We all want our children to eat more healthy, but what does that really look like? As the school year begins, I decided to help you out with some well-balanced lunch boxes made easy. The food pyramid we were born and raised with is no more. It has been replaced with the food plate. Have you seen it?
The Food Plate
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has put together the food plate, which gives a visual representation of a well-balanced meal system that promotes health and nutrition. The plate looks something like this:
This plate gives a quick glance of what a typical meal should look like for your family. The goal is to build better eating habits by being able to quickly picture how much of the different nutritional components to have on a plate.
When teaching kids to build their own plate, I encourage you to create balance. I am definitely not a super strict mom who never allows the treats. I also, quite honestly, have my own struggles with my children to get all the proper nutrients into their diet. Smoothies are a big hit in our family, so it is where I dump a lot of the vegetables we eat.
That said, smoothies aren’t a great option for lunch boxes. Therefore, I wanted to take some time to complete this food plate so you could get a visual representation of what can be packed daily for school to get that well-balanced diet for your kids.
Important: I encourage you NOT to weigh food or talk about weight or weight loss with your kids. Rather, this is teaching them how to best fuel their bodies for optimum growth, strength and the energy needed to accomplish amazing things in their life.
Shopping for Well-Balanced Lunch Boxes Made Easy
I love shopping at Fred Meyer in their natural food department. There I find all kinds of products that help me create well-balanced lunches. I know they have brands and products I trust and that the kids enjoy. Part of my promise was to make this easy, so I am sharing some of my favorite grab and go meal makers. Make sure to check out our lunch packing strategy here.
In the natural food section, I find a variety of products that satisfy the variety of likes and dietary needs within my family. That is not an easy task – trust me. All of our quick grab snack items can be found in this section of my local Fred Meyer store.
I’m really excited about some new Horizon snack items too! These Good and Go Organic boxes contain a great mix of grains, proteins and fruit and are a perfect lunch packing solution.
I have a daughter who is dairy-free, and we have been very satisfied with alternative products within the yogurt and milk options at Fred Meyer.
There are more natural products for lotions and shampoo as well as a variety of bulk items available in the natural department as well.
Well-Balanced Lunch Boxes Made Easy
Using the food plate I created, I put together a couple visuals for you of how you can stack the plate. I will show you how this plate looks within the lunchbox as well.
With each lunch the goal is to get vegetables, proteins, grains, fruit and dairy in the portions shown on the plate. Let me break that down for you a little bit. Just have your kids pick one thing from each category, and you are good to go!
Here’s one more visual look of what the food plate lunch might look like:
Vegetables for Well-Balanced Lunch Boxes Made Easy
It would be great to get a 1/2 cup of vegetables into your child per meal and one snack. Again, please don’t measure the food in front of your child. You can do it on your own a couple times to get a visual picture for yourself, but a small handful is about 1/2 cup.
Here are some vegetables that I find great for lunch boxes: carrots, celery, broccoli, a small green salad, corn, green beans, snap peas, or sliced peppers. Try to get a dark green component in their veggies.
Kids love to have a dip, so I think hummus, ranch or a greek yogurt based dip is a wonderful addition.
Proteins for Well-Balanced Lunch Boxes Made Easy
According to Build Healthy Kids, you should take your child’s weight and divide it by 2 to see how many grams of protein your child should eat a day. Therefore, a 80 lb. child should be eating 40 grams of protein per day. If we break that into 4 meals (to include a snack), a child would eat approximately 10 grams per meal give or take. Girls between 9-13 might need more. It’s good to learn exactly what that looks like.
One more thing to note with deli meat, you want to find products that are nitrate free. It’s one more reason I like to shop in the natural food department of Fred Meyer.
Proteins great for EASY lunch boxes:
- Horizon Organic String Cheese (7 grams of protein)
- Horizon Organic Cheddar Cheese or Colby Cheese Shapes (6-7 grams of protein)
- Horizon Organic Milk Boxes (~8 grams of protein)
- Horizon Organic Yogurt (7 grams of protein)
- Hard Boiled Egg (6 grams of protein)
- Simple Truth Packaged Uncured Spicy Salami with Aged Cheddar (whole pack is 12 grams of protein)
- Simple Truth Roasted Sea Salt Almonds (6 grams of protein)
- Cooked Chicken (8 grams per ounce)
- Beans (6 grams per 1/2 cup)
- Organic Peanut Butter with No Sugar Added (8 grams per 2 Tbsp)
- Sliced Deli Meat – Ham, Turkey, Roast Beef (~5-6 grams per ounce)
Fruits for Well-Balanced Lunch Boxes Made Easy
My kids love fruits, so this is an easy one for us. I like to avoid fruit cups that have added high fructose corn syrup. I buy my fruit straight out of the produce department at Fred Meyer.
We put about 1/2 cup fruit in their lunch boxes, sometimes more because a small apple is about 1 cup of fruit.
Here are some fruits my kids love in their lunch boxes: small apple, small banana, grapes (about 15 is 1/2 cup), 8 oz juice box (I look for low sugar content and more natural ingredients), sliced peaches, blueberries, strawberries, or pineapple.
Grains for Well-Balanced Lunch Boxes Made Easy
It is important to get some good grains in your lunch boxes as well. Not all grains are made equally, and it can be very confusing for a consumer. At the Choose My Plate Food Guide it is recommended to have at least half of your grains be whole grains. 5-8 ounces of grains is recommended for school age children. I try and have 1-2 ounces in their lunch.
Great Grains for Lunch Boxes:
- Simple Truth Multi-grain Rice Crackers (16 crackers = 1 ounce)
- Horizon Organic Snack Grahams Cinnamon, Honey or Chocolate – 8 grams of whole grains per serving (15 cookies ~ 1 oz)
- Horizon Organic Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers (12 crackers ~ 1 ounce)
- Horizon Organic Cheese Sandwich Crackers (12 crackers ~ 1 ounce)
- Whole Grain Bread (1 oz per slice)
- English Muffin (1 oz per 1/2 slice)
- 1/2 Bagel (2 oz)
- Popcorn (3 cups popped = 1 ounce)
- 1/2 cup Brown Rice (1 oz)
- 1/2 cup Pasta (1 oz)
- 1 Small Tortilla (1 oz)
- Pretzels Sticks (1 oz)
Dairy for Well-Balanced Lunch Boxes Made Easy
Dairy is a great way to get calcium and protein. Each meal can have about 8 ounces of dairy – think a milk box or a yogurt.
Easy dairy products for lunches include:
- Horizon Organic String Cheese
- Horizon Organic Cheddar Cheese or Colby Cheese Shapes
- Horizon Organic Milk Boxes
- Horizon Organic Yogurt
Sandwich Options for Well-Balanced Lunch Boxes Made Easy
The great thing about sandwiches is that they are well2balanced in and of themselves. They are a perfect way to get grains, proteins and vegetables. With all sandwiches, you can have your basic proteins like described above (deli meats, cheese, peanut butter), but then you can add vegetables and some healthy fats like spinach, tomato, lettuce, and avocado. These can be made on whole grain bread or a tortilla, wrap style.
Here are some sandwich ideas:
- Peanut Butter & Jelly
- Peanut Butter & Honey (raw and local honey is the best)
- Peanut Butter & Cheese (Yes! This is a thing, and it’s better than you might imagine!)
- Deli Meat & Cheese
- Tuna Fish
- Chicken Salad
Well-Balanced Lunch Boxes Made Easy
This is a lot of information! However, it’s super simple once you know your favorite products and can shop mainly in one area of a store, like the natural food department at Fred Meyer.
I’m hoping that giving you the visual representation in both the plate examples and within the lunchbox make the process that much easier. There are enough complications in life, so packing lunches should not add more stress.
Getting your kids involved in the lunch making decisions and process should help as well. They can quickly learn what makes a well-balanced, healthy lunch so that their bodies are fueled well for both learning and play.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Horizon Organic. The opinions and text are all mine.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Horizon Organic. The opinions and text are all mine.
