Creative lunchbox ideas for a nutritious school year

Packing a nutritious lunch can make all the difference in a child’s school day, and Shannon O’Meara, a registered dietitian with Orlando Health, offers fresh ideas for school lunch boxes this year. O’Meara suggests making a healthy version of a pinwheel as a great alternative to a sandwich.”You always want to start with a whole grain for kids,” O’Meara said. “It’s really important that we want to make sure they get enough fiber within their diet.”For those who prefer not to use tortillas, whole wheat bread is a fine substitute. O’Meara suggests adding light mayo for stickiness, spinach for color, low-fat cheese, and lower-sodium deli meat. Other protein options include banana with peanut butter or a breakfast-for-lunch style box with pancakes, turkey sausage, and maple syrup for dipping.”Well, we really want to make sure that the kids are getting enough protein within their diet, just so it helps keep them full throughout the rest of the school day,” O’Meara said. “We want to make sure they’re getting in plenty of fruits and vegetables.”These can often be lacking in school lunches that include more processed foods.A bento box is recommended for portion sizing, allowing parents to fill it with a variety of foods. O’Meara said, highlighting the colorful options available.”You could already see there’s a whole bunch of color just by adding a combination of two things,” O’Meara said.Dessert can be included in moderation, with cookies cut up and prepped for the box. “This is a great way of teaching our kids appropriate portion sizes and eating things in moderation,” O’Meara said. “So, I even have cookies here already cut up and prepped that we can put them into our box. It’s not going to go in the biggest square in the box, but they’re still going to have it and get that nice sweet treat.””And then our last spot that we have is for our vegetables,” O’Meara said. “So we can either do cucumber sticks with some bell pepper sticks, or we can make a cucumber and tomato salad. Oh, I like the cucumber sticks and bell pepper sticks, alright.”With the quick addition of dipping sauce and an ice pack, the lunchbox is ready to go.”This is great because it contains all of the food groups that we’re looking for,” O’Meara said. “It contains our whole grains, our lean proteins, a low-fat dairy, which is important in getting in calcium and helping our bones grow. We also have a whole bunch of vegetables.”O’Meara says the most important tip for parents is to keep the ideas simple and use the first few weeks of school as a test run for different lunchbox options.”Try to avoid things packed and added with sugar,” O’Meara said. “So, if you got a canned fruit, that’s a great option. It’s a lot more economical, but let’s not get it packed in syrup. Let’s get it packed in 100% fruit juice.””If you find something that works, I totally understand it’s a great feeling, but try not to do it every single day,” O’Meara said. “So try to mix things up as much as you can. Maybe keep a good rotation of about 10 meals.”

Packing a nutritious lunch can make all the difference in a child’s school day, and Shannon O’Meara, a registered dietitian with Orlando Health, offers fresh ideas for school lunch boxes this year.

O’Meara suggests making a healthy version of a pinwheel as a great alternative to a sandwich.

“You always want to start with a whole grain for kids,” O’Meara said. “It’s really important that we want to make sure they get enough fiber within their diet.”

For those who prefer not to use tortillas, whole wheat bread is a fine substitute. O’Meara suggests adding light mayo for stickiness, spinach for color, low-fat cheese, and lower-sodium deli meat.

Other protein options include banana with peanut butter or a breakfast-for-lunch style box with pancakes, turkey sausage, and maple syrup for dipping.

“Well, we really want to make sure that the kids are getting enough protein within their diet, just so it helps keep them full throughout the rest of the school day,” O’Meara said. “We want to make sure they’re getting in plenty of fruits and vegetables.”

These can often be lacking in school lunches that include more processed foods.

A bento box is recommended for portion sizing, allowing parents to fill it with a variety of foods.

O’Meara said, highlighting the colorful options available.

“You could already see there’s a whole bunch of color just by adding a combination of two things,” O’Meara said.

Dessert can be included in moderation, with cookies cut up and prepped for the box.

“This is a great way of teaching our kids appropriate portion sizes and eating things in moderation,” O’Meara said. “So, I even have cookies here already cut up and prepped that we can put them into our box. It’s not going to go in the biggest square in the box, but they’re still going to have it and get that nice sweet treat.”

“And then our last spot that we have is for our vegetables,” O’Meara said. “So we can either do cucumber sticks with some bell pepper sticks, or we can make a cucumber and tomato salad. Oh, I like the cucumber sticks and bell pepper sticks, alright.”

With the quick addition of dipping sauce and an ice pack, the lunchbox is ready to go.

“This is great because it contains all of the food groups that we’re looking for,” O’Meara said. “It contains our whole grains, our lean proteins, a low-fat dairy, which is important in getting in calcium and helping our bones grow. We also have a whole bunch of vegetables.”

O’Meara says the most important tip for parents is to keep the ideas simple and use the first few weeks of school as a test run for different lunchbox options.

“Try to avoid things packed and added with sugar,” O’Meara said. “So, if you got a canned fruit, that’s a great option. It’s a lot more economical, but let’s not get it packed in syrup. Let’s get it packed in 100% fruit juice.”

“If you find something that works, I totally understand it’s a great feeling, but try not to do it every single day,” O’Meara said. “So try to mix things up as much as you can. Maybe keep a good rotation of about 10 meals.”