suggest that the women I work with change their eating habits one at a time. Going all in and buying massive quantities of vegetables and expecting to eat them all before they go bad is setting up for failure. Make a goal each week, such as preparing and packing two vegetables for lunches, and stick to it. Once you do it for a few weeks it becomes like clockwork and packing those veggies in the kids lunches is so much easier.
For more information head to JackieVega.com
Grab our Back to School Recipe book with some great ideas for healthy foods to pack in your children's lunch boxes.
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