Are you a Mom who has to pack lunch boxes and make snacks for your children every day of the week? And are you at your wits’ end trying to strike a balance between healthy food options and your child’s picky eating habits? Let’s have a look at some ideas to make your life easier and ensure that your children have good, wholesome food to take to school and eat between meals.
Advertisement
Basic principles
There are certain basic principles that you need to keep in mind:
it takes planning - you need to plan ahead so that you buy the correct foods for making snacks and lunch boxes
resist the “easy” option to buy cold drinks, crisps and chocolate bars - in the long run this is going to ruin your children’s health
resist your children’s demands and manipulations for high-fat snacks and fizzy cold drinks
remember that children are different to adults - they have a much smaller stomach capacity, so they need regular snacks and some children have a much higher energy requirement because they are more active than adults
remember that children are similar to adults - they also like interesting, and tasty food which looks good enough to eat, but they may not appreciate very sophisticated foods
lunch boxes may have to replace three to four meals a day - that breakfast that was not eaten, the mid-morning snack, lunch and the mid-afternoon snack - a whole menu in one box!
packaging is important - buy a sturdy plastic container that is big enough to accommodate the food you want your child to take to school without getting squashed, and consider buying a small non-breakable vacuum flask or vacutainer for keeping cold foods and drinks cold, and hot foods and drinks hot
eating a variety of foods gives children and adults the best chance of obtaining a balanced diet
select foods from all the food groups every day if possible
milk and dairy products;
fruit and vegetables;
breads and starches;
protein foods like meat, fish, eggs and legumes;
fats and oils, including nuts
The basics
Children need healthy food and drinks to snack on or to take to school. Here are some suggestions:
a) Foods - Variety is the spice of Life!
Cereals, breads and starches
Wholewheat, brown or rye bread or buns, various healthy breads, crisp bread (rye or wheat), wholewheat biscuits
Pita bread, or hot dog/hamburger rolls, or pancakes /flapjacks, or mini pizzas, or bagels (buy the wholewheat varieties if possible)
Wholewheat muffins or muffins made with fresh fruit like banana, dried fruit like raisins/sultanas/dates, or nuts; cheese muffins
Oat cakes or oat crunchies, health or energy bars (only for children who are very active and do not have a weight problem as these foods are quite high in fat)
Granola cereal or unbuttered popcorn
Muesli or bran rusks
Rice cakes (buy various flavours)
Baked potato with a filling (keep warm in vacutainer)
Potato salad (use lite salad dressing or dilute mayonnaise with fat-free yoghurt)
Cooked corn on the cob or mielie bread
Protein foods
lean cold cuts (ham, beef, chicken, tongue)
grilled chicken pieces (wings or drumsticks)
cooked, chopped or minced meat or chicken/turkey
cooked or canned sausages (only for thin and very active children as sausages contain quite a lot of fat)
homemade hamburger patties (use lean mince)
boiled eggs
cooked flaked fish
canned fish such as tuna or pilchards or sardines
smoked fish like snoek or mackerel
biltong (cut off fat)
meat or fish spreads and paste
cooked, minced legumes or baked beans, tofu (buy at health shops)
Milk and dairy foods
yoghurt (plain mixed with honey and nuts or fresh fruit, or read-made flavoured, low-fat varieties)
cottage cheese (flavour plain cottage cheese with tomato sauce or piccalilli, mashed banana or avocado, nuts or dried fruit, or buy ready-made flavoured cottage cheese - check the fat content and buy the fat-free versions)
cheeses (all types, use grated or cut into cubes)
cheese spread
Fruit and vegetables
fresh fruit - apples, pears, naartjies, oranges, plums, peaches, grapes, litchis, mango, pineapple or melon pieces, figs
dried fruit and fruit rolls, mebos, dates, or fruit dainties
carrot or celery sticks, baby tomatoes, cucumber wedges, lettuce
vegetable muffins (grated carrots and baby marrows can be added to a basic muffin mix)
pumpkin fritters
potato cakes
Fats and oils
Mono- or polyunsaturated margarine or lite margarine as a spread on breads, etc
Nuts, peanut butter
Nutella spread
Crisp bacon (crumble and add to fat-free cottage cheese)
Avocado - mash and use instead of margarine
Low-fat or lite salad dressing, or mayonnaise diluted with low-fat yoghurt
(Use this category sparingly to ensure that inactive children do not gain weight)
Flavourings
(Add taste, colour and variety to lunch boxes and snacks)
Chutney - try different varieties
Tomato sauce - the best source of lycopene, an antioxidant that protects against cancer
Piccalilli, or mild mustard or pickles
Gherkins
Olives
Vinegar (add to mashed sardines for extra flavour)
Lemon juice (add to mashed banana to prevent discolouration)
b) Drinks and liquid foods
Milk, plain or flavoured
Homemade milk shakes (puree fruit with low-fat milk, add honey and/or vanilla flavouring)
Yogi-sip
Milk-fruit juice blends
Fruit juice, still and sparkling
Soda water - flavoured, still and sparkling
Energy drinks for children who participate in sport or are very active
Hot chocolate or cocoa made with skim milk (keep warm in vacutainer during winter)
Soups (keep hot in vacutainer during winter)
Cold water and ice for sports meetings
If you print out this topic and keep it handy in your kitchen, you will never again be at a loss when deciding what to give your children as healthy snacks or what to pack into their lunch boxes. – (Dr I. V. van Heerden, dietician)
Bookmark with:
What are social bookmarks?