Eating healthy from an early age is one of the most important things you can teach children. This will not only help them maintain a healthier life, but it’ll also help them in their development as well. Cutting down fast food, sweets and sugary drinks, and adding more healthy food and snacks will significantly help children build a stronger immunity system against many infections and diseases. Eating healthy will also ensure proper development of the brain and many other organs, and it’ll improve their activity levels and cognitive functioning.
Doing this from an early age is quite easy, especially when the choice of school lunch boxes is huge. Children love colourful and interesting-looking things, so today’s lunch boxes seem to be of vital importance. They’re the perfect ally that can help parents make their kids eat healthier food.
The Importance of Choosing a Quality and Food-Safe Lunch Box
Choosing a lunch box for kids can seem easy at first because of the huge choice. Unfortunately, not all lunch kids' boxes are made from the same material. A great number of them are being made from toxic plastic materials which aren’t safe for children, especially when it comes in contact with food. That’s why you should strive to choose a kid lunch box made from food-safe material to have peace of mind. A kid lunch box should be non-toxic, easy to clean and use and luckily you can find one like that with ease. All it takes is to look at the right place.
Aside from the usual plastic non-toxic and BPA-free boxes for lunch, you can also choose from the large selection of stainless steel boxes. Both of these materials can be combined and used interchangeably, but it won’t be strange to see boxes made from food-safe silicone as well. These three materials can be mixed and matched which will certainly ease your choice and help you make the right one.
When in the search for the right one, you should also pick one that is easy to clean, that’s dishwasher safe and easy to store, and a box that has separate spaces to allow you to place different food in it. Regardless of the type or material you choose, all of them can come in different sizes and shapes, allowing you to pick one that’s not too big and bulky or not too small. In the end, you certainly won’t buy only one box, so owning more than one in different yet similar sizes and shapes would be great. Regardless of the size and type of the actual box, you should certainly have an insulated lunch bag as well in order to keep the food fresh and at the right temperature for as long as it takes. Just make sure that the size of the bag corresponds to the size of the box.
Tips on How to Pack a Healthy Lunch Box
Keeping track of time and staying organised will help you avoid being in a rush every morning and leaving the house in a hurry with a small breakdown. The key to everything is balance, so planning ahead is the best way to stay calm and pack a healthy lunch box for your child. A box of this kind should include the following:
- Fresh fruit like apples, pears, oranges and watermelon - cut into smaller pieces.
- Vegetables like baby carrots, cucumber or capsicum sticks.
- Dairies like yoghurt, milk or cheese.
- Lean meat or other protein-high food like boiled eggs, tuna, salmon, etc.
- Wholegrain like brown rice crackers, popcorn or wholegrain bread.
- Water instead of juice or some other sweetened beverage.
Of course that this could vary and you can combine the food according to your needs. In order to stay more organised, you should make a week meal plan and a list of the needed ingredients for the whole week.
To make things more interesting for your child, you can cut fruit and veggies in interesting shapes like a heart, star, moon, bear, etc. If your child is picky about eating fruit and veggies, you can add a dipping, peanut butter for the fruit for instance, and humus for the veggies. Sometimes it can be difficult to make a picky eater eat everything which is why you should get creative. For instance, if your child doesn’t like veggies you can add them to his pancakes or egg wraps for instance. Making Hulk pancakes and eggs can do the trick by making kids eat their greens with ease. You can also make your own whole grain savoury veggies muffins, which is a great substitute for packing a slice of bread. The truth is that you can find lots of interesting ideas on the Internet, you just need to go online, type down the needed recipe and pick form the many great ideas.
