How To Build A Healthy Lunch For Kids
- Try to include at least 3 food groups
- Make one food group protein to help keep them full
- Avoid sugary drinks like soda, juice, lemonade, etc.
- Serve foods in an age appropriate way and in age appropriate serving sizes
- Include different colors to make the meal more appealing
- Limit high sugar and sodium foods
- Serve a variety of foods instead of the same ones to encourage them to try new foods
Some Of The Things I Keep In Mind While Packing School Lunches
- I dont experiment much for school lunches, its mostly what they like. If I want them to try something new, I only introduce them when they are eating at home.
- I always include fruits or fresh veggies like cherry tomato, cucumber or carrot with their lunch box.
- Occasionally juice, but mostly water.
- Depending on what I give, I love packing the food in steel containers or thermos. Thermos keeps the food warm and kids love it.
- Some days I also include crackers, chips, any homemade savory snacks, or something sweet.
Disclaimer: Please note that I am not a dietician, these are some of the recipes which worked for our family. Use this just as reference and adapt to what works for your child.
Lunch Box Packing Tools
Besides having a lunch box, its great to have some of these tools on hand to make it easier to pack fun lunches.
- Silicone Cupcake Liners: not just for muffins, these holders are great for sectioning off different foods from each other .
- Small Cutters: these are great for fruits, veggies, cheese and small sandwiches.
- Sandwich Shape Cutters: an easy way to turn any sandwich into a fun shape.
- Uncrustable Cutters:just like the store-bought, at a fraction of the price.
- Small Dip Containers: great for dips, sauces or small treats.
- Ice Pack: helps keep your childs lunch cold.
- Water Bottle:to send cold water for lunch. Read my Buying Guide: Best Kids Water Bottles for a more in-depth look at our favorite brands.
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Zafrani Pulao Recipe In Hindi
A rich and exotic rice recipe! Basmati rice cooked in saffron, milk, nuts and cardamom is a must in every lavish lunch spread. Laced with a luscious mix of milk and sugar, this pulao recipe is simple irresistible. Try this delicious recipe to get it right in the corners of your kitchen.
Zafrani Pulao can be the star dish at your next dinner party menu.
Chettinad preparations can infuse life even in the most dullest of ingredients. Spicy and tangy mushrooms cooked in a gravy made with tamarind extract, coconut and chillies. Mushroom Chettinad goes best with piping hot chapatis or rice.
Rich and spicy Mushroom Chettinad recipe in Hindi is a must try.Experience an explosion of flavours with Doi maach recipe in Hindi.
How To Deal With Picky Eaters
When your toddler doesn’t want to eat anything or refuses to eat anything other than a specific food, mealtimes can feel like a tug-of-war on such days. You will encounter many moments like these, and it doesnââ¬â¢t mean that your toddler won’t eat a balanced diet ever again. This picky-eating phase is quite normal in toddlerhood.
Avoid pushing the subject of eating or trying to force any particular food when such a phase occurs, as it may make things worse. Try offering him different varieties of foods, let him choose what appeals to him in that moment and allow him to try new foods at his own pace. Read more about what to do if your toddler is a fussy eater.
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Back To School Lunch Ideas
20 easy back-to-school lunch ideas for kids to make that morning rush a little easier!!
In this post, I’m sharing easy, nut-free, healthy, kid-friendly, and delicious lunchbox ideas that include Indian, Global, and vegetarian recipes with lunchbox packing tips and tricks!!
It’s August month which means back-to-school time for many of us. It also means kids’ lunchboxes from Monday to Friday for the new school year.
Coming up with new school lunch ideas every day can be overwhelming and I feel we all need help and inspiration in this department. Here is my share!!
In this post, I’m sharing a few of our favorite school lunch ideas that are easy, healthy, nutritious yet fun, and delicious.
From Pasta, Pizza to Paratha, sandwiches, and rice, from Indian to Global recipes like Mexican, Italian with vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options. You will find a variety of recipes to chose from to pack a healthy school lunch and snack for your children.
I’ve included a few tips and tricks to help you pack meals and make this lunchbox journey easy and less stressful.
Check out my other post School Lunch Ideas for Kids where I’ve documented our Kindergarten lunch box and snack box ideas in more detail.
Indian Sloppy Joes: Pav Bhaji
This Pav Bhaji is the perfect Indian inspired street food, but it has a healthy and nutritional twist that is insanely good. Munching on this Indian spiced, sloppy-joe-style healthy sandwich will keep the entire family happy. Feel free to use burger buns, dinner rolls, or slices of bread for serving. Great for lunch or an easy recipe for dinner!
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Lunch Box Ideas For Kids Rice Recipes
You can pack these either with a salad or some healthy baked chips or a stir fried vegetable to make it interesting. You can also check these 75 rice recipes for better choice. Below is the list of recipes that have been liked by my friends kids, readers kids and my kids for lunch box.
All the fried rice recipes can be made without using soya sauce. Just skip them in the recipe. Use a good quality vinegar. Limit the use of soya sauce for kids. It is a hormone disruptor and is not good to use often. If using, use naturally brewed or organic soya sauce. Kikkoman is one of the popular brands of naturally brewed soya sauce available in India as well. Avoid the use of sauces with added msg, colors or preservatives in E series.
Tips For Helping Kids Try New Foods
These 9 tips have helped me raise young kids who love vegetables! If you follow these consistently over time, youll be able to change any picky eaters habits in your house!
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What Can You Feed Your 1
An easy lunch option for a toddler can include a half sandwich of chicken, tuna salad, egg salad, or even peanut butter. Serve with a half cup of steamed green vegetables, like green beans. Finish with a half cup of berries or a small low-fat oatmeal cookie. Your toddler can wash it all down with a half cup of whole or 2 percent milk.
About Lunch Box Recipes
Lunch Box Menu decision is a challenging task than cooking the menu itself. We have thousands of options to choose from but what we can cook for the lunch box for that day is a thousand dollar question each day moms come across thats how I landed up writing this post.
The next puzzling factor is the likes & dislikes of each of the members in the family. Mittu and Gugu are different extremes in their choice of food Mittu loves more of North Indian & Global cuisine while Gugu loves more of South Indian cuisine. School / Office timing, Recipe cooking time & easiness, our kitchen inventory / stock, occasions, healthy options, etc are other deciding factors for Lunch Box Menu for a day.
I have made an attempt here accommodating all the above factors to organise the lunch box menu ideas and presented Lunch Box Recipe Combos which are nutritious & delicious and at the same time quick & easy to cook for moms.
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Other Options To Pack
Packing other snacks and fruits along with the main dish is always a good idea to add variety and balance.
Here are a few ideas I like to share on that.
- Veggies – Cherry tomatoes, Cucumber slices, sliced carrots, Air-fried baby carrots, air fried broccoli along with the main dish.
- Fruitslike grapes, melons, bananas, small apples, and kiwi.
- Store-bought snacks like vegan bars, peanut pretzels, and cookies.
- Nuts – Almonds, roasted cashews, and raisins.
- Dips and sauces – ketchup, ranch, Indian chutney, and salsa.
Lunch Ideas For Kids At Home
The recipe prices will vary based on fluctuating grocery costs. Please use what is posted as a guide.
Heres a list of 60 Lunch Ideas For Kids At Home. Use this list when kids are on spring or summer break for easy recipes to get lunch served quickly. There are even recipes easy enough that the kids can make themselves! Now, who doesnt love that?!
From English Muffin Pizzas to Chicken Parmesan Subs, we have gathered the best of the best Lunch Ideas for Kids at Home to help make things a little easier for you.
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Indian Stew With Rice And Lentils
This Indian Stew with rice and lentils create a complete protein in this one pot vegetarian meal. A combination of fresh vegetables and Indian spices give this stew a rich depth of flavor. Feel free to change things up by using wild rice, quinoa or even coconut rice with these lentils. Perfect for an easy family dinner!
Tips For Packing School Lunches
I am sharing a few helpful tips and tricks for packing school lunches and snacks.
- Plan your lunchbox in advance: Take time on the weekends or the previous night to decide what you’ll serve in the days ahead. You can also make handy printables. You can prep the night before as much as possible to ease your stressful mornings. For example – make the dosa batter, chapati dough, filling for paratha, sandwich, cool completely, and refrigerate. You can also chop some veggies, fruits and store them in the fridge.
- Get your kids involved in lunchbox planning It is an inspiring way for them to learn and try about new foods. You can also ask them to help chop the fruits and veggies, skewer the fruits on toothpicks, make the sandwich, or pack the food in the lunchbox.
- Bento Box – I love using bento-style stainless steel lunchboxes with compartments as it allows me to pack a variety of foods like main lunch meal, snacks like fruits, veggies, sweet treats, and sides like sauce, and dips.
- Thermos: You can pack hot soups and pasta in a thermos to keep the food warm and retain its consistency on a chilly or rainy day.
- Water: Always filtered water, but occasionally I send fresh homemade juice like orange or strawberry.
- Balanced Meal: Pack a well-balanced meal with fruits, vegetables, whole grains, unprocessed foods, carbs, protein, and dairy. Consider the below nutrient-dense foods.
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Here Are Some Delicious Lunch Recipes In Hindi That Are Going To Make The Wait Even More Worth It
Lunch Recipes in Hindi- ‘Lunch is ready!’ are the three magic words that work their spell on us more than anything else in the world. Lets admit it, one of the biggest highlight in the chaos filled and jam packed day is when we break for lunch. Be it at your own house or your office, a delicious lunch works as an instant mood lifter, makes you forget all your daily woes and recharges you for what’s about to come in the day. It is also said that during the lunch hours, our metabolism is very high, hence you must make the most of it.
Memories Of My Lunch Box
My Lunchbox memories reminds me of school days when friendship grew with the sharing of food & dining together. And there are days when my lunch box gets over in the breaks because of the hostel friends and I go to canteens for lunch. My mom used to send separate lunchbox during occasions and special menu days. She tried different menus as I was a very fussy eater. I still remember my friends were so excited to see my lunchbox and they loved each most of my menus, all credits to amma who was so keen in packing delicious and healthy food at the same time. As a kid I never understood the pain but now I realise it when I pack it for my kids.
Vegetarian Menu for a reason: There are some foods that bacteria can grow and multiply on more easily than others which may lead to food poisoning within 3-4 hours of cooking under normal packaged conditions. These include meat, poultry, dairy products, eggs, seafood and prepared fruit salads.
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Indian Snacks For Kids
I am so glad my daughter has come around to enjoying Vada Pav. She skips the chutneys, but enjoys eating the vada stuffed in buttered pav.
Friday dinners are often pizza in our house. You can vary the topping to your choice. This one is easy and kids enjoy the paneer topping.
You can stuff the below puffs with potato or paneer or mixed veggies.
We make the below taro fries as a side too. They are very much like French fries that kids love!
Diy Pb& j With Crackers
Crackers are served with a container of peanut butter and another container filled with jam as well as carrots, olives, golden kiwi, mini grapes, cut strawberries and raspberries and mini dark chocolate chips. Eye picks can be found here.
Allergy-Friendly: GF use gluten-free crackers, DF use dairy-free chocolate chips, NF use sun butter instead of peanut butter.
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School Lunch Box Ideas For Kids
on5 stars
The ultimate list of over 30 healthy and easy school lunch box ideas for kids! In this guide, you will find 30 real-life school lunch ideas, 25 of our favorite school lunch recipes, a list of our favorite lunch boxes, tips on how to make packing school lunches easier, as well as allergy substitutions for gluten, dairy and nut-free lunches. Great for daycare, preschool or elementary school-aged kids!
Medically reviewed and co-written by Jamie Johnson, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist , and Lauren Braaten, Pediatric Occupational Therapist .
In this guide, youll find:
Kids Lunch Box Ideas Pasta Paratha Bread Sandwich Recipes
These are not stuffed parathas and are easy to make. Some of them do not need much kneading and soaking time too, yet they turn out to be mouth melting. These parathas do not need any side dish, but if you wish to include more veggies, you can use these to roll up some steamed or sauteed veggies. A chutney or salad too makes a good side for these. I have also included some bread sandwich recipes which are liked by kids.
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Take A Look At Our 15 Heart
A delicious dish made with freshly bought okra. Grab some mustard oil, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, finely-chopped onions, ginger and a pinch of amchoor. We promise you’ll make this recipe a regular affair in your weekly menu.Masala Bhindi is a perfect side dish for lunch which you can cook in a jiffy.
A classic dish that never goes out of style. The quintessential chana kulcha needs only a few ingredients – cumin powder, ginger, coriander powder, carom powder and some mango powder, which is what gives the chana it’s sour and tangy taste. A popular dish from Punjab that is loved throughout the country.
Healthy Kids Lunch Box Recipes
Jan 18, 2023. by Bhavana Patil. | This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
75+ Healthy Vegetarian and Vegan Indian Kids School Lunch Box recipes ideas that your kids will love! These recipes are filled with wholesome ingredients, packed with nutrients, and will keep your kids satisfied all afternoon.
You can also find tips on packing school lunchboxes and a list of our favorite lunch box packing tools. Great for preschool, kindergarten, and elementary school-aged kids.
Hello, its back to school time, Here I am sharing healthy, easy, kid-friendly lunches and snacks that I serve my daughter Dhwani Monday to Friday, along with a few tips & tricks here and there. I hope you find this post useful to pack meals for your children.
If you landed on this page, I am sure you got some naughty & playful kids at home And we agree that for most kids – The mother is by default a “Lifetime Master Chef”.
No wonder we Mothers constantly keep looking for yummy breakfast ideas or lunch ideas, or healthy snack ideas for our kids. This seems like a herculean task. So saluting all these wonderful Mother’s, I would like to share my proud collection of 75+Healthy Kids Lunch Box Recipes.
From pasta, sandwiches, rice, to parathas, you can find a variety of options for your lovely kids. Trust me your kids will love these Indian Veg lunch box ideas & would ask for more & more.
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