The secret to untradeable school lunches is to give kids lunches that are creative enough to get their attention, but not so unusual as to put them off.
Try these five simple tricks:
- Change the bread. Sandwiches are great because they're portable, easy to prepare and easy to eat. To switch things up a bit, try changing the bread. Instead of using white or wheat bread, use zucchini bread to make zucchini bread cream cheese sandwiches.
- Add a new twist to old favorites. Instead of plain old peanut butter sandwiches, try sandwiches made with gourmet nut butters like chocolate cherry peanut butter or vanilla cranberry peanut butter. These nut butters are a real flavor blast and they are just as nutritious as regular peanut butter.
- Give last night's dinner new life. Leftover spaghetti and meatballs, fried chicken or BBQ chicken taste great the next day.
- Think soup. Soup is one of my favorite healthy lunch ideas for kids, because it's so satisfying and easy to transport in a thermos. You can make a big batch of soup on Sunday night, and give it to the kids for lunch all week.
- Make food smaller. Bite-sized food is really appealing to kids. Try packing bologna and cheese rollups instead of bologna and cheese sandwiches. Or make mini frittatas in advance and pack them in a thermos for an appealing kid-sized lunch that's healthy, too.
Or try peanut butter and jelly on banana bread, toast frozen waffles, and make nutella waffle sandwiches or use rice cakes to make cream cheese and jelly sandwiches.
You'll probably want to pack the spaghetti and meatballs in a thermos, but fried chicken and BBQ chicken taste just as good cold as they do hot. You can even make a spaghetti and meatball sandwich with your leftovers.
Try corn chowder, broccoli cheese soup and carrot soup.
