Ideas for School Lunches
Did you know that lunch
has to supply one third of our daily nutritional needs? So filling
children’s lunchboxes with nutritional, appetizing food that
they’ll actually eat is important. A balanced lunch would
include something from each food group in Canada’s Food
Guide.
If your child is in primary school, don’t include any foods containing nuts or peanut butter, because your son or daughter might trade lunches with a child who is allergic to them. It could happen! Remove nuts from recipes, substituting other foods such as dried fruit if you wish. Make lunch interesting with surprise ingredients such as pineapple tidbits in a sandwich (see the Honolulu Bagels recipe).
Cream cheese makes a quick and easy sandwich spread. Combine it with grated vegetables (carrots), sweet gherkins, black olives, prosciutto, pesto, chopped fresh herbs (basil, mint), etc. Let your imagination and your child’s food preferences guide you.
For quick, practical, appetizingly tasty lunchbox ideas, try the following recipes.
| Salads | Sandwiches | Miscellaneous | Desserts/ Snacks |
| Turkey Pasta Salad | Tuna Pita Pockets | Mini Italian Pizza | Oatmeal Cookies |
| Cold Pasta Salad | Waldorf Turkey Salad Sandwich | Tex-Mex Lasagna with Beef and Vegetables (must be reheated) | Cheese Muffin |
| Chicken and Vegetable Salad | Heavenly Ham Sandwich | Ground Pork Triangles (must be reheated) | Cheese Shortbread |
| Instant Marbled Salad | Easter Submarines | Parmesan Meatloaf (must be reheated) | Chewy granola bar |
| Summer Bounty Chef's Salad | Tofu Party Sandwich | Pizza Omelette (must be reheated) | Toasted Chick Pea Snack |