Easy School Lunches and After-School Snacks

Already sick of packing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for school lunches?
My friend Judy Dodd is Giant Eagle’s Food and Nutrition Advisor. She loves wrap sandwiches for easy-to-pack lunches.
She suggests a whole grain wrap, turkey, cheese, and spinach leaves (she says kids love the bright color).
Some children like the wrap without the wrap! (Just roll up the meat and cheese). Another good tip is to skip the mayo, and pack salsa for dipping. Sometimes Judy makes a creamy salsa by mixing in yogurt cheese. She makes this herself by putting some high-quality plain yogurt into a coffee filter and then letting it strain into a bowl in the fridge for about three hours. What’s left in the filter is yogurt cheese, concentrated with nutrients. Judy drains the salsa a little before mixing it with yogurt cheese so that it’s creamy. This is also a great dip for cut up raw vegetables.
Skewers are a fun for lunch, too. Poke a hole in vegetable, fruit, and cheese cubes with a regular metal or wooden skewer, then thread the cubes on drinking straws (much safer in the lunchroom). Pack some yogurt or salsa dip for these.
Judy also gives trail mix an A+. This recipe has several variations, and is packed with fiber, B vitamins, and protein for energy:
2 cups Lower Fat Whole wheat or Cheese Crackers
2 cups Giant Eagle Toasted Oat Cereal (or Cheerios)
2 cups Bite-sized Shredded Wheat
2 cups Mini Pretzels
1 cup Dry Roasted Peanuts or sunflower seeds, optional
1 cup dried cranberries, raisins or dried fruit bits
Optional:
Add low fat popcorn
Use mixed nuts, sunflower seeds, or other nuts instead of the peanuts
Sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese and bake at 300 degrees for 10 minutes on a cookie sheet.
Add 1 cup M & M’s, Mini chocolate or peanut butter chips
Add broken baked tortilla chips, sprinkle with chili powder or a seasoning mix and mix well.
You can make any one of these combinations in bulk, store it in an airtight container, and use it as needed for lunches and after school snacks.
Think about the lack of lunch time when assembling your child’s lunch: make half a sandwich with double the meat and cheese, cut wrap sandwiches in pieces, cut an orange into rings, pack a drink so your child doesn’t have to waste time standing in line. A small frozen bottle of water will keep the lunch cool while it thaws. It’s also good to tuck a couple of anti-bacterial hand wipes in little reusable container to make it easy for your child to clean-up before and after lunch.
Also, some children eat lunch at school very early, so be prepared to give them a significant snack as soon as they get home. Any of the lunch ideas I told you about would be great. Hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, string cheese and crackers, and smoothies are nice choices, too.
Smoothies are easy; just pop everything into a blender and blend on high for about a minute. Start with 1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt, and a little bit of milk; then add:
· Chocolate-covered banana: 1 banana, handful of chocolate chips
· Fruit Cup: ½ cup canned diced canned peaches, 1 banana, ¼ cup orange juice
· Berry: ½ cup strawberries, ¼ cup blueberries, ¼ cup raspberries
You can also add a little more yogurt to each and pour out and freeze in small cups, or ice cube trays for a sneaky, vitamin-packed dessert (I won’t tell if you won’t!)
j.