Packing school lunches is something that every mom wants to be great at. After all, which mother does not want her kids to have nutritious and tasty food in the middle of a hard day at school? However, when it comes to lunch box meal planning, most of us are at a loss because kids today are picky, naughty and too wise for their own good. For all you know, your nutritionally balanced lunch box might be getting traded for a pack of sodium and fat rich potato wafers by your kid. Kids who are not so street wise might simply be dumping their food in the wastebasket while you never get to know for sure whether your lovingly packed lunch has been eaten or thrown away. While there is absolutely no guarantee that your kid will eat whatever you pack him or her for lunch, given here are some ideas that might make your kids eat the healthy lunches that you pack for them.

• One very important thing that we know kids get influenced by are looks. Apply the same principal to packing school lunches and buy your kids good looking lunch boxes that they cannot wait to open and devour. There is an extremely large variety of good looking lunch packs and boxes available in most department and kids stores nowadays. Buy your kid the lunch box or pack that he or she covets. While you can always pack most school lunches in brown bags and foil, trust us, your kids would appreciate it much more if they have a lunch box that is “cool” looking?  Packing lunches in these boxes would greatly appreciate the perceived value of the food in them.
• Ask your kids what they want for lunch. Most mothers presume rightly that their kids would give them a list of unhealthy choices like potato wafers or French fries and therefore make up their own list of healthy lunches to pack for their kids. However, a major downside associated with this kind of behavior is that your kid might not eat his or her lunch at all. A better idea is to actually talk to your kids, note down their choices that are healthy or “in-between” and cut out the unhealthy choices after explaining how those foods might harm them. Next, explain to your kids the benefits they will derive from eating the healthy foods that you pack for them, like making them stronger, smarter etcetera. This greatly increases the chances of your packed lunch being eaten with happiness.
• If your kids absolutely relish foods like wafers, candy, chocolates and pastries, then consider adding them as a treat for them every alternate day or so. If your kids are not deprived of such foods, chances of their bingeing on them whenever they find them anywhere are also less.
• Make healthy alternatives to junk food. For example, instead of packing in candy bars, you can make your own cereal bars at home and fortify them with dry fruits, raisins, nuts and chocolate chips etcetera. This will not only increase their nutritive value, it will also make them tastier to eat.
• If your kid is a desert fiend, then consider making sweet treats like cupcakes and pastries at home in order to avoid the harmful additives and trans fats that are present in similar store bought deserts. cupcakes are a great alternative to cakes and pastries since they are easy to pack and freeze. You can download a number of easy cupcake recipes from the internet. In order to make your cupcakes lunchbox ready and to ensure that the cupcake icing does not spoil, you can slice the cupcake in the middle and fill in the cupcake icing in the middle instead of putting it on top. If you do not know how to make icing for cupcakes, then the internet is a great source for cupcake frosting recipes as well. Make your cakes on the weekend and frost them using trans fat free icing in the middle. For very small kids who are crazy about visual appeal, consider using edible cake toppers on the top of the cupcake. Stick the edible topper on the top with a little bit of cupcake icing before wrapping the cake. You can simply wrap these cupcakes in plastic wrap and put them in the freezer. Whenever you want to give your kid a treat or if you are running short of sweet things to put in the lunch box, these frozen cupcakes will come to your rescue.
• Other lunch box treats apart from cupcakes that you can consider making in batches and freezing for future use are sandwiches for your kids’ lunch box. Make sandwiches using different types of breads or buns, wrap them in cling film and put them in the freezer. Burgers using both vegetarian and non vegetarian fillings, salad sandwiches and sandwiches with home made salsa and cheese dips are perfect options for frozen snacks. Make the sandwiches in batches, cut them into small kid sized pieces and pack a combo of two or more types of sandwiches for a single meal in cling film to freeze. You can drop them in the lunch bag in the morning and ensure that your kids have a healthy, home made lunch at school.
• Other things to freeze for your kids’ lunch are fruit and vegetable servings. Put single serve packs of your kids’ favorite fruit juices into the freezer for the whole week at the weekend. At the time of packing your kid’s lunch box in the morning, you can take out the juice direct from the freezer and put it in. This will ensure that the juice remains cold even if it is not carried in an insulated lunch box. However, buying a lunch box with different compartments for dips, frozen juice packs, sandwiches and desserts will not only help you pack better, it will also let your kid unpack and eat his lunch easily without creating a mess.
• Always try to ensure that your kid’s lunch is both tasty and nutritious. Avoid too much fat, additives, salt and sugar content and try to create a balanced meal that will not only keep your kid healthy for life, but also provide him with the necessary energy to get through a tough day at school.

Tags: cupcake icing recipes | cupcake icing recipes | edible cake toppers | edible cake toppers | cupcake recipes | cupcake recipes | cupcake icing | cupcakes

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