Meal Plan for Back-to-School

I have been a fan of the Sunday Comics since I could read. These days I love when I find a message in one of the strips that is particularly relevant to an issue I’m dealing with myself or helping clients through. This one is the perfect intro to a blog about meal prep, planning and packing for this hectic time of year.

These strategies apply to kids, parents and teachers as we’re all looking for quick and nutritious meals, that will actually get eaten and not tossed into the trash as they stand in line for the school pizza or nuggets and fries.

One of the first steps for parents to get their kids to eat real food and learn about nutritious food choices is to get them involved. Start young with what is age appropriate for them.

• Preschool age ( 3-5 yr): Choosing colorful fruits and vegetables at the store, washing them and putting them into containers. Spreading avocado, nut butter or mustard on sandwich and assembling the parts. Filling a water bottle.

• Early Elementary School (6 -8 yr): Above plus peeling hard boiled egg and basic kitchen skills like cutting an apple and using a toaster, with supervision. Reading a nutrition facts label to identify sugar and protein content. Assembling foods for a meal based on guidelines of protein, starch, color (fruit/vegetable). Planning when to have selected treats during the week. Setting the table.

• Later Elementary School (9-11 yr): Above plus basic cooking skills like cooking a quesadilla and scrambling eggs.

• Middle School (12-13 yr): Above plus reading ingredients label for sugars, artificial colors, stimulants, or personal allergens. Learning best foods to order at restaurants or when eating out.

• High School and beyond (14+ yr): Good luck. Only slightly kidding. At this age teens should be able to read a recipe and prepare anything in the kitchen. If you’ve laid the ground work leading up to now they can handle their own and make decent food choices and prepare the foods. The challenge is getting them to practice what they know to be true. If you tie their food choices into their priorities it helps.

  • Sugar and processed foods can trigger acne.

  • Proper nutrition enhances athletic performance.

  • High fat processed foods and low intake of vegetables and fruits can cause digestive issues (gas, constipation, diarrhea) and NO ONE wants to use the school bathroom.

  • When they have to spend their money on food eaten out with friends they will eat at home more often.

Now, what to pack??

The key with kids is keeping them “full & focused.” Do you remember the frosted mini-wheat cereal commercial? Well it’s not cereal, but PROTEIN that is they key nutrient.

I find it’s easiest for parents to focus the lunch around protein and the rest of the meal falls into place.

It can be complicated to count grams of protein when packing a kids lunch, and daily needs vary by age, size, activity level, etc. It’s easier to aim for 2 sources of quality protein in the lunch.

Examples of protein sources:

• Sandwich with nitrate free deli meat (turkey, chicken, ham, etc.) or roll ups.

• Chicken, tuna or egg salad on sandwich or with crackers.

• Quesadilla (fill with cheese, chopped spinach, shredded meat, and / or beans)

• Hard boiled / Deviled eggs (peeled)

• Cheese stick.

• Yogurt (<8g sugar)

• Trail mix (nuts & fruit)

• Nut butter pouches

• Bean & cheese burrito

• Nitrate-free jerky

The next priority should be fruit and vegetables. These will pack fiber and vitamins and minerals. You may be shaking your head thinking, yeah right, my kids’ not going to eat this when other kids are eating Doritos.

We eat with our eyes first – get creative with colors. Slice red and green apples, mix up the berries, make it colorful so it’s inviting. And BE CONSISTENT. Start at the beginning of this school year setting the routine that every lunch contains fruit/ vegetables. Period.

Examples of fruit/vegetables for lunch:

• Whole fruit/cut up: apple, pear, citrus, berries, grapes, pear, plum, peaches, melon, you get the idea. Consider small container of nut butter or yogurt for dipping.

• Vegetables in bite size pieces: carrot, celery, pepper, snap peas, cherry tomato, small florets of broccoli or cauliflower – though watch out for foods that could get stuck in their teeth – not fun at school! Offer a fun dip like individual containers of hummus or guacamole.

• Cole slaw

• Salad – you’d be surprised how many kids like salad for school lunch!

• Last resort would be apple sauce or other pureed fruit cups or pouches or dried fruit. These often have added sugar and are missing the fiber of the whole fruit, making blood sugar impact greater. Dried fruit is missing the water of whole fresh fruit making the sugar content higher as well.

If your child is a grazer consider a “snack lunch” where you pack smaller portions of different foods they can pick at that will add up to a nutritious meal.

Snack Lunch ideas:

• Nitrate-free pepperoni/salami/rolled up deli meat and cheese (use toothpicks)

• Mini-mozzarella cheese balls and cherry tomatoes

• Nuts and dried fruit

• Berries and a small cup of yogurt (<8 g sugar)

• Crackers and cheese

• Veggies and hummus cup

• Chips and guacamole/salsa

Lunch is a fun time for kids to get a break from the classroom and many are looking for that snack. When choosing a salty/crunchy snack read the labels. Watch for ingredients and portion size. Don’t get me started on why the USA allows products on the market until proven harmful, where other countries require them first proven safe.

Tips for choosing snacks:

• The fewer ingredients the better – avoid items with ingredients you don’t recognize or can’t pronounce.

• Avoid

• HFCS (high fructose corn syrup)

• inflammatory hydrogenated and seed oils (canola, cottonseed, soy, corn, ‘vegetable’)

• avoid nitrates and MSG (these will likely be all the ingredients you can’t pronounce)

• Artificial colors and flavors including titanium dioxide (https://www.npr.org/2022/07/22/1112929301/skittles-lawsuit-titanium-dioxide)

• Read portion sizes, many containers are actually multiple portions, and a standard sandwich size zip-top bag is typically more than one portion of most foods.

It can feel overwhelming sometimes trying to know what to feed the kids that is nutritious and will actually be eaten.

My tips:

• Take it one step at a time. It matters more what kids eat over the course of a week than in a single meal or day.

• Be consistent, it can take kids dozens of exposures to a new food to actually try or enjoy it. The earlier you start, the better.

• Talk to them and get kids involved in shopping. For example, rather than asking if they want apples, have them pick the type. “None” isn’t an option.

• Don’t. Stress. Out. The goal is healthy kids and that means body and mind. We don’t want healthy eating to be a stressor.

Do you need more support planning, prepping and packing meals for the kids or for yourself?

Are you struggling with what to pack for kids with allergies or how to plan meals and snacks around sports schedules?

Do you need some help managing a picky eater?

I’m here to help! Schedule a FREE consultation and we can chat about it.