Shakin & Bakin Foodie Blog

My little grand daughter is attending her first year at school. She attends Kindergarten all day long and primarily packs a lunch for school. When I pack her lunches, I make sure she gets a well balanced and healthy lunch to munch on and I throw in a few surprises from time to time too.

Childhood obesity is a problem and according to the CDC, Childhood obesity has more than doubled in the past 30 years, a frighteningly high statistic for the youth of America.

Here are some great healthy school lunchbox ideas and some tips I learned along the way.

* Teach your children from an early age to eat "healthier" breads...wheat, whole grains, etc. In addition, introduce them to flat wraps and soft tortillas too. Use these to make their lunchtime sandwiches.

* Always toss in some fresh veggies and fruits for your child to munch on. We rotate the following choices to keep it interesting: celery with peanut butter, carrot sticks, grapes, apple slices, banana plain or with peanut butter, mandarin oranges, etc. Twice a week we also pack a mini salad and are blessed that Gia was taught early on to enjoy a good freshly-made salad.

* Homemade Soups - Every week when I cook lunch and dinners here at home I always make a little extra. I freeze these portions in small plastic snack-sized containers and pack them in my grand daughter's lunchbox. The cafeteria aides will reheat them for her in the cafeteria's microwave. Not every school has this option, but her's does.

* Additional Snacks: mini bags of granola, Welch's Fruit Snacks, mini boxes raisins, mini boxes yogurt covered raisins, mini packs of peanuts, Lance's Whole Grain Cracker Sandwiches, jello and pudding snack cups, apple sauce snack cups, etc.
Note: We do not buy those expensive and typically "un-healthy" prepackaged lunch meals that are marketed towards kid's school lunches. They are loaded with sodium, preservatives and other things that growing bodies do not need! If you are buying them for your kids, please read the labels carefully. While they are convenient, most are not healthy and they are all definitely expensive!

As a parent and now a grandparent, I firmly believe that you must teach your children to eat healthy at a very early age. If you do, they will carry those healthy eating habits into their school years and adulthood.


Disclaimer: Shelly Hill has personally reviewed the product listed above. Shelly has not received any monetary compensation for her review. Shelly did receive a free product to try out so she could evaluate and use it for her review. Her thoughts & opinions in this review are unbiased & honest and your opinions may differ. The Shakin N Bakin Blog is not responsible for delivery/shipping of giveaway items won from this blog nor are we responsible for mis-use or injury caused by items won from this Blog. Content on this blog is copyrighted, all rights reserved. We reserve the right to legally pursue anyone who violates our rights and/or steals our copyrighted material.