Bored with lunch making?

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Don’t forget about leftovers! Packing leftovers in your child’s lunch can save you time and energy, and kids love them. When you’re deciding what to cook for dinner, think about how you might incorporate leftovers into a lunch for the following day. Make a few extra servings for dinner and set them aside for the next day’s lunch. While you’re doing the after dinner kitchen clean-up, place the Laptop Lunches on the counter. As you’re putting away the food, pack some of the extras in the Laptop Lunches and refrigerate overnight. Here are a few ideas for making it work:

• If you make chicken breasts, prepare an extra serving and slice it for sandwiches the next day instead of purchasing deli lunch meat.
• If you’re making a salad for dinner, slice some extra vegetables, such as cucumbers, carrots, bell peppers, and celery, or make an extra undressed salad directly in the Laptop Lunch. (Make extra dressing and pour it into the dip container.)
• While you’re making dinner, boil a few eggs. Pack the eggs whole, make deviled eggs, or use them in egg salad.
• Make extra pasta, couscous, or rice and make side salads for lunch by cutting up vegetables and adding salad dressing.
• Grill extra vegetables and use them in sandwiches.
• Make an extra baked potato and pack it with nutritious toppings.

• Cheese, avocado, and sprouts
• Grilled cheese with cucumber or sprouts
• Leftover grilled vegetables (bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, eggplant, zucchini) with sliced cheese, goat cheese, or pesto sauce
• Cheddar or mozzarella cheese with apple slices
• Brie cheese with mustard and sprouts
• Cheese, tomato, sprouts or lettuce, and pesto sauce
• Leftover turkey loaf with tomatoes, and lettuce or sprouts
• Sliced leftover chicken or turkey, cranberry sauce, and lettuce
• Sliced leftover chicken or turkey, honey mustard, tomatoes, and lettuce or sprouts
• Sliced leftover beef with mayonnaise or horseradish, sliced tomato and cucumbers
• Chicken salad made with celery, lettuce, and tomato
• Tuna/cucumber/green pepper salad with tomato
• Salmon salad with lettuce or sprouts
• Shrimp salad with lettuce or sprouts
• Lowfat cream cheese, and smoked salmon (with tomato, and red onion)

Want to pack healthier lunches for your kids?

Here’s a list of healthy lunch foods. Mix and match to see what combinations you can come up with. Share the list with your children and ask them to choose which foods they’d like to take to school. Reduce your work load by encouraging older children to pack their own lunches. Make sure you have plenty of choices on hand for them to choose from each day.


Quick-Reference Lunch Ideas

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• Prepare your child. Talk with your child about nutrition and the importance of developing a healthy body. Together, come up with a family plan, including a list of steps the family wants to take to transition to a more healthful diet. Post the list in a place where everyone can see it.
• Think Positively. If your child sees you enjoying these changes, he will be more likely to join in.
• Involve your child. Children of all ages can help with menu planning, shopping, and preparing meals. Children who feel they have had a part preparing the meal will be more likely to eat it.
• Introduce a wide variety of foods. Offer a variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes. Offer a few teaspoons of each at every dinner. Even if your child eats only two bites, he will understand that these are the foods that make up a healthy diet. When he starts wanting more than two bites, expand your offerings to include more foods. As your child grows, increase serving sizes.
• Experiment with old favorites. Offer a new food with a familiar one. Applaud adventurous eating.
• Offer the same food prepared in different ways. Offer foods alone and prepared in combination with other ingredients. Cut foods in different ways. Try carrot sticks one day and carrot coins another.
• Don’t Give Up. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, many children will not accept a new food until it has been offered at least ten times. Continue to offer new foods until your child considers them familiar.
• Introduce foods one bite or several bites at a time. Some children become overwhelmed by large quantities of food on their plate. Others will feel more successful if they can finish a small quantity of food you have provided, so keep portions small.
• Serve vegetables and new foods as an appetizer. If vegetables and new foods are served last or with other foods, children can easily fill themselves up and leave vegetables behind. Start dinner, for example, with two green beans and two carrots or a green salad as a starter. When everyone has finished their, serve the rest of the meal. Consider serving fruits with the meal or saving them for dessert.
• Institute the “two-bite” rule by eating two bites of each item on their plate. Explain that our tastes change as we grow up and what we didn’t like last week we may like this week. Explain, too, that eating a variety of food builds stronger, happier bodies. Remember that children’s food preferences change frequently. What they don’t like on Wednesday might be a great hit on Friday or vice versa.
• Consider the possible unspoken meanings of “I don’t like it.” “I don’t like it” might really mean “I’d rather have a piece of chocolate cake” or “I’m not in the mood for that right now.” Insist on the two-bite rule.
• Don’t become a short-order cook. Prepare only one meal for the entire family. At first your child may refuse to eat dinner. Remain calm, stand firm, and ignore tantrums. Your child will not die of hunger from skipping a meal, but will likely come to the next meal with a healthy appetite and a willingness to eat what is served. Allow each family member to plan one dinner a week. Doing so will ensure that everyone has at least one dinner to look forward to.
• Don’t make a big deal when your child rejects a food. Stay cool and reaffirm the boundaries you have established by insisting that your child eat two bites before leaving the table. Don’t let your child engage you in a power struggle.
• Give your child a choice. Give your child some choices within the boundaries you establish. For example, instead of asking, “What do you want for lunch?” ask “Would you like a turkey sandwich, or a quesadilla?”
• Do not completely forbid certain foods. Forbidden foods can quickly become the foods of greatest desire. At school, for example, children are more likely to trade for foods that are not allowed at home. Allow your children to choose a special food from time to time and let them eat it guilt free. Teach your children the difference between everyday foods and occasional foods. In time, they will start making healthy choices on their own.
• Encourage children to bring home their lunch leftovers. Looking at leftover lunches is a great way to get information about your children’s lunch preferences. Find out why certain foods have come back uneaten. Did your child not like it? Was she not hungry enough to eat everything in the lunchbox? Was there a birthday celebration at school that day? Did she share someone else’s lunch instead? Maintain a dialogue without criticizing. Consider making a list of foods that your child likes to eat for lunch and update it regularly with input from your child. You may find that she prefers romaine lettuce to red leaf lettuce. By making this simple change, she might start eating salads more regularly. Providing a dip for carrot and celery sticks might make eating them more fun.
• Use the Star Incentive Chart (see Appendix 2 in The Laptop Lunch User’s Guide). If your child is resisting the change to a waste-free lunch program, try using the Star Incentive Program described in Appendix 2. Younger children may respond well to stickers, especially if they can help pick them out.
• Use the HealthPoint System (see Appendix 3 in The Laptop Lunch User’s Guide). If your child is resisting the change to a healthier diet, try using the HealthPoint System. Allow your child to take one point for each healthy food eaten, four points for each day without junk food, and four points for each day that they exercise. If your child has received a certain agreed-upon number of points by the end of the week, do something special together.
• Avoid food rewards. Neither dessert nor candy should be used as a punishment or enticement. Rather, you must establish and enforce rules for when and how many treats will be consumed.

Here are a few suggestions for sneaking healthy ingredients into family meals.

• Add finely chopped vegetables and herbs to chicken, tuna, scrambled eggs, omelets, and salmon salad.
 
• Add parsley and other herbs whenever you can.
 
• Instead of discarding the water left over from steamed vegetables, use it to cook rice and other grains. After you have steamed your vegetables, pour the liquid into an airtight container and store it in the freezer. When you’re ready to cook your grains, defrost and use.
 
• Add sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, or flax seeds to vegetables, casseroles, pastas, and sandwiches.
 
• Add nuts such as almonds, walnuts, pecans, pine nuts, and cashews to salads, relishes, pastas, and other foods. (Note: nuts can cause choking in children three years and younger. Use with caution.)
 
• Add lettuce, cucumbers, shredded carrots, celery, or sprouts to sandwiches.
 
• Add a teaspoon of flaxseed oil to salad dressings, yogurt, applesauce, and other foods to provide your child with the essential fatty acids necessary for healthy cell function and brain development.
 
• Blend steamed vegetables in tomato sauce and pour over pasta.

Picky eater Video from Cookus Interruptus.

Need some great recipe ideas?

Garden Party Pasta Salad Tomatoes, Basil, and Mozzarella can make any day feel like a summer holiday! Makes 6 servings Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: about 10 minutes Ingredients: 8 oz. of your children’s favorite pasta 4 large ripe tomatoes, diced 4 ounces mozzarella cheese, diced 4 tablespoons olive oil ½ cup fresh chopped basil 1 clove garlic (optional) ¼ cup kalamata olives (optional) pine nuts (optional) salt and pepper to taste Water for boiling pasta Boil the pasta until al dente. In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, basil, garlic, mozzarella cheese, kalamata olives, and olive oil. Drain the pasta and add to the tomato mixture. Toss gently, and garnish with fresh basil leaves and pine nuts.

Polenta Squares These easy-to-make, easy-to-eat yellow polenta squares will add a bit of color and a blast of fun to any lunch. Make them for dinner and pack the leftovers for lunch. Makes 8 servings Prep/cook time: about 35 minutes Ingredients: 4 cups water or stock 1 cup coarse yellow cornmeal or grits 1 teaspoon salt 1-2 tablespoons butter or olive oil Bring the water to a boil, and add the salt and butter or oil. Slowly add the cornmeal, stirring constantly with a wire whisk. When the mixture starts to boil, turn the heat to low. Stir every few minutes until the grain has swelled and the mixture has thickened (about 30 minutes). Turn off the heat. Pour the polenta into a baking dish and smooth the surface with a large spoon or spatula. (The polenta should be ¾- to 1-inch deep.) Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour. Cut into squares and serve.

Garlic Toast Brush bread lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle chopped parsley and minced garlic on top. Sprinkle with paprika, if desired. Toast in toaster over (or oven) until golden brown. Use as sandwich bread or pack as a separate item. For croutons, cut into ¾-inch cubes.

Rice Triangles This American adaptation of a Japanese favorite makes a delicious lunch treat. They’re easy to pack and easy to hold. They also make a great, nutritious class snack for parties and special occasions. Makes 12 pieces. Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: about 45 minutes Ingredients: 3 cups (whole-grain) sushi rice water for cooking rice 6 sheets nori seaweed 3 tablespoons sesame seeds ½ cup rice vinegar 1 teaspoon salt ¼ cup sugar 2 tablespoons sake or mirin (rice wine) Wash rice, drain, and cook as directed. While rice is cooking, prepare vinegar sauce by mixing together the vinegar, salt, sugar and sake or mirin and set aside. Remove the rice from the heat. Add vinegar sauce and toss to mix. Add sesame seeds and toss again. Allow rice to cool. Wet hands and mold rice mixture into 1-inch thick triangles with 2 ½-inch sides. Cut nori sheets in half and wrap each rice triangle in one half sheet. For variety, shape the triangle into different shapes. Try logs, spheres, cubes, and pyramids. Instead of wrapping shapes in seaweed. As a variation, cut seaweed into ¾-inch ribbons and wrap around rice shapes.

Cucumber Chains Cut a cucumber into 2-inch long cylinders. Remove the core with a paring knife. Slice it into ¼-inch rings. Make a slit in every other ring. Link the rings together to form a chain.

Fruit Triangle Treats Our kids love eating these fruit wedges as a breakfast treat and as a lunch treat the following day. Try it with other types of fruit, such as, peaches or blueberries, or sprinkle with granola, sunflower seeds, or sesame seeds. Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 30 minutes Preheat the oven to 375° F. Ingredients: 4 medium apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into ¼ inch slices. 1 tablespoon walnut or other high-quality oil 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 tablespoon honey 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 3 eggs ½ cup milk or soy milk ½ cup whole-wheat flour Pour the walnut oil into a 10-inch pie pan and spread to cover bottom. Pour the lemon juice, honey, and 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon over the apples and mix. In a medium-size bowl beat the eggs well. Add the milk or soy milk. Combine the whole-wheat flour and the cinnamon. Add the whole-wheat mixture to the egg mixture and stir to form a batter. Pour the batter into the oiled pie pan. Place the apple slices on top of the batter, covering the surface. (The apples will sink into the batter.) Bake at 375° F for 30 minutes or until the batter is firm and the apples are cooked.

Trail Mix Make your own trail mix, by trying various combinations of the following ingredients: peanuts sunflower seeds almonds raisins and other dried fruit cashews healthy cereal walnuts pretzels pecans shredded coconut For additional recipe ideas, see pages 62-75 in the Laptop Lunch User’s Guide.

Please consider reducing the amount of lunchtime waste your family generates. Think about what you can do to cut down on waste.

Here are a few suggestions for getting started.

• Pack a cloth napkin instead of a paper napkin.
• Pack stainless-steel utensils instead of using disposable plastics.
• Pack a reusable drink container instead of disposable juice boxes, juice pouches, cans, and plastic bottles.
• Pack lunch items in reusable containers. Laptop Lunches work well because they allow for an appealing horizontal presentation. Avoid using plastic wraps, plastic bags, wax-paper bags, and aluminum foil.
• Avoid purchasing pre-packaged items. Buy foods in larger containers and leave them at home for recycling.
• Pack lunches in a lunch box or backpack instead of relying on paper or plastic bags.