Feb

Healthy Lunchboxes

Is it possible to get your child to take a healthy lunch to school and actually eat it?

Some five million children’s lunchboxes are prepared in British homes every weekday, yet a Food Standards Agency (FSA) survey revealed that three quarters of these were less than healthy.

They tended to contain foods that were too high in saturated fat, salt or sugar.

The same survey indicated that 45% of these lunches failed to include any fruit. Unsurprisingly, most included crisps, chocolate, biscuits and sugary drinks.

Making the same lunches day in and day out for your children can be torturous for all of you.

With a little creativity and collaboration you can make lunches that your children will enjoy and that can be considered healthy.

I do recommend you involve them in the process of changing their lunches though – you can always rely on children to be honest about their opinions.

If you are introducing something new to children, they will be suspicious and it may take three or four attempts to get them to try it. It is important thing that you try and you keep trying.

A sandwich is still the quickest and easiest thing to put in a lunch box.

However, there is nothing worse than a soggy sandwich or having the same one over and over again. According to the FSA survey, 85% of children had a sandwich in their lunch box – the most common being 2 slices of white bread with ham.

Here are some ideas to make sandwiches a bit more interesting.

Vary the breads: whole grain whole wheat sliced bread, pittas, mini bagels, tortillas, small dinner rolls, English muffins, flat breads or naan. Check the label for 2 grams or more of fibre per serving.

Vary the spreads: light mayonnaise, mustard, salsa, hummus, tzaziki, peanut butter, chutney or teriyaki sauce. Imagine the tasty combinations!

Vary the fillings: peanut butter and sliced apples, peanut butter and banana egg salad with tomato, salmon with teriyaki sauce and baby spinach, tuna salad, turkey, ham, roast beef, hummus with grated carrots, refried beans with salsa and grated cheese or leftover stir fry in a wrap.

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