How to Pack Healthy School Lunches: Friday

The last, but certainly not least, of our school lunches this week comes to us by way of our Chief Financial Officer, Holly Blanchard, whose ten-year-old son, Eric, is in the fifth grade.

Here’s what Holly packed:

School lunch photo_forEric_Holly

  • Wrap pinwheels with low-fat ham, turkey, and salami
  • Low-fat string cheese
  • Carrots
  • Apple slices
  • Baked goldfish crackers
  • Water

Helpful tip: Be careful with added sugars and fat. Most of us, including children, consume more sugar than we should. An obvious tip is to limit cookies, snack cakes, doughnuts, brownies, and other sweet baked goods. Sweet baked goods are often packed with sugars, as well as saturated and trans fats. Remember that these are meant to be treats and consumed only in small portions, every once in a while—not every day. Sugar is also found in foods we often don’t think of as being “sugary,” such as juice. If you pack juice, make sure it’s 100 percent juice, which is not always the case with many of the popular juice drinks for children. Water is an even better choice. Milk is an excellent source of dairy, if you are mindful of recommended servings per day and choose low-fat or non-fat milk rather than whole milk, which has more fat and cholesterol.

Today’s meal rounds out our week-long look at examples of healthy school lunches. Be sure to read all our helpful tips and let us know what kind of lunches you’re packing for your kids!

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