A Recipe for Healthy School Snacksby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 22 Dec 2008 04:20 PM
Our reasons for providing him with a home made lunch are: it is less expensive, I can better control the nutrition and steer away from colors and preservatives, there is a short amount of time to eat lunch and he doesn't want to spend part of it waiting in line, and he is always hungry after a school lunch--complaining that there is not enough food. A typical lunch brought from home may include one of the following as the main meal: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, inside out pizza, ham sandwich, turkey roll-ups, or grilled cheese. Drinks include milk, chocolate milk, orange juice, apple juice, grape juice or water. As part of the brown bag lunch, or in our case an insulated cooler, I make sure to include plenty of nutritious snacks. He gets a brief snack time mid-morning, and the extra snacks also help fill him up and give him a variety of things to eat. I know that if he doesn't get a chance to drink all of his milk, he will at least have some calcium in the form of cheese or yogurt, for example. Here are my favorite picks, store bought or homemade, to include as healthy school snacks. They pack easily, can be eaten quickly and hold up well. Grapes Mozzarella cheese or cheese sticks Apples Muffins Crackers Pretzels Goldfish crackers Thin slice of leftover pizza Corn bread Carrot sticks Healthy cereal Granola bars Yogurt in 6-ounce cups Fresh green beans Oatmeal cookies Fruit cups Boxed chocolate milk Peanut butter and raisins on celery Half a bagel with cream cheese Whole grain pasta with a little melted butter or olive oil Related Articles: Farm to (2) School Programs Offer Organic, Locally Grown School Lunches Is It Cost Effective to Bring a School Lunch? Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevanteducation tags User Comments Tashi (1013) 24 Dec 2008 08:53 AMI bring my lunch and snacks to work. But I occasionally buy something from the tiny sandwich shop in my office building. I often bring some of the same foods and snacks that you mentioned. One of my favorite snacks is Triscuits. You have to watch the ingredient and nutrition lists, though, as many foods have more stuff than you'd expect, especially some so-called "healthy" items. I bought a "low fat" peanut butter. Its sodium content was scary. I found a better one, after paying more attention to the labels. There's often little difference between some healthy foods and more "regular" foods.  Mary Ann Romans |
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