Inexpensive and Healthy Kids Lunch Ideas

In many cases the food offered for a kids lunch at their school is not very healthy and is usually expensive. There is however hope for you MOM as it is possible to pack a healthy lunch for your child that is not expensive. While you are about it, why not make one extra for yourself to enjoy.

In order to make these ideas work you will need to follow certain easy steps:

Firstly you need to plan ahead so that you don’t run out of ideas and ingredients on the days that you make up the lunches. This can be accomplished by following recipes in books, magazines, on the internet and social media, as well as tips from family and friends.

Secondly you need to be a smart shopper, snapping up any specials that are offered at the various supermarkets. Buying in bulk, if you can, is also an idea.

Lastly cooking in advance and in larger quantities or bulk can also save you time and money. As you are always busy cooking for the family why not cook a little more and store the extra food in the freezer. You will now be able to take the extra food from the freezer when needed and prepare a healthy meal in minutes and at no extra cost.   

Now down to the important stuff. What can these meals consist of?                                                   

• The main ingredient for a healthy meal is a protein which usually needs to be cooked. This can be meats, poultry or fish. I can already see many eyebrows raised because this type of food cannot be kept for too long. Make sure to use the food for their lunch the day after you cooked it for supper the previous evening. Other proteins that you can use without this problem are beans, nuts or vegetables.
• The next ingredient necessary is raw vegetables and fruit. This can be in the form of carrot sticks or apples. It is easy to wash and cut and will only take you less than five minutes to prepare. Some dried fruits like apples are also an option.
• We then come to the last ingredient which is healthy fats. Avocados are recommended, when in season, and can be frozen until it is needed. In times when avocados are not in season all types of nuts are a winner and no preparation is necessary.      

It is very important to try and keep these meals as “kid friendly” as possible giving them something that they will enjoy. 

Here is another recipe that has proved a favourite with the kids and is reasonable cheap and takes very little time to prepare:

 Take a whole wheat pita and spread the inside with some low-fat cream cheese. Then add a few thin slices of cooked chicken together with some baby spinach and a few slices of cucumber. This seems to be a good meal for the kids as they love the cream cheese taste and it is also very healthy for them. To complete the meal you can add a low-sugar drink. 

There is the problem that you might face, where a child does not go for all these prepared meals. So a solution is to pack different types of snacks for them. This meal can consist of various types of crackers, some cheese slices, baby tomatoes, pretzel sticks, small packets of nick- naks, apple slices, nuts, a hardboiled egg and you can even throw in a few cookies. The ingredients listed here are only a few of all the snacks, you can use whatever you have available. This option also allows you to regulate the size of the meal to suit your child’s taste.  This also requires little to no cooking and the option is healthy and affordable.