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4 Tips to Make Healthier School Lunches Easy to Put Together

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My family is on the road to eating clean. I always say that we are “in process” or “on the road to” rather than declaring that we 100% do something because as soon as I declare that we’ve arrived at that place we strive for, I can feel the itch to fall off the bandwagon. We try to keep things realistic around here, and don’t set the bar too high. I’m going to cave every once in a while and buy the Double Stuf Oreos. And then I’ll do my best to not eat half the bag in one night, and stick to healthier choices for the most part.

I see packing school lunches as a very easy way to fall off the clean eating bandwagon in a major way. Most pre-packaged foods are full of additives, preservatives, enriched grains and high fructose corn syrup. Making everything from scratch every day isn’t realistic for us, so relying on packaged products, at least to some extent, is going to need to happen. Fortunately, there are some TERRIFIC options out there that can help you put together kick-butt lunches for your kids without having to yield to the nutritionally devoid stuff that fills most of the middle aisles in grocery stores.

NatureBox

naturebox set

NatureBox  is one such company that I recently discovered, and that I highly recommend. NatureBox is a curated collection of carefully sourced and nutritionist-approved foods that make for some seriously yummy snacking. Everything is free of artifical sweeteners, colors and flavors.

When you are a NatureBox member, you are sent 5 different snacks in a box each month. You can choose your own snacks from a list of over 100 options (check out the snack catalog!), or you can let NatureBox surprise you, which could be a really fun way to try something new. As much as I love surprises, I also appreciate that I can pick and choose, as Darah’s school requests nut-free lunch offerings for all the kids due to the severity of nut allergies in the classroom.

4 Tips for Easier, Healthier School Lunches

naturebox hero

Here are some strategies I’m using to help me get the school lunches made faster and to increase the odds that my child will actually eat what I send!

naturebox snack bin

1. Keep the lunch snack bin full. I’ve got box in my pantry that is exclusively for school lunch snacks. I try to add something to it every time I shop for groceries, but I also love knowing that NatureBox can deliver to my house every month to help me stay stocked up on quality options that are healthier choices, but still feel like special treats.

naturebox lentil chips

2. Sneak in some superfoods. I’m not really a big fan of “tricking” my kids into eating healthy foods. I want them to understand that giving your body good fuel is something that we need to do to be our best selves. But sometimes you just have to get your kids to try something that they think they won’t like by trying it in a different way (for example, adding pumpkin to a bagel spread, or having lentil chips). Look for opportunities to present great choices in unique ways so that your kids will realize that they really like the good stuff, after all!

naturebox sweet treats

3. Rethink the sweet treats. I have a HUGE sweet tooth. It turned out to be my Achilles heel as I tried the whole Paleo diet thing (which I loved in pretty much every other aspect!). So I’m not really one to give my kid a banana and call it dessert.  But that doesn’t mean that I can’t offer them better choices that are free of HFCS and food dyes. NatureBox has some great offerings in this department, and they make it easy for me to have some good choices, even when my options still seem a bit limited at my local grocery store.

naturebox dried pears

4. Give fruit a new look. For my child, at this point sending in an entire piece of fruit is overkill. She won’t eat the whole thing even if she likes it, and in many cases, she won’t even make the attempt (apple = entirely too much effort, in her opinion). So I make it a point to have fruit for her, but to have it presented in a more interesting (and more serving-size appropriate) way. Examples include fruit squeeze pouches (her very favorite!) and dried fruit so she can get a lot of nutrition packed into just a handful of bites. We’ve all been munching on the NatureBox dried pears. They are super yum!

Promo Code!

Ready to try NatureBox and make school lunch packing a bit easier? Click here to get 50% off your first month’s NatureBox delivery! ($10 value) using promo code: SNACKTOSCHOOL. The same code can also be used for $10 off your first box if you are signing up for a prepaid subscription (such as the 6 month plan or the 12 month plan). The price for the boxes, not including the promo code, is as follows:

  • 1 month: $20/box
  • 6 months: $17.95/box
  • 12 months: $15.95/box

Each box contains 5 packages containing 15-20 servings and weighing 2-3 pounds! In addition, with every box sold, NatureBox donates 1 meal to FeedingAmerica to help with the very real problem of hunger that affects millions of people right here at home.

Do you have any tips for keeping lunches healthy AND easy? And have you tried NatureBox yet? As someone mulling over the 12 month subscription, I’d love to hear about your experience! 

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Lunch Box Love: A Collection of My Favorite Finds for School Lunches

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Thanks to Foodie.com for partnering with me today to form this curated collection of AWESOME school lunch recipes! All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always. 

Check out Lunch Box Love

by Tiffany at Foodie.com

This morning I worked on compiling some great school lunch recipes that I am going to be using starting a few weeks from today when my oldest heads off to kindergarten (How did this happen? Seriously!). I know many of you out there are going to be packing lunches, too. Whether you are new to the endeavor, like me, or a seasoned pro who could use a few fresh ideas, I think you’ll find some things you like in my collection. Go check it out and be sure to save the ones you like the best to your own collections!

Quick and Healthy Lunch Ideas for Back to School!

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We have one more week until Darah goes back to school as an official pre-schooler! My eyes well up with tears at the mere thought of it!

Darah won’t be staying at school for lunch, so I don’t actually have to pack one for her, but I still have to have a lunch prepared for her when she gets home every day. I work as hard as I can on the blog and on grading work for my college class I teach, so I don’t really have much time to devote to preparing a lunch. I need to rely on more convenient options so that I can spend as much time as possible working before she gets home.

But like most moms, I don’t want my need to go for convenience to eclipse my desire to provide healthy food for my child.

Earth’s Best has got some great products that are absolutely perfect for the mid-day rush, and if you are packing a lunch, they work well in a lunch box, too!

Darah has been enjoying the Earth’s Best Sunny Day Snack Bars at lunch time and as an afternoon snack. They are naturally sweetened cereal bars filled with real fruit. They come in strawberry and apple flavors, and have Big Bird and Grover on them, which delights my little preschooler. I’m delighted by them because they are the right serving size for smaller tummies, and they provide big doses of calcium, iron, zinc and six B vitamins.

The other item in my pantry “lunch box” is Earth’s Best Kidz Organic Apple Sauce. Did you know that conventional apples are one of the “dirtiest” items of produce? The amount of chemicals from pesticides that is found on them is absolutely astounding. Going organic when it comes to apples is a very good idea, even if it is one of the only fruits for which you pay the higher price. I especially like having these individual servings of applesauce on hand for days when we might be out of fresh fruit. Darah can still get a serving of something healthy and delicious when I’m overdue for a trip to the store!

I do try to keep a specific box in my pantry for lunch staples that I can easily grab to help supplement the meal with minimal effort on my part. That is really essential so that I can be confident that I can pull lunch together for her in 5 minutes every day and not find myself spending 30 minutes of my work time in the kitchen scrambling to cook something. It’s a strategy that has served me well, and I highly recommend it!

Here are some other things I keep on hand for a healthy and quick lunch for Darah:

  • baby carrots and ranch dip
  • blueberries
  • strawberries
  • bananas
  • whole wheat crackers
  • slices or cubes of cheese
  • yogurt (I usually buy plain and mix in a little organic jam to sweeten it)
  • round and thin sandwich bread (it’s the perfect size for a younger child’s sandwich!)
  • peanut butter and graham crackers for a dose of protein
  • hummus

I’d love to hear what your go-to lunch and lunch box items are. Sometimes I get in a rut and love to be inspired by what other parents are doing! Please share (and remember…comments on this post earn you extra entries in the Earth’s Best giveaway I’ll hold in a few weeks)!

Disclosure: I am a blog ambassador for Earth’s Best, and as such, I have received complimentary products as a thank you for my time. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.