Making school lunches easier using the LunchBox Cheat Sheet

I was recently asked for some advice on how to pack a great school lunch that kids will actually want to eat.

I only have one high-schooler left at home and she packs her own lunch at this point, so I’m able to look back on school lunches with a bit of nostalgia. But for those of you still in the trenches, I know packing lunches can feel tedious or even frustrating

Perhaps you run out of ideas… wonder if you're including balanced options or enough variety… or feel frustrated when your child doesn’t eat everything you pack.

I’m going to give you lots of suggestions for variety and balance in just a moment. But first, a quick note on how much your child is (or isn’t) eating at lunch. It’s easy to feel as though how much our kids eat is a measure of our parenting skills. But the truth is, it’s not.

There are many potential reasons why your child may not be eating as much as you think he should at lunch, including:

• Having limited time

• Being overly social or easily distracted

• Having a small appetite

• Not liking the food options

To address some of these issues, do your best to provide a variety of foods, including ones you know your kids enjoy and possibly a small portion of a “newer” food. Incorporate some finger foods that are easy to eat with a shortened attention span; get your kids' input on which foods you pack; and rest assured that they can still be well nourished even if they tend to eat smaller lunches–breakfast, after school and bedtime snacks, and dinners can help fill in the energy or nutrient gaps.

As for what to pack or how to balance your child’s lunch… I’ve got you covered with an easy lunchbox formula and lots of specific ideas.

To help make this easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy, I pulled together a FREE School Lunchbox Cheat Sheet you’re going to want to download right away. To be honest, even if you’re not feeding kids, you can check this resource out because the concepts and ideas work well for adult eaters too!

Happy lunch-making!

PS: 🤸‍♀️ 🤸‍♀️ I’m about to release a self-paced course, Raising Intuitive Eaters. I’m putting the finishing touches on it now and am suuuper excited to introduce it to you soon. But first, I’d love to get your input… what questions do you have about raising kids with food and body confidence? Send me an email at livehealthy@elizabethharrisnutrition.com.