What to give your child to take to school. Packing a tasty and healthy lunch

It’s school time: lessons, homework, classes. Children spend most of the day at school, so they eat lunch outside the house. This raises the question of what food to give your child to take to school. To make it easier for you, we have compiled several options for tasty and nutritious school snacks.

President of the Association of Nutritionists and Health Coaches (ANCH).

Meals at school often do not meet all the indicators of a healthy diet, and many children categorically refuse to eat in the canteen. But a child needs nutritious food so that the brain, neurons, and growing body don’t starve. I know what to give a child to school, so that lunch will energize him until the end of the school day.

How to assemble a school lunchbox correctly

A full-fledged diet of a child should consist of proteins, healthy fats, complex carbohydrates, fiber and vitamins. Nutrition in school canteens is often unbalanced, characterized by a lack of protein, calcium, polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamins.

Schoolchildren get too many fast carbohydrates, saturated fats and trans fats by eating confectionery and sweets, baked goods from the cafeteria and drinking a lot of sweet drinks. About 20% of children in Russia are overweight or obese due to improper nutrition.

It is difficult to monitor nutrition at school, but it is important for a child to eat between home breakfast and dinner. In this case, lunch boxes with a healthy snack or a full lunch will come to the aid of the mom of the schoolchild.

Thanks to a systematic approach to the composition of snacks, parents can be sure that children eat a full and tasty meal.

First, choose a quality lunchbox. For younger children, choose brightly colored boxes divided into several parts. The child will enjoy using these. When choosing a lunch box, pay attention to how it opens so that there are no difficulties. The box should be airtight, easy to open. You can choose a thermos container and alternate between cold and hot snacks during the school week. Choose containers made of quality materials – glass or plastic with a label confirming its safety (#2, #4, #5).

It’s easy to assemble a healthy snack for your child if you have a “constructor” handy:

• base – whole-grain yeast-free bread, crackers made from different flours and seaweed, healthy waffles/pancakes/pancakes;

• fiber filling – all kinds of vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, cabbage), greens (lettuce, dill, parsley);

• protein filling – lightly salted fish, liver pate, cutlets of different kinds of meat, boiled or baked poultry;

• some fats – olives, good vegetable oil, nuts and nut pastes, seeds and hummus;

• dried fruit potato chips (apple, orange, peach, banana), fruit marshmallows and good quality sugar-free chocolate, cereal and nut bars as dessert.

You can find healthy dessert options in supermarkets and marketplaces:

1. Green buckwheat chips;
2. White sesame urbeche with whole grain crackers;
3. Sugar-free natural chocolate;
4. Vegetable breads;
5. Coconut chips.

If you have the time and desire, you can always make a homemade dessert. Check out the link below for healthy candy options.

To make studying easy for your child, I suggest five ready-made lunchboxes balanced in protein, fat and carbohydrates.

№ 1. Waffle Lunch

• Green buckwheat waffle;
• hummus;
• a carrot straw;
• a handful of Brazil nuts.

Prepare the green buckwheat waffle. Put the hummus in a small airtight sauce container so that it is convenient for the child to spread it on the waffle or dip the carrots in it.

№ 2. Hearty oatmeal pancake

• oatmeal pancake;
• sesame paste;
• a handful of raspberries (or other berries);
• a handful of almonds.

Oatmeal pancake will appeal to porridge lovers and omelet fans alike. And the caloric content is quite low. More about the benefits of the dish told in the previous material.

Sesame paste should be spread on an oatmeal pancake and add raspberries. Nuts can be eaten separately.

№ 3. Meat dinner

• A piece of baked turkey;
• tomato;
• cucumber;
• dill or parsley;
• olivový olej;
• olives;
• pumpkin seeds;
• quail egg – a few pieces.

Cut chicken and vegetables into small pieces, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with seeds. Put the quail eggs and olives in a separate compartment of the lunchbox.

№ 4. Alternate Caesar Roll.

• oatmeal flour pancake;
• thin chicken cutlet;
• tomato and cucumber slices;
• arugula;
• grated parmesan cheese.

Bake the pancake and then place the chicken cutlet, cucumber and tomato slices, arugula leaves and grated cheese on the pancake. Roll the pancake into a roll.

№ 5. Turkey muffins with cauliflower and avocado

Prepare muffins according to this recipe and top them with half a ripe avocado.

Ingredients:

• shredded cauliflower – four cups;

• turkey fillet – 200 g;

• citron - 1/2 ks

• salt and spices – to taste;

• ghee oil – 1 tbsp;

• gluten-free flour -1 tbsp.

Method of preparation:

1. Wash the turkey and marinate it with lemon juice.

2. Chop cauliflower, add eggs and chop everything in a blender.

3. Chop the meat and add it to the prepared mixture.

4. Add spices, oil, flour and mix everything.

5. Spread the dough into molds.

6. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 20-25 minutes.

Such a dish will be a great source of protein and fiber in your child’s diet. Nutrition of a schoolchild will be tasty and full, if you master the flyhack with useful lunchboxes. Use it for health – and let the new school year be successful.

Didn’t like anything on our list? You can find a few more healthy lunch options at the link below.