Healthy Packed Lunches

Now that the children have returned to school you can help to ensure that they have enough energy by providing them with a nutritious lunch.

A varied diet is important to make sure that your child receives all the vitamins and minerals they need to help them concentrate, learn and develop. Be creative with food choices and have fun.

For healthy teeth, give them milk, water or sugar free fruit juices and not fizzy drinks which will rot their teeth and may make them hyperactive.

Fruit is packed full of vitamins to help prevent colds, flus and infections. Try and include a piece of fruit every day. As well as apples, bananas and oranges why not try grapes, raisins, kiwis, berries, mandarins or pears?

Most children like sandwiches and you could try different types of bread like tortilla wraps, scones, wholemeal baps and wholegrain rolls which release energy more slowly and for a longer period of time than processed white bread.

Sandwiches can be filled with all sorts of ingredients, not just cheese and ham. You could try; chicken, turkey, beef, tinned tuna, sardines or salmon and chopped or sliced hard boiled eggs. Why not sneak in some veggies too? Mix sweetcorn or grated carrots for kids who prefer sweet flavours. Adding a few slices of tomato, cucumber, scallions or lettuce is a great way of encouraging children to eat their 5 a day.

For more variety, why not give them a salad box? You could use leftovers from dinner the night before (cold rice, pasta or potatoes) and add small handfuls of chopped vegetables and pieces of meat like chicken, sausages, bacon and ham or cheese.

Baked potatoes are another great way of using up leftovers by adding them as fillings.

Finally, instead of crisps, why not give a handful of seeds, nuts or dried fruit or yoghurt?