It’s that
time of year again! The hustle and
bustle of finding school supplies and shopping for new school clothes! The days of sleeping in, late breakfasts are
slowly coming to an end and days of chaos and scrambling to get the kids out
the door are upon us.
With a
little bit of preparation and planning we can start this school year on the
right foot especially when it comes to the dreaded packing lunches.
School aged children (grade 1 to high school) may eat more than 2,400
lunches in their lifetime.
That's a lot of lunches!
Start by getting your lunch routine started before the children go back
to school!
o Make
sure you have a supply of sandwich bags, food containers, thermos’s, reusable
water bottles, lunch kits all in a designated area in the kitchen
o Ask
your children to come up with ideas that they might want to have for lunches
o Sit
down as a family and have them come up with the meal plan for lunches for the
week. This will help you to be able to
create a grocery list to streamline your next grocery trip
Recruit some help
o
Children and youth are more likely to try new
foods and eats whats in the lunch if they help prepare it
o Involving
children as early as possible in the meal preparation and planning to promote
long term healthy eating and lifestyle skills
o
Make it fun – use food as a teaching tool for
colours, texture and shapes and even where it comes from, textures
Get Organized
On the weekends or in the evenings try
to prep some lunch items for the whole week
o
Have vegetables washed, cut and divided into
bags/containers
o
Have fruit washed, cut and divided and laid out
in an area where you can see – clear containers in the fridge
o
Have milk and water frozen. This way you can use them as a freezer pack
to keep foods cool till lunch time!
o
Pack the lunches the night before to alleviate
the stress in the morning rush
o
For tips on keeping your lunches safe please
refer to:
Food Safety
o
Have a visible calendar with the lunches so
everyone knows whats on the menu and anyone in the family can start putting
them together
Think outside the sandwich!!
o
Lunches often get repetitive after a couple
weeks or so especially if there is no plan in place.
Creativity and planning can take out the
stress and decrease the amount of protests.
o
Children and Youth should be getting at least 3
out of the 4 food groups per meal
o
Check out websites, child friendly cookbooks,
social media outlet: Pinterest, Facebook,Twitter, Instagram, etc.
Whole Grains
|
Fruits and Vegetables
|
Meat and Meat Alternatives
|
Milk and Milk Alternatives
|
Tortilla
|
Cut up vegetables
|
Egg/tuna
|
Milk
|
Pita
|
Cut up vegetables
|
Leftover chicken/pork/fish
|
Cheese
|
Mini bagel
|
Cut up fruit slices
|
Hard boiled egg/cream cheese
|
Yoghurt
|
Dinner roll
|
Fruit
|
Chili
|
Milk
|
Tortilla
|
Peppers/tomatoes/onions/salsa
|
Black beans/egg
|
Cheese
|
Crackers
|
Banana
|
Peanut butter or nut free pea butter
|
Yoghurt
|
|
|
|
|
Be careful of impostors
o
Prepackaged lunch items (snack packs)
are often low in fibre, low in fruits and vegetables, high salt, highly
processed meats and expensive
o
Teaching your children how to pack a healthy
lunch, involving them in the process and being a good role model are great ways
to incorporate healthy eating as a whole family
o
Avoid sending “treats” –
·
Try making their day with a note, colourful
napkins, stickers, food cut into special shapes
·
Treats do not fall within Canada’s food guide
and therefore replaces other important food groups required for healthy
development and energy growing children need
Don’t forget about hydration
o
Normal Physical Activity Guidelines for children
and youth are 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a day. Water and white milk are adequate to maintain
proper hydration.
§
Limit 100% unsweetened fruit juice to no more
that ½ cup a day (avoid fruit beverages, punches, cocktails).
§
Sports drinks may be required if your children
are engaged in competitive training over and beyond the 60 minutes physical
activity guidelines.
§
For more
information on why to limit juice and other age appropriate beverages please
refer to
Sugary Drink Sense
Following these tips and getting a jump on the school routine early,
the 2,400 dreaded lunches will be one less thing to worry about and off your
list!
Andrea Shackel is a Registered Dietitian at the
Leduc Beaumont Devon Primary Care Network.
As a result of technological advances, activity in daily
life is decreasing at a substantial rate.
Modern conveniences such as remote controls, video games, electronic
devices and even drive thru restaurants are all contributing to increasing
sedentary lifestyles. However, as
parents we can set a good example for sustaining an active lifestyle. 
