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Health & Fitness

What's in that Lunch Box?


It’s Back-2-School Time. What's in your child's lunch?

For a lot of families this also means balancing sports, after school programs and homework. 

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Parents need to be prepared!  Plan ahead and fueling your kids with healthy meals doesn’t have to be difficult. 

-       Pack lunches the day or night before.  Keeping the morning routine as easy as possible will help get everyone out the door, clean, fed and ready for the day. An even better idea is to get the kids into the kitchen with you and pack as many as you can for the week ahead. 

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-       Have plenty of reusable containers on hand.  No need to add baggies to the landfill.

-       Incorporate left-overs.  When clearing the dinner table, store the left-overs in lunch box containers, and get some lunches packed while you are in the kitchen. 

-       Pack WATER with every meal.

Here are some lunch box ideas to get the school year started:

1. Apple sandwich – Almond or Peanut butter between round apple slices

2. Breakfast wrap – scrambled eggs, cheese and veggies in a tortilla, or favorite flat bread.

3. Air popped popcorn

4. Frozen peas and corn (they will thaw before lunch time)

5. Whole grain blueberry muffin

6. Chopped fruit (not the premade type, which has a lot of extra sugar). Try kiwi, melon, grapes and berries

7. Hummus, cheese and lettuce in a pita

8. Fruit and cheese “kabobs”

9. Soup in a thermos

10. Corn bread or corn muffin

11. Left-over whole grain pancake “sandwich”, with cream cheese and fruit or a drizzle of maple syrup in the middle

12. Hard-boiled egg

13. Lunch meat rolled around cheese

14. Applesauce

15. Carrots and celery

16. Left over quesadilla or cheese pizza (Kids love them cold).

17. Hummus with veggies and pretzels to dip

18. Left over spaghetti or pasta

19. Peanut butter with a banana

20. Left over shredded chicken wrapped with cheese and pesto

21.  Left over Panini or grilled sandwich

22. Waffle sandwich, with cream cheese and fruit

23. Yogurt with a crunchy granola

24. Left-over fried rice

25. Scrambled egg with avocado and salsa


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