If I preach about anything, it’s the importance of balance in the lunch box. Too much of anything isn’t good. It’s the same way I feel about life. A little bit of this and a little bit of that can help keep you centered—and hopefully happy and focused as well. When it comes to what goes into making the “perfect” school lunch, balance is key. Put a fruit, vegetable, protein, and carbohydrate into your child’s lunch box every day, and you’ve done your job. If we parents can focus on consistently providing our kids with nutritious foods and getting them excited about eating them, time will do the rest of the work. You can’t ask for much more.
No matter what else I send my kids to school with, the fruit always disappears. I’m a big fan of buying fruit in season, so every few months my kids are revisited by old favorites they haven’t eaten in a year. Aside from tasting better than their counterparts flown in out of season from thousands of miles away, buying in season is good for the environment, and if you buy local, it helps support your local economy. View Mother Nature as your best friend when it comes to keeping your lunch rotation fresh, rather than boring and repetitive. Look forward to apples, pears, pomegranates, and oranges in the fall and winter and apricots and blueberries in spring. Even if your child only loves strawberries, in January they won’t be as fresh and delicious and nutritious as those grown during the summer, and they’ll generally be grown far outside the United States and sprayed with chemicals. Furthermore, a variety of colorful fruits in lunch not only brightens up the meal and gives you that much needed visual appeal (see “Sight,” but also adds a ton of valuable nutrients to your child’s meal.
Instead of sliced melon (which is perfectly fine, by the way!), use a baller to make fun, bite-size melon balls.
Add two fruits to your child’s lunch instead of just one to give your lunch box layout even more eye appeal. Never underestimate how seductive a colorful lunch can be to kids.
Regional differences in climate obviously mean that the seasons can feel very different depending on where you live, but you can find out what fruits and vegetables are in season when and what’s available near you by visiting www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/seasonalcooking/farmtotable/seasonalingredientmap or http://cuesa.org/page/seasonal-foods
Buy fruit in small batches so you can change things up every few days and you’re not just sending an apple a day, every day (I promise the doctor won’t be offended and will likely be even happier with you for offering a wide array of fruits!).
Be brave and buy a fruit your kids have never tried before. Years ago I put dragon fruit in Kenya’s lunch and it made him the most popular kid in class on account of the color (it’s purple), novelty, and name (I mean, could kids get more excited about dragons?). I buy it all the time now—at both of my kids’ insistence—and am guaranteed to always have at least one mom come up to me the next day saying that their child came home talking about wanting to get the purple fruit from Kenya’s or Chloe’s lunch.
Before you tell me your kids hate all vegetables and ask why you should waste your time packing them in your child’s lunch box if they’re not going to be eaten, I have a few suggestions for you:
Simply changing the shape of a vegetable can shift the way your child perceives it. Try cutting it into sticks, coins (my kids love the concept of edible “coins“), batons, or whatever else strikes your fancy. It makes it look a bit different from what they are accustomed to and can go a long way toward taking the stigma off of many a veggie.
Much to my surprise, I’ve found that most kids love raw vegetables, especially if you include a flavorful dip alongside them. But if you have kids who don’t, roasting and steaming are great ways to transform the texture, flavor, and appearance of veggies kids may be averse to.
Let your kids use a shaker! I keep shakers of sesame seeds and Gomasio and various salt-free seasonings, such as Spike, in my spice drawer to transform ho-hum steamed broccoli into something really special. I find the easy action of allowing kids to “personalize” their food and become an active participant in the preparation of their meal gets them to buy in and eat it.
Instead of reaching for the salt shaker to enhance the flavor of food, I’m a big fan of Bragg’s Liquid Aminos. You can find it at most groceries and health food stores, and it comes in a spray (a fun mealtime prop and great for fine motor skills) and a squirt bottle. It tastes just like soy sauce, but is a certified non-GMO liquid protein concentrate that contains sixteen amino acids—and it’s gluten-free!
Dip, dip, dip! When you add a nutrient-rich dip next to a serving of veggies, everything changes. It becomes an interactive experience for kids and one that most totally love.
Let your kids decide. Take them to the grocery store or farmers’ market, let them choose any three vegetables they want, and put them into the mealtime rotation. Sometimes their choice may surprise you.
Don’t throw away the pickle juice! This is one of my favorite veggie tips. Add cut up raw cucumbers, carrots, radishes, and/or cauliflower to what juice remains in the jar from your store-bought pickles. It adds a ton more flavor and novelty to veggies.
Protein is one of the body’s main building blocks for muscle, bone, and skin, and it gives kids plenty of stamina and energy. Making sure your child’s lunch contains a protein doesn’t mean you have to provide him with a big slab of beef. In fact, I would say that eight out of ten lunches I make for my kids contain no meat at all. Simply figure out which foods that your child enjoys fall under the category.
Chicken, canned tuna (albacore and skipjack only, for lowest mercury content), and nitrate-free turkey and ham are staples in my kitchen and can be used in everything from paninis to pastas to salads. For kids who like to eat with their hands, cubes of turkey and ham can be fun, or pop them on Sandwich on a Stick.
Cheese is a great source of protein to keep on hand. A few of my favorites are cottage cheese, Cheddar, Babybel, and mozzarella.
Yogurt can be served with granola, fruit, or on its own for a protein that feels more like dessert than the main course of a meal, which kids of course love. I generally use plain Greek yogurt because it has more protein and less sugar.
Nuts and nut butters (if permitted at your child’s school;) and seeds and seed butters (sesame, pumpkin, or sunflower) are fantastic as sandwich spreads or mixed into a recipe.
Combined, beans and rice (one of my daughter’s weekly favorites) create a complete protein.
Hard-boiled eggs are in our fridge at all times as a quick protein pick-me-up.
Seitan (wheat gluten) is a wonderful vegan option that can be mixed with an array of spices to taste just like meat and added to stir-fries, salads, and sandwiches.
Quinoa is an unexpected powerhouse of whole-grain protein and an excellent replacement for pasta and rice in many dishes.
If your kids are anything like mine, it’s all about the carbs. But there’s a big difference between fiber-, vitamin-, and mineral-rich complex carbohydrates that will give your kids energy, and simple carbohydrates generally made with refined sugars, which will leave them dragging. I do my best to focus on brown carbs instead of white ones—things like whole-grain breads, whole-grain pastas, brown rice, quinoa, and oats—but a good pretzel roll, or pizza now and then is nice, too, to switch things up. I also like Mochi by Grainaissance, a bake and serve brown rice snack that comes in a variety of flavors and is wheat- and gluten-free.
