A kid-friendly lunch doesn’t have to be peanut butter and jelly. Not only can foods like fruit kabobs, pizza quesadillas, and noodle bowls be just as easy to makeasa sandwich, you may be surprised by how much kids love these healthier choices.
Ideas for Spreading the Lunch Love
- Give kids something they can assemble themselves. Kids are crazy for dipping, stacking and rolling up their food into fun treats.
- For kids, anything “mini” equals fun. Serve them food in miniature, like mini whole grain bagels, potstickers or cheese cubes.
- Make food into fun shapes: colorful or interestingly shaped pasta, sandwiches cut into shapes with cookie cutters, or fruit carved into triangles, circles and squares.
- Try to expose your children to at least one new flavor each week. This could be an item they’ve never eaten before or one they haven’t had in a while.
- Include a special note, cartoon, or joke in the lunchbox.
- Like the ideal breakfast, lunch should have lots of fiber and whole grains, some protein and healthy fat, a veggie, and just a bit of natural sugar, like a piece of fresh fruit.
The Fun Factor
Catherine McCord of Weelicious shows you how to make kid-friendly meals more fun!
- Whole wheat tortillas spread with peanut butter, sprinkled with raisins or dried cherries, rolled up and cut in two
- Baked corn chips, black beans, cheese wedges and fresh pico de gallo
- Tuna salad with grated carrots served with crackers or in a pita
- Cheese triangles with pepperoni and whole-wheat crackers for stacking
- Whole wheat crackers served with roasted turkey, hard-boiled eggs, and pickle spears
- Vegetarian brown rice sushi rolls with soy or ponzu sauce
- Hummus and spinach wrap, cherry tomatoes, string cheese and any bite-sized fruit
- Smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumbers on mini bagels
- Chocolate almond butter with graham crackers
To give kids a sense of control and a vested interest in eating their lunches, involve them in the prep work and decision making about what goes in the lunchbox. Best to do this on the weekend or the night before to avoid the dreaded morning meltdowns.
Whole Foods Markets are located in Yonkers at One Ridge Hill, in White Plains at 100 Bloomingdale Road, in Port Chester
at 575 Boston Post Road, and in Connecticut at 150 Ledge Road, Darien and 90 E. Putnam Ave., Greenwich.
WHOLE KIDS FOUNDATION: APPLY TO WIN
In an effort to fight growing childhood obesity rates throughout the country, Whole Foods Market has created the Whole Kids Foundation, to provide children with access to healthy food choices through partnerships with schools, educators, and organizations. Schools can apply to win a grant to get a garden or salad bar installed in the school. In the past awards have been given to numerous schools including, Ossining High School, Ossining; NY School for the Deaf, White Plains; Central Elementary School, Larchmont; School of the Holy Child, Rye and Yonkers Public School 29, Yonkers. Download the complete Whole Kids Foundation Brochure (wholekidsfoundation.org) to learn more and enter your school today!
