Back to School Lunchbox Tips
We all know it’s stressful enough getting our kids back on routines for the start of school... add in making sure we send them off with well-rounded lunches they’ll actually eat... that’s enough to throw most parents over the edge. Thankfully, we have an expert health coach in the TSG Triad family. Follow these helpful tips from Terri Maultsby and you’ll be sure to please even the pickiest of eaters!
1. Adopt the Rotation Rule – don’t eat the same foods days in a row – variety lays the foundation for liking new food
Eat the rainbow – Aim for 3 colors or more
A new shape can change a child’s experience of the same food – cut the cucumber, carrot, or celery as a stick or a coin
3. Dip and seasoning allow kids to make it theirs (try hummus, seasoned plain Greek yogurt, cinnamon swirled cream cheese, sunflower butter, etc.)
4. Bite size pieces can make it “all gone”
5. Get kids involved in making lunch
6. Give kids choices that keep you in charge of choosing the foods available and give them the power to choose how it is served – for example, would you rather have Mexican style rice bowl or Asian style rice bowl.
7. Try a theme for the day – anything goes - from foods that grow in Greensboro, to foods that are round, to foods that Pirates eat, or whatever captures your kid’s imagination!
8. Focus on quality versus quantity
9. Talk about “growing foods” and “sometimes foods”
10. Remember, it can take up to 10 tastings for children to enjoy new foods
11 .Keep the basic building blocks for packable lunches in your fridge, freezer, and pantry:
Sunflower butter, hummus, tahini, cream cheese, Greek yogurt, or other spreads and dips dense with nutrition
Bananas, apples, oranges, grapes, berries
Cheese and Meat slices or cubes – mix it up and buy different ones to encourage expanding kids’ palates
Carrots, cucumbers, snow peas, sweet bell peppers, celery
Chick peas, black beans, kidney beans, cannellini beans
Whole grain pasta in different shapes
Whole grain tortillas, wraps, or crackers
12. Go big with your menu! Choose a fairly big number such as 50 or 100 and let kids record lunches and count toward that many different lunchbox combinations. You don’t need 100 unique ingredients, but you’ll encourage them to explore with more variety, seeking new combinations of familiar foods. It’s a great real world math application, too!
13. Use a clear reusable water bottle and drop a few pieces of frozen fruit in the water to help keep it cold and change its appearance from day to day.
|| Terri Maultsby is a certified health coach and owner of Think Eat Grow, a business committed to educating others about eating good food, moving everyday and practicing mindfulness all with today’s demanding schedules and busy lives in perspective.
