How do I make school lunches healthy for my kids?
Sending the kids back to school in the fall is a joy for most parents! The only problem is with sending them to school comes the responsibility of packing lunches each morning. It would be easy to throw a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, tortilla chip and a piece of fruit into a bag, but if you have picky kids like mine, that won’t fly.
One likes sandwiches, the other likes frozen tacos, and one will eat pasta leftovers and the other hates turkey. At 6:00 am being a short order cook is not fun! Here are some easy, quick and healthy lunch ideas. Make sure to have a good thermos, reusable Tupperware and ice packs.
- Cold Pasta Salad (pasta, cheese, chicken breast, broccoli, tomato, corn and balsamic vinaigrette dressing)
- Chicken or steak quesadillas (use leftover’s from dinner)
- Teriyaki chicken or salmon, rice and broccoli
- Bagel, lox and cream cheese with tomato and cucumber slices
- Carrots, cucumbers and ranch dressing
- Hummus, carrots and pita chips
- Veggie sushi rolls and edamame
- Pizza bagels
- Chicken or tuna salad with grapes and crackers
- Chicken Caesar Salad
- Chips and guacamole
- Turkey chili
- Apple slices and peanut butter
- Trader Joes frozen burritos, mini tacos or taquitos
- Nut butter and banana sandwich
- Egg salad sandwich
- Turkey and avocado roll-up sandwiches
Don’t forget to always include snacks like fresh fruit and veggies, whole grain tortilla chips, mixed nuts or pretzels. Good luck – and for some only 284 days until summer vacation!
HAPPY PACKING!
