A Busy Parent’s Survival Guide for Back to School Lunches

Back to school can be both a happy and stressful time for parents. From gathering school supplies, organizing kids and schedules, homework, and finding the time to pack nutritious school lunches, there is a never-ending list of things to do. Although some parents may beg to differ, equipping kids with a yummy healthy lunch really doesn’t have to be difficult. As a guide, you can follow the guidelines our schools are using in terms of making healthier choices, aka the school food guidelines (found here http://bit.ly/Ov21w6). Supplement that with the packing lunches from home tips below, and back to school lunches can be a mere walk in the park.

We can learn about how and what to pack for school lunches by following what our schools are currently doing. Whether you already know this or not, Newfoundland and Labrador have been pioneers in food and nutrition policy for quite some time. Before confederation, we initiated calcium fortified flour, and since then we’ve been a leader in having vitamin C added to evaporated milk and more recently adding folic acid to flour. Our work on school food is really no different. With our school food guidelines we have been monitoring the amounts of not-so-healthful nutrients in school foods, such as saturated and trans fats, sodium and added sugars since 2006. In addition foods higher in calcium and iron - two things kids and adults both often don’t get enough of, are emphasized. School lunches in the US seem to be following suit are going to get a little more regimented and a whole lot healthier this year. For the first time ever, lunches in the US will now include calorie and sodium restrictions in addition to food group suggested servings based on student grade. Simply said, modelling healthy foods and habits at school and child care setting is important as it shows kids how to plan, shop and prepare healthy foods that can affect life-long eating habits.  This can be done equally successfully at home too.

If you’re packing a lunch from home, in addition to keeping foods high in whole grains, low in saturated and trans fats and sugar, keep a few things in mind. With any aspect for living healthy,  it helps to plan ahead. Healthy eating especially so. For lunch, plan to have at least three of the four food groups. Let’s say you have an eight year old son. A balanced lunch should look like one to two servings of vegetables and fruit (say 1/2 cup of carrots and an banana), one serving from the grain products (1/2 a whole wheat pita), a half to one full serving of milk and alternatives (carton of milk) and half a serving of meat and alternatives (1/4 cup of tuna in pita). The rest of the servings he’ll need throughout the day can be eaten at snacks and the other meals at home. Give kids a choice. Would you like peaches or pears? Yogurt or a cheese string? This can help give them ownership over creating their lunch, help ensure they’re getting needed nutrients, and decrease the liklihood of that item being recycled from the lunch bag later on. Think outside the sandwich too. Make extra servings of supper the night before and use these for lunch. Try using the table, or better yet have your kids do so, to mix and match lunch ideas for your kids. Just remember to pick something from each group. Last but not least be a role model. Don’t pack a Hungryman for yourself and a sandwich for the kiddos. Kids want to eat what others are eating, be it with friends at school or with you at the supper table.

As seen in The Telegram September 4, 2012