Back to School Lunch Ideas

Parents are now gearing up to send their children back to school and this requires advance preparation and planning. Here are some healthy lunch ideas that can be used.

Sandwiches – use brown bread, or one slice brown bread and one slice white bread; buns or rolls.

Fillings – eggs, tinned fish or meat, left-over cold meat such as chicken or beef; cheese, vegemite or peanut butter. Add grated or finely chopped vegetables such as lettuces, carrots, tomato, cucumber and avocado to make your fillings go further.

Use a thin spread of margarine or butter; use a little tomato sauce, mustard or relish.

Roti and Curry – the amount of roti and curry packed for children of different ages is also very important, apart from the types of curries. Any meat, fish or vegetable curry is good. However, potato, dalo, breadfruit and yam curries with roti will be too heavy in carbohydrate and too little in protein and vitamins. Therefore, it will be an unbalanced meal for a growing child.

Drinks – water, fresh fruit juices including green coconut juice (bu) are excellent choices. Do not encourage fizzy or soft drinks as they are high in sugar and can lead to weight gain and tooth decay. Processed fruit juices can also be very high in suagr.

Fresh fruit – always include fruit with the lunch. It is a good way to end lunch.