Back-to-School Lunches

Back-to-school food: 5 worst and best things to pack in your child's school lunch

Pre-packaged lunch trays like Lunchables may offer convenience, but they aren't nutritionally sound. This pepperoni and cheese combo has 440 calories and 760 mg of sodium, which is 40 percent of the recommended daily allowance for children ages 4 to 8. (Grant Butler/The Oregonian

 

The new school year is almost here. If you send your child to school with a packed lunch, you want to make sure it's not loaded down with lots of fat, sodium and dreaded high fructose corn syrup. Here are 5 suggestions for the worst things you can put in a school lunch, and 5 foods to consider:

Avoid at all cost

1. Highly processed lunch meat: Whether it's lunch meat you put into sandwiches that you make, or pre-cut slices found in products like Lunchables, lunchmeat is loaded with sodium and preservatives, and the cheapest brands may be made out of parts of animals that you really don't want to be eating – snouts, tails, who knows what's in there?
2. Pop tarts and sugary granola bars: These snack bars are swimming in sugar and have crazy-long lists of preservatives.
3. Kiddie yogurts: Those brightly colored yogurts that are marketed towards children are filled with artificial food coloring and loads of sugar.
4. Prepackaged fruit cups: Those plastic cups of pre-cut fruit are swimming in a syrup sweetened with high fructose corn syrup.
5. Fruit candy: No matter how much you try to convince yourself that there's fruit in gummy chews, there's no getting around how much high fructose corn syrup is in them. Let's call gummies what they really are: candy.

Why pre-packaged lunch boxes aren't good for a school lunchIt's back-to-school time, and some parents are stocking up on pre-packaged lunch boxes for their children's school lunches. Grant Butler offers three reasons why these convenient meals aren't the best choice.
Instead consider these

1. Pasta salad: An easy way to use leftover pasta, tossed with a light dressing, a few mixed vegetables, and lean protein like shredded chicken or beans.
2. Minimally processed protein: Instead of using lunchmeat containing who knows what, grill extra pieces of chicken and slice them for sandwiches. Other sandwich-filling options: low-fat cheese, peanut butter without added sugar, or hummus.
3. No-salt pretzels: Pretzels are a low-fat and delicious alternative to chips, but the salted variety is loaded with sodium. Buy no-salt versions instead, and pack half-ounce portions.
4. Veggie sticks: Most kids love carrot sticks, but consider expanding the range of veggie finger-food options to blanched green beans, slices of crunchy jicama, or raw zucchini spears.
5. Fresh fruit: The healthiest dessert option possible for a school lunch. Cut slices of apples and pears, spritz with a little lime juice to avoid browning, and pack in a small container. Or opt for kid-friendly berries.

Source:AHA
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