Subscribe: Tips for Packing Healthy School Lunches
Packing healthy school lunches can be a challenge. While you can send your kids to school with a brown bag lunch full of healthy snacks, how can you be sure they’ll actually eat them?
Here are a few tips for packing healthy school lunches kids will actually eat:
1) Ask your child to help. Involving your kids in the grocery shopping and lunch preparation helps them establish healthy eating habits. Give them specific choices such as “Would you like celery with peanut butter, a bunch of grapes, string cheese, or baby carrots with hummus?” Your kids will be more likely to eat healthy snacks if they had a role in selecting them.
2) Keep a list of healthy lunch ideas handy. Post a list of healthy snack and lunch ideas on your fridge, and you won’t be stumped for ideas during the morning rush.
3) Try to pack lunch the night before. You won’t feel as rushed, so you’ll have time to wash and chop veggies or fruit instead of just tossing a cookie in the bag.
4) Try new things. Some kids are happy eating the same meal day after day. Others insist on variety. If you’re short on lunch ideas, check out LaptopLunches.com.
5) Keep some convenience foods on hand.Don’t have time to cut veggies, wash fruit or make a healthy wrap sandwich? That’s ok. If you have some convenience foods on hand like string cheese, apple sauce or yogurt, you can still pack a healthy lunch.
6) Clip your coupons. It’s frustrating that healthy food and fresh fruits and veggies costs more than junk food. But you can often find coupons for treats like crackers, cereal, applesauce, yogurt, granola, and more.
7) Last night’s dinner can become a yummy lunch. Cold pasta salad, grilled chicken strips with honey mustard dip, pita pizzas, soup/stew (warm it in the morning and put it in a thermos)….yum.
Yoplait Lunch Contest:
Yogurt is one of my favorite lunchtime snacks since it’s both wholesome (an excellent source of calcium and a good source of vitamins A & D) and tasty.
Yoplait Kids yogurt contains Omega-3 DHA, a nutrient that helps support healthy brain development in kids. Yoplait Kids yogurt contains no artificial sweeteners or flavors, and it has less sugar than other kids yogurts. Yoplait is offering a $1.50 off the kids yogurt. Click here for a coupon.
To help you get the school year started off right, Yoplait is giving away three lunch packs ($25 value) to Mamanista readers. The prize packs consist of a travel cooler, a travel BrainQuest game and a coupon for a free six pack of Yoplait Kids spoon-able or drink-able yogurt.
We’re going to be picking three winners. To enter, leave a comment on this post by 11:59pm on August 22, 2008 letting us know your favorite lunch or healthy snack. For two extra chances to win, subscribe to our newsletter here and to our daily email here.
My favorite lunch if I’m at home is a pizza made on a Flat-Out wrap. Full of fiber but is pizza!
My favorite snack is string cheese. No guilt, filling, delicious, portable.
I still to this day love the extra cheesy pizza lunchables. Those were always the best lunches.
The best snack when I was little were the Keebler elf cookies. I’d take the fudge out of them and roll it into a little ball and save it for after I ate the cookie part. :)
I’m already subscribed.
My favorite lately is a red, orange, or yellow pepper with hummus. The kids love it too – we call the sliced peppers “octopus arms”.
Thanks so much for the opportunity.
I am a subscriber.
thanks for the contest
we like frozen grapes especially when it’s hot outside
Lunchables and some fruit.
My guys love frozen yogurt squeezables in the hot weather, better than icecream, but still a treat!
my boys love peanut butter sandwiches (with no jelly)lol
Keeping a big bowl of cut-up fresh fruits (cantaloupe, peaches, watermelon, honeydew, washed grapes, etc.) makes it easy to fill a reusable container before leaving the house for the park, and a small child-sized spreader, a container of peanut or almond butter, and some whole-wheat crackers is a big hit with any young do-it-yourselfer!
Thanks for the contest. I am also a subscriber.
My kids, husband, and I love cut up fruit with yogurt dip!
My favorite lunch is grilled chicken breasts!
at home we make bagel pizzas or pita stuffed pizzas…going on chicken salad pitas
Our favorite snack is yogurt and fruit parfaits with flavored yogurt and tons of fruit.
My kids favorite snacks are low-fat chewy granola bars.
My wife will not leave for work without a Pizza lunchable in her bag…… :)
Cold chicken strips and low fat ranch dressing for dipping.
We’re loving frozen grapes this summer!
m_huston(at)hotmail(dot)com
We love fresh fruit. My son’s favorite is strawberries cut up.
thanks for the giveaway.
PB&J
I always loved celery with peanut butter. It didn’t even need to be refrigerated so you could take it anywhere. Thanks for the great contest!
My daughters favorite lunch are the Oscar Mayer lunchables.
jceko77@yahoo.com
Thinly sliced celery and carrots sticks.
Yummy!
Thank you for the great giveaway!
themonkinme(at)gmail(dot)com
A favorite lunch is grilled chicken strips, peppers and vidalia onions wrapped in a tortilla ;)
My son loves Gogurt, grapes and apple.
angelina115@hotmail.com
yogurt and celery with hummus or peanut butter
My favorite healthy lunch is a big helping of cottage cheese with pineapple chunks on top. Yummy!
turkey wraps, (stuff veggies inside!) and yogurt and fruit. we can all eat that!
subscribed to your daily!
subscribed to your monthly!
Tuna fish with crackers, grapes and a drinkable yogurt
[...] Mamanista gave us some great tips for packing health school lunches. [...]
Lunch is a good ole can of sodium reduced 97% fat free clam chowder and for a snack air popped popcorn.
I love those individualized 100 calorie snack packs that contain my favorite snacks. It makes it so easy to throw one in for a quick but not over done snack.
I love to have some applesauce!
Popcorn is my favorite snack. Low fat cottage cheese and fresh fruit a fav lunch.
Apples dipped in peanut butter
Fake (Meat) BBQ Ribs :)
My daughter and I love to snack on broccoli dipped in ranch dressing.
oranges
Right now it’s all about watermelon.
gkstratos@yahoo.com
My favorite lunch is a Subway sandwich. A Veggie Delite is always yummy :)
We like sweet and crunchy baby carrots!
My favorite thing, and the kids love it too is fresh strawberries with real whipped cream.
tomato and feta salad
Cheese on rye bread for lunch Any and all fruits for a snack are my favorite
I like have fruit with my lunch.
we love a lot of assorted fruits.
Apples with sprinkled cinnamon on them.
Our favorite snacks are yogart, fruit (apples, banana’s and grapes), carrots sticks and cheese sticks. Thanks so much for this giveaway.
We love the multigrain nutri-bars
Our favorite lunch is peanut butter with apples and raisins
We all really like fruit salad and I really like pita and hummus.
fresh veggies n blue cheese!
low fat granola bars
Carrot sticks go over so well w/ my kids!
My favorite healthy snacks are low fat cheese and cashews.
Great Givaway idea for this time of year! Thanks
My favorite healthy snacks are fruit, whole-grain crackers, or baby carrots. Thank for the chance to win a wonderful prize.
my favorite snack is fruit and yogurt, i do not eat meat, chicken or fish so i really enjoy all fresh food
yogo
I like to serve my son his morning tea in a six serve muffin tin with a different coloured food in each hole. We then talk about each of the different foods and what colour it is. Educational and good for you.
I noticed someones comment that they call bell pepper slices octopus arms- my son has decided that they are sea (race) horses.
Thanks,
Jenna
mountaingoats AT hotmail DOT com
My favorite lunch is Yoplus with wheat germ, with either a banana or another peice of fruit and a nice glass of ice tea.
My favorite lunch is a Peanut butter & raisin sandwich. I’ll usaully have some cottage cheese & fruit with it.
My favorite has always been baby carrots dipped in ranch.
legacyofbrutalitysa{AT}gmail.com
I subscribed to your daily.
legacyofbrutalitysa{AT}gmail.com
I subscribed to your monthly.
legacyofbrutalitysa{AT}gmail.com
I like to pack matchstick carrots. You can almost pretend they are french fries.
My favorite lunch is a turkey sandwich on whole grain bread. To make it special, I’ll often use hummus as opposed to mustard or mayo, and love adding some tomatoes, lettuce, and at times some cucmbers. Yum!
Hello, My sons take a rather healthy lunch every day to school. They will never eat cafeteria food!
They like organic cheese sandwiches, fresh fruit and carrot sticks with ranch dip. Thanks, Cindi
Our favorites are crunchy granola and fresh fruit of an kind, but especially summer fruits.
My favorite lunch is a BLT, made with light mayo, and turkey bacon.
My favorite snack is string cheese with fresh pear or apple slices
i love baby carrots and ranch dressing
I give my daughter carrot sticks with ranch dressing
We love to eat apples or any kinda of fruit..
yogurt tubes of course
We like peanut butter on apple slices!
McDonald’s chicken strips
Yogurt to go’s!
Though I usually pack a go-gurt in my son’s lunch box during summer camp, I’ve found that he won’t eat sandwiches or lunchables very often (I was really starting to get frustrated!!) I found that my son loves leftover dinner for lunch the next day (a dream come true) so he has chicken (cut up and ready) pasta, steak, whatever it may be. I warm it up in the morning before he goes and it’s ready for him at lunch!
carrot and celery sticks dipped in fat-free ranch dressing
My favorite is still a grilled cheese sandwich! Thank you for this giveaway!
Celery sticks filled w/ peanut butter.
Yogurt is my favorite.
My favorite snack to give my daughter is raisins. She loves taking them in her school lunchbox & she calls them juicy bugs! :)
Yogurt!
My kids love love LOVE baby carrots with ranch dressing. Thanks for the great contest!
This summer I’ve been lunching on BBTs, made with fresh basil from my garden instead of lettuce and of course, fresh tomatoes I’ve grown (I usually just leave off the bacon), and lots of mayo
Our favorite lunch is anything with fresh fruit in it. My kids love it all, apples, bananas, oranges, and grapes are their favorites. Thanks for the giveaway.
Favorite lunch is an egg salad sandwich.
Great giveaway! Count me in. bebemiqui82@yahoo.com
Love carrots with ranch dip
Trail mix or bananas with cheese slices. Thanks!
crispy fresh veggies
cheese
THANK YOU GOD BLESS
My favorite healthy snack is a handful of roasted almonds. Yum-mee!
I’m a subscriber too.
apple slices with caramel
sandwiches!!!
Our favorite lunch is grilled chicken breasts and fruit with yogurt. Washed down with a glass of milk.
In our house, the favorite healthy snack is carrots and hummus! Even my 2 year old loves it!
my favorite healthy snack is hummous, either with wheat pita or carrots. yum!
I enjoy a sliced apple with some peanut butter.
I like something I call Peanut butter roll-ups. Basically it is natural peanut butter rolled up in a whole grain tortilla. It is so yummy and can easily be eaten on the go.
Lots of fresh fruit!
Love the grilled chicken breasts!
my son loves cut up fruits and veggies – so i have it easy =) but i also like to give him jam on wasa bread every once and awhile…
trail mix for me
My favorite lunch is fruit salad and a half sandwich. thanks!
vanilla low-calorie yogurt with blueberries, strawberries, and granola
My favorite healthy snack is popcorn-yum!
Granola bars and yogurt
My favorite lunch is a wrap made with a whole-wheat tortilla, sugar-free yogurt & sugar-free pudding.
my favorite snack is yogurt. And for lunch..i usually do a salad!
I’m gathering my wonderfully ripe figs. Freeze them whole without washing. They freeze soft making them a delicious treat as the winter winds howl. Just remove from freezer, wash just the amouth you plan to eat and nibble away.
I keep a veggie/fruit tray in the fridge with broccoli, carrots, celery, string cheese, colby cheese cubes and grapes. The kids love it. Whenever they want a snack they just grab it.
I often give my toddler apple slices and cheddar cheese cubes to keep the afternoon hunger pangs at bay:)
belinda_streak(at)hotmail(dot)com
And I just subscribed to your newsletter – yay!
Also just signed up for your daily email:)
Our favorite is pistachios that still have the shells.
I love a big salad, with last night’s leftover meat in it. Oh, nuts and cheese, too!
This is a great giveaway. My favorite healthy snack…yogurt of course!
I love apple slices and cheddar cheese. I like the tartness of the apples with the creaminess of the cheese. Yum.
Rice cake with almond butter and a piece of fuit
I like any kind of wrap , I make it with anything I have on hand
carrot sticks with ranch dressing! YUM
my daughter loves yogurt an small cans of fruit,an she loves peanut butter an crackers too,something easy to handle for her,thanks
Mozarella cheese stick dipped in taco sauce!
We love whole wheat tortillas, chicken strips and tomatoes with 2% cheese!
For lunch I like to have fruit with peanut butter. Thanks
Thank you for having this. My favorite lunch snack it any kind of wrap. My daughter loves these and takes a light or fat free ranch dip to dip them in. My sons is apple butter sandwiches and apples. Yummy! thank you!
The past few weeks our favorite snack food has been wild berries. We go picking in the woods for Blueberries, Raspberries and now Blackberries! Yum!
thundercloudgirl[AT]hotmail[DOT]com
We too are big fans of yogurt, we also like popcorn and smoothies!
We eat a lot of various veggies served with a light ranch dressing and of course yogurt with fresh fruit added.
My boy’s love Turkey Lettuce wraps in a whole grain tortilla!
Not really at snack but for summer refreshing we slice about 2 inches of cucumber into a pitcher of water and keep in the fridge. Everyone seems to drink it instead of sodas
Breakfast sundaes!! Sliced banana, topped with yogurt, fruit and granola. Yummy!!
Apple slices with cinnamon dipping sauce. Yum.
I subscribed to you newsletter
I subscribed to your e-mail
My favorite snack is peanut butter balls. Excellent healthy snack.
We love bananas sliced longways on whole wheat toast with just a skim of peanut butter, yummy lunch or even late night snack.
the favorite snacks right now are grapes and carrots
We freeze yogurt tubes so they are like ice cream, and I love packing whole wheat pita sammies for the kids with veggies (my 12 yr old daughter is a vegetarian)
This is a SUPER prize, we love yoplait!!
Im a subscriber too!!
Carrots
apple
my favorite lunch is also my kids. A cup of yogurt and a banana and peanut butter sandwich on whole grain bread.
my fav snack is sliced cucumbers…lite and goooood!!
Apple Slices and PB
Peanut Butter and apples or celery are a family favorites.
Scrambled egg + tomato sandwiches on whole wheat or rye bread. I know, it sounds bizarre, but it is actually delicious, and healthy. It’s good with cheese too!
We go for carrots, string cheese, or frozen fruit- (bananas slices, grapes, blueberries).
I just had a great snack…grapes with a little baby bell cheese. It was a yummy combo!
I really love string cheese – any brand, any type of cheese. Thanks for the chance!
my favorite snack is sliced strawberries and grapes. My kids like it too.
Please enter me and thanks! My daughter likes cold leftover pasta with a little olive oil, grated cheese, and diced tomatoes and olives.
I always keep some kind of fruit around. When you get that craving for something sweet that probably isn’t good for you or anyone else for that matter this will at least satisfy the urge to grab something else.
Fruit. Right now you can get really good melon.
For a snack, we like yogurt covered raisins. Even my son, who doesn’t like anything, will eat them.
gkstratos@yahoo.com
I’m subscribed. Thanks!
gkstratos@yahoo.com
My favorite lunch snack is string cheese a pudding cups!
MY favorite lunch is cheese, grapes and triscuits.
REALLY!
My son however, prefers tortillas with peanut butter and raisins in his lunch. Very nice giveaway; thank you very much.
My girls love sliced bananas with just a touch of cinnamon sprinkled on them.
Our favorite healthy snack for the family is apple slices with peanut butter.
My favorite is fresh fruit, like strawberries, apples, oranges, and peaches!
I like to take frozen pineapple for lunch – it thaws by lunchtime!
My almost-2-year-old loves yogurt (and making a big mess out of eating it herself) and string cheese.
we love fruit and yogurt
We love yogurt!
A staple- apples and peanut butter! Yum!
My favorite lunchtime snack is green apples and peanut butter. Jif makes these cute and handy single serving packages!
Strawberries and grapes are my childrens healthiest snack choice!
I (heart) Yoplait in Blackberry. I could eat it for EVERY meal, nevermind lunch or snack!
good old pb and j. or if i’m feeling healthy, light yogurt with fiber one. :)
i like carrots for a healthy snack, thanks for the chance to win this
My son LOVES their drinkable yogurt.
My favorite lunch/snack is a fresh veggie salad with some cheese in it!
My kids’ school is a free lunch school. (Everybody gets free lunch–regardless of income). But if you bring a lunch, they charge you 50 cents for milk.?!?!?!
My favorite lunch is grilled chicken salad! Thanks
My favorite lunch is ants on a log – celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins!
For a nice cool lunch when it’s really hot outside, we like a nice bowl of Cheerios with milk and blueberries. We also like pita chips with hummus.
my daughters’ favorite lunch is yogurt, teddy grahams and strawberries or bananas.
I really like to give my son veggies and pretzels with hummus. I think it’s a great snack too!
We love to make Ants on a log, or deli meat with cream cheese and green olive..
My favorite lunch is egg salad sandwich on rye with a pickle on the side
My son loves the yogurt sticks- especially if we freeze them first.
Apple slices.
My favorite healthy snack is almonds.
I always loved getting chunks of cheese, grapes, crackers, apples and carrot sticks with a side of veggie dip in my lunch. Yum! Guess I know what I’m having for lunch today :)
My son really enjoys big, fat straberries and yogurt for snack.
Yogurt is my favorite. There are so many different flavors out there its hard to choose which one. Rice cakes are great too.
yogurt!
My favorite healthy snack is raisins.
My favorite lunch is anything made by Lean Cuisine. Sure beats spending 6 or 7 dollars in the cafeteria.
My favorite snack food is Yoplait yogurt!
Favorite for holding you so you stay full and low carb is canned salmon with a spoonful of mayo.
I eat 2% cottage cheese with either cucumber & tomato or with fruit like melon or peaches. This lunch has 150 calories or less and very healthful!
I like the tasty turkey sandwich from einsteins bagel company. Great giveaway, thanks!
Cheesy Wheat. You melt cheddar cheese with a little bit of margarine then toss it with some plain shredded wheat. My kids love it and actually, I do, too.
I’m a salad girl !
yogurt
My son’s favorite healthy snack is cheese and triscuits.
I love carrots as a snack
My favorite healthy snack is carrots with buttermilk ranch dip/dressing.
My fav snack is pretzels – also, celery + peanut butter.
My favorite healthy snack is watermelon. My favorite healthy lunch is grilled chicken salad.
My fave snack is apple cupcakes. Halve an apple, core it, frost it with PB or cream cheese and then add raisin, nut, or granola sprinkles. DELISH!
String cheese always works for the little snack
Healthy snacks for us are bananas and apples.
My son loves when I give him green apples cut into pieces or oranges cut up as well!
cottage cheese, picante, and blue corn chips.
Or sushi, or guacamole yum.
Cottage cheese mixed with any kind of fruit.
Thanks for the giveaway.
We love to make yogurt parfaits with berries and granola.
My fave lunch is chicken salad with grapes and pecans, in a pita. YUM.
I love pistacios!
We love dried cranberries and cherries in my house!Thanks for the great giveaway!
Whole grain Goldfish are a good, non-perishable, on-the-go snack for summer.
One of my favorite healthy snack has been hummus on whole grain crackers. I buy it premade at the deli section in store and bring it to work for a snack.
I love yogurt. A yogurt and a banana make a good breakfast or quick lunch for me.
Granola bars and carrots with ranch dressing.
i hope i win
one of our favorite healthy snacks is artichokes! Served hot or cold my little one LOVES to eat them – esp when we get down to the heart!
I just strangely took a liking to snacking on mandarin oranges.
My fav healthy snack is apples with peanut butter!
Our favorite snack is apple wedges with either caramel or peanut butter for dipping!
Frozen grapes! Very refreshing :)
pb&j
My favorite snack is crackers and cheese. Thanks for the giveaway!
Fresh Fruit or Pretzles
bananas and grapes
apple fries are the fave in my home
chicken wings
Yogurt!
I love carrots and ranch
A turkey on wheat sandwich, veggie chips, and a apple makes a nice lunch.
A handful of nuts is our favorite healthy snack. The kids like string cheese too!
apple slices has always been one of our fav snacks
subscribed to your daily email
subscribed to your monthly newsletter as well
My favorite lunch if I’m at home is a pizza.
my kids love to freeze the yogurt in a tube
I really love pizza and chicken with roasted peppers
We love to eat grapes and apples for snacks. Thanks for the contest.
My favorite lunch is some pasta shared with my granddaughter.