| Fluffy, white sandwich buns can be replaced with whole-grain bread. Fat-filled fries may, technically, be considered a vegetable, but crisp salad greens are a better choice for good health. Strapping young athletes can carry hearty meals that don’t leave them hungry, while children and others with small appetites won’t waste food they can’t finish. Best of all, lunches made at home and packed with care have an appeal that mass-produced meals can’t match. Pack Lunches that Maximize Nutrition
Two good guidelines for lunchbox selections are to include at least three food groups and to avoid foods that are high in calories but low in nutritional value, like bags of chips or prepackaged sweets. Such foods take up a lot of room in the lunch kit, and they don’t pull their weight in terms of food value. Children tend to eat desserts and snack foods first and often they have no appetite for the rest of the meal. An inventory of the contents of a school lunchroom trash bin will yield shocking results. Sandwiches, vegetables, and fresh fruits are packed by loving parents, then carried to school only to be thrown out with the rubbish! Wasted money and lost nutrition can be minimized with a different approach. Lunches that contain a protein, a whole grain, and a fruit or vegetable, omitting salty chips and sweets, will increase the likelihood that hungry children will eat the nutritious food that is sent. When parents just can’t resist including a treat, a single small cookie or candy provides a little touch of sweetness without taking over lunchtime. Even better, parents can teach children to pack their own lunches, providing lessons in nutrition while encouraging independence and positive decision-making skills. A child who has created and packed her own lunch can enjoy both good food and a sense of accomplishment. Home Packed Lunches Allow Portion Control
In restaurants, people with small appetites are often confronted with more food than they want, and end up wasting part of the large portions. When children encounter portions larger than their appetites demand, they usually just throw away the leftovers. Very young children may balk at eating anything when they are faced with portions that appear overwhelming. Folks with large appetites, such as teens, pregnant and lactating women, and people whose work or leisure activities are physically demanding, will find average cafeteria portions too small. In short, portion size is rarely one-size-fits-all. Packing lunches at home gives complete control over quantity as well as quality. Half a sandwich may be an appropriate serving for a young child or his petite grandmother. The high-school linebacker or hard-working builder can wrap up a hearty submarine sandwich stuffed with protein. Large portions of salads, fresh fruits and vegetables, and whole grain breads provide a lot of satisfaction with minimal calories. Packing Lunches Saves Money and Time
Packing lunches at home is a more economical choice. Bringing lunch from home is less costly, whether it goes to school or to work. Foods can be bought in bulk or even home-grown, eliminating a great deal of expensive packaging and handling. Adults who don’t have children’s meals to consider will still be motivated to plan nourishing dinners that can double as lunches when they consider the savings involved. Keeping track of money spent in restaurants and cafeterias for just one month and comparing that figure to the cost of bringing lunches from home will reveal just how cost-effective lunch box repasts can be. When the cost of transportation to and from restaurants is added to the price of restaurant meals, their actual price is even higher. Enjoying the convenience of a packed lunch also yields extra time during the lunch break for an invigorating walk or just a few moments of relaxation. Appetizing Presentations Make Lunches More Appealing
The Japanese have long regarded the packed lunch as an opportunity to create meals that are visually appealing as well as portable and healthful. Japanese lunch boxes called bento are popular with adults and children alike. A bento is a compartmentalized box. Traditionally, half of the box is filled with rice. The remaining compartments are filled with proteins such as egg, sausage, or fish, and vegetables. Apples or tangerines are frequently used for desserts. Apricot is often added to the box, as this fruit is believed to keep rice fresh. Japanese families prepare dinner meals with the bento in mind, taking care to include foods that can be put aside and packed for the next day’s lunches. Mothers take great care with the arrangement of food in bentos, frequently cutting sausages or other foods in patterns and shapes that resemble animals or flowers. People from other cultures can take the bento concept and make it their own. Using color, shape, and flavors in ways that stimulate interest and appetite, families can make lunch creation a fun, shared activity. Children will enjoy creating “Ants on a Log,” celery sticks filled with peanut or soynut butter and dotted with raisins. Using cookie cutters to make sandwich bread into fun shapes is another fun idea for children’s lunches. Bread scraps can be saved for poultry dressings or cubed and toasted to make salad croutons. Convenient Packaging Enhances Packed Meals
Stylish, insulated food carriers hold lunch items securely without the traditional brown-bag issues involving bruised bananas or sandwiches that have been squashed flat by apples. Resealable sandwich containers, wide-mouthed insulated jars, and small, reusable containers for condiments and dressings make it easy to include non-traditional lunchbox choices such as tossed salads, soups, and sandwiches with juicy tomatoes and other moist ingredients. Departing from the old-fashioned trilogy of bologna, peanut butter, and cheese sandwiches opens up a whole new world of portable lunch selections. With the great containers available today, the sky’s the limit when it comes to dreaming up imaginative take-along meals. These containers also cut down on the trash that is generated from packaging on convenience foods and frozen meals. Entrepreneurs Tammy Pelstring and Amy Hemmert have developed a company called Laptop Lunches. The two women met in a new mothers group in 1995 and became friends and jogging partners. In 2001, they realized that there was a need to provide convenient alternatives to the commercially packaged foods that children were bringing to school. They imagined convenient, economical food containers that would be appealing to kids. After conducting a nationwide survey and finding strong support for their idea, they developed Bento-ware. Bento-ware is manufactured in California from plastics that are FDA-approved for food use. The outer containers are fitted with smaller containers to hold different foods. A website and newsletter compliments the containers by providing recipes, menu ideas, an online store, and a wealth of other information to keep Bento-ware users happily packing attractive, tasty, nutritious, and nearly waste-free lunches. For more information about Bento-ware, visit their website at http://www.laptoplunches.com/ContactUs.html. The site is also a great source of lunch suggestions that anyone can use, whether or not they decide to purchase Bento-ware. What makes a bento box differ from a plastic tub of leftovers is presentation, not the container. Planning meals so that leftovers are available for lunches is both clever and economical. When the whole family joins in the planning, important lessons about wise use of time and money are learned. Creating lunches from a variety of fresh ingredients also gives meals a pleasing appearance. Fruits and vegetables, not packaging, provide appetizing color. Convenience foods often rely on attractive, colorful packaging for visual appeal. The food inside rarely compares to the “serving suggestion” pictured on the box. With lunches packed at home, the food inside will be exactly as expected. Anticipating a lunch that is guaranteed to look appetizing, taste good, and satisfy hunger without straining the budget makes lunch more than just a food break. Packing well-planned meals can make lunchtime a pleasant oasis in anyone’s busy day. Brenda Layman is a freelance writer who lives in Pickerington, Ohio, with her husband of 29 years, Mark. She is a fishing enthusiast (fanatic?) who firmly believes in the healing power of the human spirit. When she is not on the water or in the woods, Brenda spends her time writing for Greenmaple Wellness Inc. and Ohio Valley Outdoors magazine. Brenda is also the author of Song of Joy, a Guide to Recovery from Sorrow. |
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