How to pack a healthy school lunch and #RockTheLunchbox. This post is sponsored by Rock The Lunchbox and I am thrilled to partner with them and bring you more useful information to make packing school lunches easier!
Packing school lunch is something I take pretty seriously. I see it as an opportunity to send my son to school with good quality fuel to learn and move all day. I also see it as a teaching opportunity.
Now that he is in first grade, I am getting him more involved. One of the best ways to get him focused on picking out and eating healthy vegetables is to focus on color. I’ll ask him for two or three colors and then give him options within those.
Example: If he chooses “red”, I will offer him grape tomatoes, red bell pepper or roasted radishes in butter.
We also have some ground rules.
- Think about fuel first. We try to encourage him to eat his protein, cheese and/or veggies and fruits before hitting the snacks. He has gotten really good at this – granted, it has taken a while but it’s worth it and this will hopefully stick with him for life.
- Don’t eat your “treat” until you eat the real food. Meaning save the chocolate (always #dyefree and natural!) or special treat for the very end. He knows that he if honors this, he will get these treats more often. This also empowers him and gives him ownership over making a good decision.
- Finish your lunch in the car. You know how kids get in the car and are starving and want a snack? Well, that is the time to finish your lunch. Especially if that special treat is still waiting. I also keep my car stocked with some quick snacks in case all of the lunch is already gone! My kids are big eaters and get seriously Hangry.
- We only pack food you like. Period. End of story. Lunchtime at school is not the right environment for taste testing and trying new foods. I have found that food gets wasted and kids go hungry if they don’t actually like or enjoy the options.
- Get them involved! The older kids get, the more they can get involved, pack some of their own lunch (or all of it depending on age) and make requests.
Rock the Lunch Box is a great online resource for all of us lunch-packing parents. Applegate, Annie’s, Honest Kids and Rudi’s Organic Bakery have come together to create Rock the Lunch Box and provide inspiration as well as contribute to the community to support FoodCorps.
FoodCorps provides nutrition education in schools all across the country. Some of the ways that they offer support are with hands-on education lessons in both the classroom and school gardens, cafeteria events which introduce new, healthy foods to kids and working with schools to produce and harvest real food from school gardens that is then used in the classroom and cafeteria.
So, what did I (we) pack for lunch today? This is a typical #MavenLunch. Colorful, healthy fuel that tastes great and I feel good about my son eating.
What is your #1 school-lunch packing tip or trick? How do you get your kids to eat healthy food at school? I’d love to hear it in the comments below!
For more lunch packing inspiration, tools, tips and even coupons, make sure to head to Rock the Lunch Box.
DISCLOSURE:Â This post is sponsored by Rock the Lunch Box (RTLB). RTLB provided me with product coupons and compensated me for my time to share my lunch packing tips with you. Thank you for supporting the brands that make EverydayMaven possible. All opinions are my own.
JANINE ANNANDALE says
Where did you get this tin lunch box????? It rocks! The plastic ones just break so easily!!!
EverydayMaven says
Hi Janine! You can get it directly on their website or on Amazon — http://amzn.to/2fzEG5l. They are spendy but they last for years. We have had ours for 3 years and it still looks brand new.
John/Kitchen Riffs says
With a lunch like this, I’d love to be in first grade again! Well not really, but you know what I mean. 🙂
EverydayMaven says
I totally know what you mean!