School going children should be given a lunch box packed with nutritious food and snacks. This is important not only for their overall development and health but also helps them to focus and concentrate. A healthy lunch box should include fresh fruit, crunchy vegetables and a combination of protein, dairy and carbohydrate foods. You can set a good example with your own lunches. You should encourage children to help choose and prepare their own lunch. You should praise your children when they choose healthy foods for their lunch box. The lunch box should be properly packed as there are chances of bacterial growth and the risk of food poisoning.
For keeping the food safe, nutritious, and tasty in lunchboxes you should follow these 5 simple tips:
- Maintain the hygiene: The person packing the lunch box for children must take care of cleanliness because if hygiene is not maintained the food packed may be exposed to the contamination. Thus it is important to wash your hands and utensils, dishes, and everything else which is going to touch your child’s food. Also wash all the lunch boxes properly after every use.
- Maintain the right temperature: Children are at higher risk of foodborne illness as their immune systems are not sufficiently developed to resist the bacteria that can grow on foods which is kept on room temperature for longer. Food kept at temperatures between 40 and 140 degrees F. are not safe to consume.
- Choose safe lunch box or bottles: Use of nontoxic insulated lunch bags will help keep cold foods cold and hot foods hot thus less chances of bacterial growth in food. Also you should buy BPA-free reusable plastic bottles for beverages like juices.
- Be careful while choosing the food to be packed: You should be careful while choosing food for lunch box as few may cause chocking to the children. Whole nuts, hard candies, whole grapes and cherries, spoonful of peanut butter etc. may cause choking. To reduce the hazards one can cut the grapes and cherries into two pieces, chop the nuts, spread the peanut butter and hard candies, popcorns, chewing gum etc. should be avoided in lunch box.
- Type of food: Pack the food according to its type for example if you are packing meat, fish, milk, cut fruits and vegetables, soft cheese, yogurt, pasta salad etc. it should be packed cold. Whereas breads, peanut butter, whole or uncut vegetables and fruits, dried fruits etc. are good to be packed at room temperature. Soups and refried or baked beans could be packed either hot or cold.
You should try to give variety of food in your kid’s lunch box and try to keep the presentation interesting this helps picky eaters to finish the lunch.
If you are short of ideas try these 6 innovative healthy lunchbox ideas.
– Yashoda Datta Sharma –
Mommy of twins with a passion for writing. Loves to help fellow moms in their wonderful journey of motherhood. She has done B.A. LL.B and LL.M and her hobbies include writing and photography. She also loves to travel.