Finding ideas to put in your kids’ lunch boxes that are healthy, interesting, and affordable can be a challenge. Many children see healthy as boring, and would rather not eat at all. You need to find alternative ways to serve healthy food, ensuring that your children not only eat the foods, but enjoy them as well.
There are plenty of different things that you can do with foods to ensure that your children love the foods that they are served. You will want to ensure that your child has a healthy balanced lunch that will not bore them, and that they will ask for again.
Provide your children with foods that give them energy, and help to stimulate their brains for the rest of the day. If they eat the wrong foods at lunchtime, they will be tired and lethargic for the remaining hours of the day. Including carbohydrates, proteins, fruits and vegetables may seem daunting, however, if you plan the lunch carefully you can include all of the foods they need.
To encourage healthier eating, think about the way that you serve the foods, and the names you give them.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Use Food Colorings
Fillings should be healthy as well as fun and colorful to make them more appealing.
Get Creative with Fruit
Cubing and balling fruits looks far more appealing than simply slicing them. Adding yogurt to the fruit will give it a new dimension that kids will love. Let your children choose what fruits they want to eat, and allow them to make their own fruit kebabs. The more you can involve children with preparing and cooking foods, the more likely they are to eat them.
Fun Shapes
White bread can be replaced with whole wheat bread or wraps, ensuring that they do not eat too much processed bread. When making your children’s sandwiches try cutting them into fun shapes. There are no rules when it comes to preparing your children’s lunches. If they are excited about what shape their sandwiches will be in today it makes the whole process of eating lunch fun. Even a plain cheese sandwich is far more interesting to eat when it is in the shape of a dinosaur.
Make Finger Foods
Finger foods are ideal for children, and giving them a selection of different finger foods is ideal. You can place them in their own container in their lunchboxes. Larger items, such as pizzas and quiche, look more inviting in bite-sized pieces.
Fun Names
Allowing your child to come up with the creative names for their lunch will encourage them to eat it. Any food can be turned into an exciting new item like Ants-in-Logs or Cheesy Heads. Letting your children use their imaginations can create a vast array of new lunch ideas.
Be creative when planning and choosing the foods to go in your children’s lunchbox. If you are excited about the different things that they have for lunch you will be more creative. Alongside the food you need to ensure that you pack a drink that is healthy, and will keep them hydrated. Fizzy drinks should be avoided, but juices, water and smoothies are ideal.
