Packing Nutritious Lunch Boxes for Kids Does not have to be intimidating!
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My boys started preschool when they were 3. At first I panicked about what to pack in their lunch boxes! It had to be easy for them to eat on their own, as no one would feed them. It had to be attractive and fun. And it had to be nutritious!
So I brainstormed and made a plan. It was simple. I basically wanted to make sure that the meal included the following 5 elements (we are vegetarian):
1. Vegetables
2. Fruit
3. Nuts
4. Grains
5. Dairy
I made a list of several options that fall under each category for Breakfast, Lunch and Snack, based on the foods we eat at home (the same could be customized for your dietary needs or what your kids eat). Here is an example (@ age 3) –
Drink a glass of milk and have breakfast at home
Breakfast Ideas
- Mini pancakes + fruit
- Grilled cheese sandwich cut up into 4 + fruit
- Peanut butter/butter and nutella/jam sandwich cut up into 4 + fruit
- Oatmeal parfait – oatmeal + yogurt + fruit
- Cheese, Crackers, Boiled Egg + fruit
- Yogurt parfait – fruit + granola + yogurt
- Apple sauce + graham crackers
Fruit
- 1/2 banana
- few grapes
- few berries
- 2 Apple slices
- orange segments
- pineapple
- seasonal fruit – peaches, persimmon, etc
Nuts
- 3 Almonds (1 for each year. 3 yrs = 3, 4 yrs = 4, and so on)
- 3 walnuts
- Raisins
Lunch and Snacks for School
Send milk to pre-school with lunch
Lunch Ideas
- Pasta with spinach sauce or vegetable sauce + fruits + yogurt
- Mac & Cheese vegetable bites + fruit yogurt
- Ravioli + fruit + yogurt
- Buttered Roti roll + vegetables + yogurt
- Tortilla spread with hummus, rolled, cut into pieces + vegetables + yogurt
- Peanut butter lavash bread pinwheels with banana slices + yogurt
- Dry cooked dal/Rajma/Chole + Rice + vegetables + yogurt
- Peas rice or other vegetable rice + fruit + yogurt
- Idli + vegetables + yogurt
- Mini (spinach or tomato or other veggie) Dosa/adai + fruit + yogurt
- Different shaped dosa (bugs, rounds)
- Cheese and Lettuce Sandwich
- Whole grain english muffin cheese pizza
Cheeses
- Tofu cubes
- Paneer cubes
- Cheese cubes
Vegetables
- Steamed Brocolli
- Steamed Baby Carrots
- Steamed green beans
- Green peas
- Sweet Potatoes
- Roasted Squash
- Edamame
- Celery
- Cherry tomatoes
- Brussel sprouts
- Asparagus
- Avacado
- Cucumber
- Micro greens
Yogurt
- Plain yogurt
- Plain yogurt with berries
- Plain yogurt with banana
- Mango lassi
- Peach lassi
This gave me confidence. Although I may not have packed the meals exactly as listed, whenever I ran out of ideas I could refer to this. And lot many ideas started popping up as I went along. I would take pictures of the Lunch Boxes.
The kids moved to a different preschool when they were about 4. And the new preschool provided breakfast, lunch and snack. We continued feeding them the healthy breakfast which included a variety of fruits, nuts, cheese and some whole grain cereal or pancake or ghee toast or similar along with milk. It is still the routine.
This year they started 1st grade and I’m packing the lunch boxes again. The plan still remains.
My next challenge now is to make foods that are attractive, fun, nutritious, can be eaten quickly (as they run to recess after lunch) and something my 6 year old wont feel shy about when sitting and eating along with his friends. Apparently some kids are not used to the Indian foods and made comments one time. I am thinking of new ideas to make and send the Indian foods in non-traditional ways.
So check out the lunch boxes that I’ll keep adding regularly here!
