6 Healthy And Irresistible Lunches That They Will Happily Take To School
The mid-morning breakfast that children take to school is often a source of headaches for parents.
It is common to give children a processed product, such as a muffin, a brick juice or smoothie, or some cookies for breakfast at school. These options, while comfortable, are not the healthiest.
Many schools have a “lunch box” that indicates what children should bring each day of the week. For example: fruit on Mondays, dairy on Tuesdays, snacks on Wednesdays, cookies on Thursdays and free on Fridays.
In several of these options there is room for both healthy and unhealthy options, and it is up to the parents to choose whether where it says “dairy” they send a milk brick, a natural yogurt or a piece of cheese, or opt for a sugary milkshake. Chocolate or a yogurt flavor also with a considerable amount of sugar.
If the family is also vegan, it is forced to look for alternatives to those options that they do not consume, as would be the case of dairy in the previous example.
What healthy options can children take to school?
1. Fruit
With fruit it is easy and there is no problem. A banana or tangerines, which are easy to peel, can be an excellent option. And for other fruits, we can use a small pan to put peeled and cut fruit, or small and delicate fruits such as strawberries, grapes or blueberries.
2. Vegetable milks or yogurts
Instead of dairy, vegan children can bring a minibrick or a reusable bottle with a vegetable drink, or a soy yogurt with no added sugar. Better to avoid sugary smoothies or vegetable desserts of vanilla, chocolate or similar. Similarly, a whole fruit smoothie with a vegetable drink is a great option.
3. Whole wheat sandwiches
The sandwiches, that are of whole wheat bread. We have many healthy vegan options to fill them, it is just a matter of taking a little imagination and making attractive mixes, adapting to the age and tastes of the little ones:
- Tomato, olive oil and tofu slices
- Avocado and black bean paste
- Hummus with sliced grilled vegetables (can be leftovers from dinner)
- Lettuce, cucumber and radish
- Tahini, banana slices and cinnamon
- Unsweetened peanut butter and applesauce
- Lettuce, canned asparagus, mustard and apple
- Tapenade (black olive pate) and tomato
- Tomato, silken tofu and basil leaves or pesto
- Slices of smoked tofu with canned piquillo peppers
- Arugula leaves, dried tomato and tempeh flakes
- Nut creams
- Oil, salt flakes and dark chocolate with more than 80% cocoa
- Falafel on pita bread
- Arugula with pear and walnuts
- Peanut butter with sliced banana
- “No-nocilla”, avocado cream, pure cocoa and dates
4. Nuts
In older children, nuts are always a great option, healthy and easy to transport. For the little ones, we will give them in cream to avoid the risk of choking.
Some schools do not allow to bring nuts to prevent scares with allergic companions. In that case we will discard the options that contain them, they will already consume them at another time of the day.
5. Cookies
Homemade cookies can be made using oatmeal and banana flakes, without the need to add sugars or refined flours. They can be a good alternative if there is “cookie day” in our center, undoubtedly much better than any other option.
6. Vegetable patés
Other good options are: a small glass of hummus or guacamole with carrot sticks, spikes of whole wheat bread with an ounce of dark chocolate with more than 85% cocoa, a portion of homemade pizza, a piece of vegan potato omelette … and to drink, water .
Those lunches that we should avoid putting in the backpack are all kinds of sugary products, cookies and pastries (even homemade), juices, vegan sausages and other similar processed It is easy to take a vegan and healthy lunch!
