Healthy Family, Happy Family (12 page)
Read Healthy Family, Happy Family Online
Authors: Karen Fischer
Tags: #Health & Fitness/Food Content Guides
8
‘You pack me the same sandwiches every day. My lunch box is so boring!’
When I was in Year 2 at school, I declared I was never going to eat another sandwich as ‘I’ve been eating them
all my life.’
Then for the next ten years I scoffed the canteen’s cream buns, meat pies, sausage rolls and fried chicken and chips. My friends must have thought I was the luckiest girl in primary school. However, by the time I was a teenager, I had no energy, I had dark circles under my eyes, peeling hands (dermatitis) and I felt depressed for no apparent reason (maybe it was the pimples?). I have a lovely family but I barely spoke to them one year because I just didn’t feel like it. They had to repeat everything twice; I literally didn’t hear them the first time. My brain felt as fried as the contents of my ‘lunch box’ (the brown paper bags from the canteen). My mum tried. I was a fussy eater. But I was all skin and bones so she had to get me eating something. Anything. Strangers in the street saying ‘Don’t you feed her?’ didn’t help either.
However, life has changed greatly in the last twenty years. These days there is a whole cyber-world of information and a range of how-to guides (including this book) to help parents of fussy eaters. And it’s easier to make healthy food choices. Canteens are becoming fruit and veg friendly. Schools are teaching our kids the value of eating healthy foods. And it’s becoming the norm for parents to pack carrot sticks and wholegrain sandwiches into their child’s lunch box.
However, on Planet Kid the destination is fun and the time is right now. Kids want their lunch box to be enjoyable. When they open the lid, they hope their friends will give them a smile of approval (or a look of envy?). But as a parent you probably want them to eat something healthy so they can concentrate during class. So how do you
keep lunch boxes fun and healthy at the same time, without it feeling as if it’s taken an early morning military operation to prepare? Here are some easy lunch box ideas.
Pack at least one from each of these four categories:
Fruit. Choose seasonal fresh fruits as your first option (strawberries, melon balls, banana, mango, papaw, kiwi fruit, frozen grapes). Have tinned fruit in the cupboard for later in the week if you run out of fresh fruit. The best tinned fruit options include pear and apricot. Dried fruits such as dates, sultanas and apricots are popular (and dried cranberries are fine as a treat). Cherry tomatoes and fruit salads can make an appearance later in the week. And have you tried black sapote? It tastes like chocolate pudding and looks like a dark brown kiwi fruit when ripe. It’s also known as chocolate pudding fruit—pop one, halved, into your child’s lunch box and pack a spoon.
Vegetables: vegetable sticks with dips (hummus, tzatziki), carrot sticks, red capsicum (pepper) sticks, Ants on a Log (p. 152), cucumber, snow peas (mangetout), green beans, peas and mini salads with baby spinach and cherry tomatoes.
Dairy or non-dairy alternatives: cheese cubes, yoghurt (plain mixed with fresh fruit, Greek, low sugar berry, organic—in the hotter months, pop them in the freezer before adding to the lunch box); soy milk, soy yoghurt or hummus dip and grainy crackers.
Carbohydrate/energy snacks: homemade muffins, fruit bread/toast, grainy crackers with spreads, wholemeal rye crispbread, pumpkin bread.
Combine these for lunch:
Breads/sandwiches: grainy bread (first choice), wholemeal bread, wholemeal pita or lavash bread (or other unleavened bread), mountain bread/wraps, wholemeal bread roll, rye bread, gluten-free bread and wholemeal or corn wraps.
Sandwich fillings: cooked chicken and grated carrot, cream cheese and sultanas, tuna, salad, avocado, cheese, leftover dinner meat (rather than processed deli meats) with salad, cottage cheese and honey (occasionally), yeast spreads (occasionally), turkey and cranberry with baby spinach, roast meat and roast vegetables, grated apple with leftover dinner meat, or egg and lettuce.
Leftover dinners: spaghetti, stir-fries, Shepherd’s Pie, fritters, Tangy Tuna Patties, sushi/nori rolls, cold pasta and potato salad.
Use cookie cutters when making wholegrain sandwiches for children.
Cut out fun shapes and discard the crusts.
Freeze your child’s yoghurt tub so it keeps the other lunch box items cool. Freeze fresh fruit: orange wedges, grapes, strawberries and pineapple slices. If your child has eczema, you can freeze tinned pear or pack fresh pear and banana (these fruits are low in salicylates).
Remember to pack:
a water bottle
utensils such as a spoon if including yoghurt, beans or tuna.
a small cold/freezer block to keep perishable protein items fresh such as yoghurt, egg, fish, meat and soy.
There is an increased risk of food poisoning if these items aren’t kept cool.
foods and drinks that can hamper your child’s concentration such as: chocolate, chocolate milk (or other sugary flavoured milk), sugary snacks with
no nutrition (hello doughnuts and blue cake—if it’s their birthday favour vanilla or banana cake)
soft drink or fruit juice—they often contain the preservative sodium benzoate which can promote unfocused behaviour.
Want to pack a treat for the young ones? Try stickers. Stickers won’t make them chubby or hyperactive. However, cup cakes are a good option for birthday treats—avoid artificial colours and flavours.
Here are some tips to ensure your child does not suffer lunch box embarrassment, especially during their very first week of prep or kindergarten:
Check to see if your child can open their lunch box—some are tough to open and your child may be too embarrassed to ask a teacher.
Pack a spoon and/or fork if necessary (for yoghurt, baked beans, salad etc).
Put something fun in their lunch box—e.g. Strawberry and Honey Muffins GF version or Honey and Cinnamon Pikelets.
Ensure the lids are on tight so there is no spillage in their bag.
Pack a paper towel so your child can clean up any spills—show them how to do this.
The following lunch box menus are suitable for day care, preschool and school-aged children, including adolescents. Adjust portions of foods and presentation of sandwiches to suit your child’s age and appetite.
This menu coincides with Menu 1, Fun with Flavours
To make this week’s menu simple to follow, just remember to serve fruit and a healthy muffin or fruit toast with butter or hummus for morning tea, and for afternoon snacks serve vegies and some multigrain crispbread, served on the Wishing Plate if desired. Pack either cheese or a small tub of yoghurt each day. Lunches vary—remember to use handy leftovers when possible. Adjust this menu to suit your child’s age and appetite.
To begin:
Cook Strawberry and Honey Muffins or buy fruit bread (you can freeze it).
Buy (the equivalent of) 5 cups of fresh fruit.
Buy vegetables such as 1 cucumber, 2 sticks celery, 2 carrots and 1⁄2 small red capsicum.
Buy baked beans (no added salt) and kids tuna packs from supermarket, canned fish aisle (or make your own delicious version with tuna, Greek yoghurt, tomato sauce/ketchup, corn kernels and sultanas/golden raisins).
Buy a loaf of grainy bread or sourdough bread and various spreads and fillings of choice, such as hummus, free range chicken, egg, yeast spread, whole fruit jam, Parsley Pesto, tuna, lettuce, baby spinach and so on.
Remember:
always include a bottle of water, and pack a freezer block when necessary.
1 Strawberry and Honey Muffin or fruit bread, toasted; 1⁄2 cup fruit
Sunday leftovers or Brainy Grain Sandwich; yoghurt
Baby spinach leaves, apple and carrot (on the Wishing Plate if desired); wholegrain rice crackers
1 Strawberry and Honey Muffin or fruit bread, toasted; 1⁄2 cup fruit
Brainy Grain Sandwich of choice; 1 boiled egg, halved
Vegie sticks (on the Wishing Plate if desired) and cheese cubes and/or yoghurt
1 Strawberry and Honey Muffin or fruit bread, toasted; 1⁄2 cup fruit
1 small serve baked beans; cheese cubes; 2xmultigrain rye crispbread/crackers
olives; 1/2–1 cup of fruit and vegetables (on the Wishing
Plate if desired)
1 Strawberry and Honey Muffin or fruit bread, toasted; 1⁄2 cup fruit/tinned pear
Kids tuna pack or the homemade version; 2xmultigrain rye crispbread and cheese and carrot sticks (pack a spoon if necessary)
1⁄2–1 cup of vegetables (on the Wishing Plate if desired) and yoghurt
1 Strawberry and Honey Muffin or fruit bread, toasted; 1⁄2 cup fruit salad/tinned pear (pack a fork)
Leftover Soba Noodle Stir-fry or grainy sandwich with salad; 1 boiled egg, halved
Tinned pears; vegie sticks (on the Wishing Plate if desired)
This menu coincides with Menu 2, Tasty Temptations
To make this week’s menu simple to follow, just remember to serve wholegrain crispbread and fruit with yoghurt for morning tea, and for afternoon snacks serve vegies (on the Wishing Plate if desired) and easy-to-make Honey and Cinnamon Pikelets (or alternatively, toast). Pack either cheese or a small container of yoghurt each day or serve yoghurt with breakfast in Bircher Muesli. Lunches vary—remember to use handy leftovers when possible. Adjust this menu to suit your child’s age and appetite.
To begin:
Buy (the equivalent of) 5 cups of fresh fruit (grapes, strawberries, pear) and you’ll need 2 carrots, 1 small red capsicum and 2–3 sticks of celery.
Buy quality preservative-free yoghurt (organic, low sugar, berry, plain, Greek), baked beans (no added salt) and kids tuna pack from supermarket, canned fish aisle (or make your own with canned tuna, Greek yoghurt, tomato sauce/ketchup, corn kernels and sultanas/golden raisins).
Buy a loaf of grainy bread and various spreads and fillings of choice, such as hummus, free range chicken, egg, whole fruit jam, pesto, tuna, lettuce/baby spinach and so on.
You’ll need sultanas and light cream cheese for Ants on a Log; and cheese and salt reduced butter (if desired).
Remember:
always include a bottle of water, and pack a freezer block when necessary.
Wholegrain crispbread with filling; and 1⁄2 cup diced fruit
Leftover spaghetti with salad (baby spinach leaves, celery, cheese, cherry tomato etc); pack a fork
Celery or Ants on a Log and Honey and Cinnamon Pikelets or grainy toast
Wholegrain crispbread with spread; and 1⁄2 cup fruit with yoghurt (pack a spoon)
Leftovers or Brainy Grain Sandwich; boiled egg, peeled and halved
Celery or Ants on a Log and Honey and Cinnamon Pikelets or grainy toast
Wholegrain crispbread with spread; and 1⁄2 cup fruit with yoghurt (pack a spoon)
Leftovers or baked beans and carrot or celery sticks
The Wishing Plate and Honey and Cinnamon Pikelets or grainy toast
Wholegrain crispbread with spread; yoghurt and sultanas (pack a spoon)
Leftovers or kids tuna pack (or homemade; pack a fork/spoon)
The Adventure Tasting Game—you’ll need a variety of fruits, vegetables and crackers (for teens: don’t make it a game but serve the same snacks)
Wholegrain crispbread with spread; 1⁄2 cup diced/tinned fruit with yoghurt (pack a spoon)
Leftovers or Brainy Grain Sandwich; boiled egg, peeled and halved (pack a mini freezer block)
1⁄2–1 cup of fruit and vegetables (carrot, celery etc.) and grainy toast with spread of choice
This menu coincides with Menu 3, Easy and Impressive
To make this week’s menu simple to follow, just remember to serve vegie sticks and a Pear Muffin or wholegrain crispbread for morning tea, and for afternoon snacks serve fruit and yoghurt or humus dip and crackers. Pack either cheese or a small container of yoghurt each day or serve yoghurt with breakfast. Lunches vary—remember to use handy leftovers when possible. Adjust this menu to suit your child’s age and appetite.
To begin:
Cook a batch of Pear Muffins if desired (alternative: wholegrain crispbread with fillings of choice – see filling ideas).
Buy (the equivalent of) 4–5 cups of fresh fruit and vegetables. Buy quality preservative-free yoghurt (organic, low sugar, berry, plain, Greek) and mix in your own fresh fruit. Stock the pantry with baked beans (no added salt) and kids tuna from the supermarket, canned fish aisle (or make your own with canned tuna, Greek yoghurt, tomato sauce/ketchup; and diced mango or olives)