Well, we are a few weeks into school starting! I don’t know about you, but I’ve already had the dreaded conversation of what my kids want to eat for lunch. From the outside looking in, it seems like this wouldn’t be a hard task. I mean I fed them all summer! But for some reason when it comes to making lunch for school, it is a difficult argument! Can you relate? It does feel better knowing I’m not alone. And the good news is neither are you! While this topic can be a sore subject in our house, I do have some tips to share with you on how I build healthy lunches my kids will actually eat!
My kids are actually good eaters. They eat a good variety of foods but most of the foods they want to eat can’t be neatly packed into a cute little lunch box. And there friends, lies my problem! There are really no simple sandwiches happening here because they barely eat cold cuts! When asked they generally ask for a snack style lunch which is fine but everything else is like an elaborate meal. Now, it’s fantastic that they eat well and I am very happy about it but it makes packing lunch hard!
#01 Asking For Input
When I sit down to write down my food shopping list, I make my kids sit with me. We talk about what they would like to see in their lunch and snack box the following week. Asking for their input was the best change I made. There is no more guessing and no more arguments of “But I don’t like that!” Well, less arguments anyway, they still decide they no longer like foods after eating them forever!
When I first started doing this I took a piece of paper and drew 4 boxes on the paper. I wrote fruit, vegetable, protein, carbs/fat. Then we sat together and talked about each box one at a time. So for fruit I sat with each of them and asked them what fruit they liked to eat and I wrote it in the box. I did that with each of the boxes. I then had a menu of a bunch of foods they liked and wanted to eat!
From time to time we will revisit the menu because, as we know, kids’ likes and dislikes change like the wind! Sometimes they come up with new things they would like to try and some things they don’t want to have in their lunch or snack anymore. We then adjust their menu! You don’t need to make an elaborate project out of it, just a piece of paper will do!
#02 Make It Balanced
Once you have your menu life is about to get a little less complicated. From there I balance out their lunch boxes. I will choose foods from each of the boxes and make a meal out of it. Sometimes it is a full meal and sometimes it is more of a snack style lunch where they have a bunch of different options.
The most important part for me is that they are eating all types of foods to make a well balanced meal. I do the same thing with their snack! Having the menu helps me make sure they are eating the right foods and helps them be happy about what they are seeing in their lunch boxes!
#03 But…
I wanted to make a separate section for this, just in case you are sitting there reading this thinking, but my kids won’t do that. You do not have to have 50 items in each category. Even if you can get 1 or 2, that will be a success! I can tell you vegetables can be hard. For my kids they rotate between carrots and bell peppers. They will eat other vegetables when we have dinner but those are the ones they are willing to eat at school. So instead of arguing and making them eat different ones, I don’t. I just pack them carrots and peppers. It’s not worth an argument!
If you are struggling to get your kids to branch out then I am going to highly recommend this trick to you. Start having a new food night. This doesn’t mean a whole new recipe, it can be as simple as a raw pepper. It’s just picking a food your kids haven’t tried or haven’t tried in a long time. You pick the food. Then as a family you use your senses to describe the food. Make it fun! Let them express how they really feel about it!
The key to making this work is don’t make the new food part of their meal. Make this completely separate and then respect their opinions. At first they will stick with their go to, “I don’t like it” but eventually as they realize they can try things and won’t have to eat it, they will be willing to try new foods.
Changes to eating habits are not going to change overnight. The best piece of advice I can give you is to work with your kids rather than just making them eat what you say. You will both be a lot more happy in the end!
Want to check out that sensory chart? Click the link below and grab a copy!
