Contributed by Angela Cleveland

Well Parents, they off to school once again. For many parents, and children, bag lunches can be a struggle from September to June. How do we incorporate healthy snacks that our children will actually eat? There are three key components to ensuring that their lunches end up in the stomachs rather than the garbage can: Convenience, Variety, and Input.

Convenience

If our children have to spend more than 2 seconds preparing their snack or lunch, it will be rejected for more exciting lunchtime events.

Variety

This only applies to some children – others could have the same tuna fish sandwich everyday and be quite content. Variety, however, enables them to try new things and get a wide range of their important vitamins and minerals.

Input

This one is simple: they are more likely to eat their lunch, if they have taken part in planning it. One suggestion was to post the Canadian food guide on the fridge so that the children can choose from each group and ensure (and learn about) a balanced lunch.

Here are some healthy sandwiches, snacks, and sweets that are sure to be a hit:

Sandwiches:

Light cream cheese, pineapple slices and toasted sesame seeds

Light cream cheese and dried fruit

Low-fat cheese slice, turkey breast and low-fat mayo

Flour tortilla spread with fat-free refried beans and sprinkled with low-fat cheese and then rolled up

Peanut butter mixed with light cream cheese and raisins on rice cakes

Snacks:

Apples or pears
Baked chips
Low fat tortilla chips
Air-popped popcorn
Mini carrots
Pretzels in fun shapes

Sweets:

Low-fat individual yogurt cup
Honey fruit nuggets*
Fruit cup
2-3 Hershey’s kisses
Drained mandarin oranges or regular orange sections
Drained pineapple chunks
Fat-free pudding in a cup
Caramel popcorn cakes
Plain cereal mixed with a few M & M’s® or chocolate chips
2 graham crackers spread with light cream cheese and ˝ tsp. of mini chocolate chips or sprinkles

Ingredients

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Instructions

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