Healthy, Cost-Effective Tips for Packing School Lunches

This is a guest blog written by Andrew Kronmeyer, R.D., L.D., a clinical dietitian at Carroll Hospital.

As a LifeBridge Health dietitian and father of a school-aged son, I understand the struggle of trying to pack a healthy lunch for kids. Despite my being a National School Lunch Program advocate, my son occasionally likes to pack his own lunch, whether it's because he wants something different, wants control over what he eats, or is trying to fit in with his friends.

A successfully packed school lunch, however, should be cost-effective, packed efficiently and, above all, nutritious. Here are some tips you may find helpful when preparing school lunches for your child:

• Consider buying in bulk and packaging your own items, especially if you plan to pack for multiple kids and/or multiple days of the week. Individually packed items are usually expensive and contain much less for the price. Check for sales and coupons for items at local supermarkets or consider a bulk warehouse membership. Compare the unit prices of your most used items and purchase the best value.




• To pack efficiently, use plastic baggies or reusable small containers, which can be used with an insulated lunch box. You can also purchase compartment containers to easily prepare multiple lunches at a time. Strongly consider reusable containers, especially if you pack lunches several times a week. When packing foods that need to be kept cool, consider freezing the beverage (i.e., a bottle of water or 100 percent fruit) or tubed yogurt and having it serve as an ice pack.




• As for nutrition, variation and color is most important. Try to include items from most of the major food groups most days of the week. Fruit is usually a child favorite, but vegetables are often omitted from packed lunches. To help overcome this, consider adding to the child's lunch a carrot or celery sticks with peanut butter. A cucumber, beet slices with hummus, baby peppers and ranch dressing, and avocado are also good veggie choices. You can even try dehydrating your own garbanzo beans.

Almost any fruit can be sliced or packed whole. Protein can include hard boiled eggs, deli or home cooked meats, cheese sticks or cubes, nut or seed butters, or yogurt/milk. Grains are plentiful and contained in breads, popcorn, crackers, pretzels or rice cakes. Often, your protein and grains are combined, like in a chicken pita wrap, lunch meat pinwheel, egg salad on a mini bagel or a delicious home cooked leftover.

If you want to include an extra treat, your options are endless. Consider baking with your child one evening and freezing what you don't eat in the first several days (banana bread, blueberry muffin, oatmeal cookies, etc.) so they can be included with school lunches. Freeze dried or dehydrated fruit can make the best fruit snack, but make sure to check the vitamin content as some water-soluble vitamins may be lost during processing, so you want to see if it's been fortified to add them back in. Even consider a homemade granola bar, chocolate dipped fruit or trail mix.

The more you can include your child in the preparation, the more they will enjoy the lunch. Talk about learning a wonderful lifelong skill!