Pita, Sushi, and Wraps and everything in between; it's an Alphabet Guide to back to school food.
This Part 2 of an alphabet guide Back to School Food Part 1
- N- Nutrition- Find out if your child is learning about nutrition in school. Basic nutrition can be taught to children as young as the first grade. Good nutrition should also be reflected in the Cafeteria and in the Home Economics classes. You can teach your child about nutrition. Watch TV with your children and discuss the foods on the commercials ask if they think these foods are healthy. Go shopping with your children and teach them how to pick out good fruit and vegetables. Here's a fun site on kid's nutrition
- O - Oranges - Packed with vitamin C - oranges are tasty snack look for the easy to peel kind - tangerines and mandarins. They brighten up any lunch box.
- P- Pocket bread - Pita bread - is a good alternative to just plain sandwiches. Anything you can put in a sandwich you can put in a pita and more. If you want your child to have a taste of the Middle East try hummus, or you can have coleslaw, mashed avocado, cream cheese, lunchmeat, shredded head lettuce, tuna fish mashed with mayonnaise or just plain peanut better and jam! Ask your children what they want in the pita and let them fill it themselves. If you have any other suggestions please post below.
- Q - Quality vs. Quantity - Despite the real rise in childhood obesity, there are many parents who worry their children are not eating enough. Just remember quality is more important than quantity. Don't fret if your child won't eat everything on their dinner plate. Children have smaller stomachs. Teenagers say they're hungry but are often full after eating just a bit. Serve children small portions of everything at least four times a day. Save your teenager's left over food for later on, often they will finish it in a couple of hours.
- R- Reduce, Re-use and Recycle - Reduce - by buying in bulk where possible. Reduce the amount of packaging. Re-use - use re-usable plastic containers. Find out if the school recycles all those cans and bottles. Here's my article on how you can save the world and save money Earthday/Everyday
- S- Sushi - No I don't mean the raw fish kind. Sushi is rice and rolled up with seaweed paper with something inside. You can put anything you like in the middle - baked sweet potato, barbecued or smoked fish, shrimp, pieces of cooked meat or chicken, steamed asparagus tips, cooked carrots, avocado, and cucumber. Use the Jasmine sticky rice and sea weed paper found in many specialty stores. I use bamboo mats to roll it . Look in the fridge and see what you can put in the middle. If you have any other ideas please post them in discussions below. Many specialty stores and even larger supermarkets now sell sushi for the lunch box. Here's how you can make Sushi
- T- Treats- Every child should have treats in their life. But they are occasional, not everyday food and not all treats are the same. Some are better than others. Make sure the treats you give your child have no Trans fat. Read the labels. The best treats are the ones you make with your child. Our own Linda Lawson of Baking and Desserts has some great ideas for treats. Here are just a few: Chocolate caramel cashew bars mixed nut bags Nanaimo Bars
- U- Unfamiliar - It's a good idea to introduce your child to unfamiliar foods. Just a little bit at a time. Don't force it. Explain where this new fruit or vegetable or dish came from and what it is. It's important that a child learns to sample new food. Food is a wonderful way for them to learn about other people and cultures. Here are some foods your child might not know but might actually like: fresh apricots Rice Vermicelli Lo Bok Pomelo Pomegranate
- V- Vegetables - We all know they're good for you and you have to eat them. I personally don't believe in disguising vegetables. Children need to learn to eat them. Keep on bring home different vegetables, make them different ways and yes, I promise you, your children will eat them. Just have them around and don't make a big deal about it. Carrots are probably the most popular vegetable for children. They are rich in beta carotene. They are endlessly versatile. You can put them in just about any dish or cakes or muffins. Buy baby carrots in a bag that come all ready peeled. I never knew a kid who didn't like them. Here are some vegetable ideas. Spinach Asparagus Salads Veggies on the Barbie Here are some other vegetable ideas from our own Michael Vyskocil
- Here is my Vegetable Index.
- W- Wraps Wraps are a great alternative to just plain bread. There are also so many different kind of wraps. Instead of a sandwich have a wrap. You can fill a wrap with just about anything you would a sandwich, see P for Pita above. It's the same. Here's my suggestions for wraps
- X- Xtra Curricular Activity - Does your child's school have special days or after school activities? Does the school have a year-end barbecue or a large potluck dinner? One of the best ways for children to learn about other cultures is through food. Talk to the PTA about having a world night where parents can bring food from their own ethnic backgrounds, or you invite restaurants and caterers to bring in food at cost for everyone to taste. There are many fundraising ideas that involve food like food fairs, bake sales, and compiling and self-publishing a school cookbook. Parents compiled some of my favorite cookbooks.
- Y- Yogurt - Breakfast, lunch and after school, yogurt is a winner. There are so many types of yogurt - high fat, low fat, creamy, ice pops, ice cream yogurt and they come in so many flavors and fruit. You can also mix yogurt with fruit or rice. I'm sure there's at least one kind your child likes.
- Z- Zero - What's wrong with zero carbs and calories pop? Exactly what it says, it has nothing, it's much better to give your child real chocolate milk with actual milk, which has vitamins and calcium. Just because a product says it has none of one thing doesn't mean it isn't jacked up with lots of something else. Very often it has zero calories but high in sodium, zero fat but high in sugar, read those labels carefully.
If you like the alphabet as much as I do here's
The copyright of the article School Lunch Ideas in Seasonal Cooking is owned by Devorah Stone. Permission to republish School Lunch Ideas must be granted by the author in writing.
