Back to School Tips: The Lunch Box Project

written by Mary Ellen Finucane

Make your children’s school lunches your project this year. It’s a fact that kids are brighter and more engaged after a healthy nutritious lunch and less focused after a meal comprised of junkier ingredients. It may be hard to compete with that colorful, fancy package, but with a little creativity, planning and determination to help optimize not only your child’s school day, but overall health, you can do it!

A packed lunch isn’t automatically healthier than one you buy at school. If you pack chocolate cupcakes and chips, you are not packing a healthy meal. But a packed lunch, if you do it right, does have a clear advantage.

Researchers at the University of Texas found that more than half of parents scored an “F” when packing school lunches. Not enough energy, vitamins, calcium, iron and zinc. 71% of parents didn’t include enough fruits and vegetables and 96% didn’t supply enough fiber. Each lunch offers you, the parent, an opportunity to nurture and improve the overall outcome of your child’s health.

Small steps can have a major impact. Using 100% whole wheat bread instead of the fluffy white bread adds about 20 grams of fiber in a week’s time, and an abundance of nutrients provided by the whole grains. If you add sliced apples to your child’s lunch instead of a fruit roll you’ll cut the refined sugar by 50 grams a week. You’ll also be giving your child 27% of the Recommended Daily Value for vitamin C and 15% of the Recommended Daily Value for vitamin E and potassium.

The list below gives you a good starting point for lunchbox ideas. Remember, young children are very tactile, so you may want to pack items they can eat with their hands. Don’t be locked into a traditional “lunch” menu. It’s perfectly okay to send a thermos of soup from last night’s dinner for that older kid, or cold chicken and leftover brown rice and vegetables.

•    Turkey or roast beef and Swiss on whole wheat bread with pickles and any produce you can get away with. Add an apple for sweetness, with some natural peanut or almond butter to dip if desired.
•    Cold grilled chicken with honey mustard, olives and a small salad. Add some air popped popcorn for a snack.
•    Thermos of hot soup, a serving of healthy, whole grain crackers, and a small salad.
•    PB&J on whole wheat or a sprouted grain bread with natural unsalted peanut butter and pure fruit spread. Add a banana and baby carrots, celery sticks, pea pods, etc.
•    Mini burritos made with rice and black beans and salsa, or refried beans in a whole wheat tortilla. Add a small container of low fat yogurt and some berries.
•    A chicken drumstick with a side of green bean and potato salad made with an olive oil and vinegar dressing. Add a small container of applesauce without sugar.
•    Stuff canned tuna mixed with diced apple and a smidge of mayo into a whole wheat pita pocket with lettuce. Add a small container of homemade trail mix made with nuts, seeds, dried fruit and a few dark chocolate morsels.
•    Turkey meatballs in a marinara sauce in a whole wheat pita. Raw vegetables on the side and your favorite fruit.
•    Leftover frittata, fresh strawberries and blueberries and a small container of cottage cheese.
•    Large salad with cubed chicken, pine nuts, red pepper, grapes and a balsamic vinegar dressing. A serving of pretzels on the side.
•    Wraps made with lean meat or tuna, and roasted or raw vegetables. A small container of fruit salad on the side.
•    A hard-boiled egg, piece of string cheese, raw vegetables, berries.
•    Pasta salad with chicken and baby tomatoes. Olives and/or marinated artichokes on the side and 1 oz. of unsalted nuts.
•    Hummus with pita, olives, red pepper slices and any other vegetables you like. Add 2 dried figs.
•    Plain low-fat Greek yogurt packed alongside a small container of peaches canned in their own juice, berries and a couple of tablespoons of chopped nuts. Child makes a yogurt parfait at the lunch table, topping the yogurt with the fruit and nuts. Add a serving of pretzels.


Mary Ellen Finucane is a nationally certified nutritionist and personal trainer with the Jennersville YMCA. Visit www.ymcabwv.org or any of its branches: Brandywine YMCA, Kennett Area YMCA, West Chester Area YMCA, Jennersville YMCA, Octorara Program Center, or the Oscar Lasko Youth Program Center.