Don’t miss this article by Georgia from Well Nourished Australia; well known author of the Well Nourished Lunch Box and Rise & Shine, the Well Nourished Breakfast Book.
How often do your kids take veggies to school? I know mine hardly ever do, preferring fruit as, well, they don’t really eat whatever veggies I add to their lunch box. They may eat a tomato, some gherkins (whether this is even classed as ‘vegetable’ I don’t know but I’m claiming it anyway)…. Fruits go just fine, there’s lots of fruits they like to eat, but vegetables are much harder. I’ve had success with dried bean/pea type products, but these come in packets and I would much prefer to make my own.
70% of lunch boxes contain no vegetables
Well, if your kids are like mine, we’re not alone. Georgia mentions that according to a study done at Griffith University, most kids don’t eat their veg. They found that more than 70% of school lunches contained no vegetables at all. No judgement from me, trust me, I get it. But wouldn’t it be great to work on this and provide our kids with as many vegetables and healthy foods as possible, for the most awesome start to life! And it seems to be one thing all health authorities agree on – we all need more vegetables.
Georgia: So today I thought I’d share some tips and recipes to help you get more vegetables into your kids school lunch and gobbled-up!
Yes please! I love it when the kids lunches come back all gobbled-up. Oh, the excitement of mums….
Ok, some key points I took away, and then I’ll let you read this article for yourself.
Healthy Kids Lunch Box Tips
- Talk to them. Wow. I have no idea why I hadn’t done this yet, but this tip is brilliant. Rather than throwing in those carrot sticks and hoping for the best, talk to your kids about why those veggies are good for them, and why that’s relevant. Like, eat your carrots, because…. when you’re reading your horse you’ll be able to see better. Or things like that. Or my little one loves
- Have them choose. Another huge difference made. Now I ask them which vegetable they would like to take for lunch. Okay, would you like carrots so you can see better or would you like the sweet potato so your skin glows like a princess?
- Pack cooked vegetables. Never even crossed my mind, but yes! Why not? My girls adore potato salad so why wouldn’t you put it in their lunch box. And cooked sweet potato is yummy cold. Next step is to choose between cauliflower and broccoli – wonder how we go there 😀
I’m off to check out Georgia’s Fermented Carrot Sticks – Be sure to read the rest of this article on the Well Nourished website – Healthy Lunch Box Tips and Recipes
