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This giveaway is now closed. Thanks for stopping by. The winner is Veronica G. Congrats!
Next week (October 11th-15th) is National School Lunch Week. If you keep up with what’s going on in Washington, than you know that the Obama administration has been working to “improve child nutrition, combat childhood obesity and encourage schools to participate in USDA’s HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC), an initiative that recognizes schools for excellence in nutrition and physical activity (USDA).”
National School Lunch Week is the culmination of The National School Lunch Program which ensures the following:
- Meals must meet the standards based on Dietary Guidelines for Americans. They should contain no more than 30% of calories from fat, and less than 10% from saturated fat.
- School lunches must provide one-third of the Recommended Dietary Allowances of protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, iron, calcium, and calories.
- Meals must be served in age-appropriate serving sizes
I recently submitted a post to this Savvy Parenting Blog about how I get my son to eat vegetables. One of my tips was to offer veggies with healthy dips. Dips, when created with healthy ingredients, can pack in much needed nutrients.
Here are some tips on boosting the nutrition content of your kid’s snacks, courtesy of Registered Dietitian and mom Deanna Segrave-Daly:
- Make fruit more appealing by providing flavored non-fat Greek yogurt (which is a great source of protein and calcium) for dipping.
- Offer hummus, fresh salsa, or a fresh dip with chips, crackers, and other salty snacks.
Here is one example of a recipe you could make for snack time:
Mediterranean Dip
Ingredients:
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
½ cup roasted red peppers, chopped
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Salt to taste
Instructions:
Mix corn, chopped peppers and balsamic vinegar together in a small bowl. Refrigerate for 30 minutes (or longer).
Right now, I have little control over the lunches served in my son’s school. I’m hoping that change will come through initiatives like National School Lunch Week. To read more about the initiative, just visit their website.
Win It! To celebrate National School Lunch Week, one of you will win a Recycled Caterpillar Canvas Sack, two Round Food Containers, and one bag each of SunChips and Tostitos Scoops. Simply leave me a comment with one way you aim to pack a healthier lunch for your child, or one thing you’d like changed at your child’s school with regards to school lunches. Comments will close on October 23, 2010 at 11:59 PM PST. Duplicates and comments not including the above information will be disqualified. Comments are moderated. If you don’t see your comment in a reasonable amount of time, send me an email. Bloggers and non-bloggers may enter. If you don’t want to leave your email address, please be sure to check back for my announcement on the winner. Please note that winners must respond within 48 hours of being announced/contacted or another winner will be drawn.Want an extra entry? Do any or all of the following and receive an extra entry for each one. Be sure to leave me a separate comment for each additional entry.
Follow me on Twitter AND tweet about the contest.
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Blog about this giveaway. It doesn’t have to be a separate post. Just include a blurb about it when you blog about other giveaways.
Click on one of the very cute buttons below and digg, stumble, fav, etc. Just let me know what you did in the comments!
No compensation was received for this post. Products for review and giveaway were supplied by the company.
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One change I’ve always wanted to happen is more options for students to pick from each day.
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I try to make some of the food ahead of time so that I’m not so rushed to grab whatever stuff is around.
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I try to keep my childs lunch as healthy as possible including, cut up apples and carrot sticks, etc, with every snack. karasceviour at hotmail dot com
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I aim to pack a healthier lunch for my child by providing fresh ingredients…not processed.
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I keep trying to get more veggies into him – he loves fruit….veggies not so much. I am thinking maybe broccoli spears with a yogurt dipping sauce?
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I plan to include more fruits. My son already eats salad as a choice for lunch. He’s not a typical kid in that he eats sandwiches or regular type kid food. It’s hard sometimes to make sure he is getting enough vitamins and minerals from food because he eats the same things all the time. But he does like some veggies and fruit. Protein is hard.
My daughter doesnt ever buy lunch (her choice) so I always pack her lunch. She likes to take an apple every day. I find that if I take her food shopping with me, she sometimes finds something she’d like for lunch that I would think to buy. Thanks for the review and giveaway!
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I pack apples, milk, string cheese and I always use whole grain bread for my son’s sandwhich. Try and pack a balanced lunch! Thanks for the chance.
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I like to make my daughter’s lunch a fun bento box so that she’ll want to eat it and not trade it away for junk.
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I include veggies from the night before, today my daughter has cooked cailflower
I always make a point of packing both a fruit AND a vegetable (like sliced apples and carrot sticks), and I use whole grain bread for the sandwiches, and water to drink. I also always include a small treat (like a Hershey’s Kiss), because I believe in balance.
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I try to pack a healthier lunch for my kids by providing fresh fruits and veggies.
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i always buy a whole grain bread for my son’s lunch..he has never minded and will even eat his crust…i do need to figure out more creative ways to get him to eat fruit…i will have to research better ways to get him excited about fruit
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We try to make school lunches healthier by not getting the unhealthy snacks…out of sight out of mind.
I think the school should add a salad/fruit bar and deli hoagie line. My school used to have one. I think it would give more kids a chance to make the right healthy choices- without it being forced on them. thanks!
tarynlc86(at)yahoo(dot)com
This year I’m more mindful of packing fruits and vegetables that are easier to eat. For example, I offer orange slices instead of whole oranges, apple slices (treated to avoid browning) instead of whole apples. Baby carrots and cherry tomatoes go to school in hopes they’ll be eaten along with a sandwich.
I ALWAYS PUT SOME FRUIT (I PREFER AN APPLE) IN MY CHILD’S LUNCH
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I would like to provide more fresh fruits and veggies in my children’s lunches.
I always make sure to have healthy snacks my daughter enjoys on hand for my daughter’s preschool snack. Although, the other day, I found out she traded her snack with a friend. When I asked her why, she said, “because you never buy me those.” I guess I need to start rethinking whether I am “depriving” my child. I do not want her to end up going all out on junk food when she is old enough to make her own choices!
Gigglesandlollipops at gmail dot com
I wish the school offered more of a variety and didn’t serve the same lunch twice in a week and offered more 100%juices and smoothies with lunch instead offering it for $$$.
tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com
since my children are schooling at home i don’t normally pack lunches but we do eat lunch everyday….with 5 children, 3 in school and a toddler and baby, my day is packed and lunch time comes quickly. The night before I plan out lunch, get as much done in advance as I can, make sure I have everything I need etc. I also bake a lot so we have healthier than store bought items like whole grain muffins and healthy cookies.
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I try to pack healthy foods such as fruits and nuts.
I actually think they do pretty well at my children’s school. They always have fruit & veggies, offer vegetarian and locavore options, which is pretty cool. I always try to have whole grains and fruit and veggies for my kiddos.
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My granddaughter likes fruit and yogurt in her lunch. We try to avoid chips and other unhealthy foods.
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I pack frozen yogurt so it will unthaw by lunchtime!
Awesome contest! Thanks for entering me!
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I will cut my daughters carrots or whtever into shapes and it seems to be encouring to hel her eat thm better!
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I try to make lunches healthier by making sure to add a fruit and veggie every day and not including processed items like fruit snacks.
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I freeze tubes of Goruts for their lunch bags Hebig thing I wish they would change in their school lunches is they loose the fat ladden, greasy french fries.
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I wish the kids could choose healthier sides. There’s always mashed potatoes or french fries, or something like that. I’d like to see more fresh fruits and veggies as an option!
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I’d like the schools to offer vegan meals.
My son is really picky but he does love fruit and yogurt which I always include in his lunch. I also avoid buying junk food when I go grocery shopping and buy healthy snacks and foods to make sure he has a healthy lunch.
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My son loves “junk” snacks so I try not to buy them. If it’s not in the house, we’re all not tempted to eat them!
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We’re including more whole grain breads and natural snacks like nuts and raisins.
Id like besides more healthy food for my child also they need more lunch time. My daughter tells me she has to rush to eat her lunch before having to back to class.
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Mostly our school lunches are pretty good & balanced. BUT there’s that one day that they think that fried cheese sticks are a main course entree. I can’t stand that!
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I always make sure to pack at least one serving of fruit and one serving of vegetables.
I wish my child’s school had more fruit available. Usually, they just have apples, and kids live on variety.
I wish they offered juice instead of just milk for drinks and it would be great to have a small salad bar as a lunch option.
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We have substituted baby carrots and walnuts and they are enjoyed!
I try to prepare food ahead so that do not rush and grab whatever is convenient and not necessary the best choices.
more fresh fruits and veggies
I always pack some fruit for my daughter in her lunches.
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My daughter takes her lunch to school-she only buys her lunch once in awhile-she usually has some type of fruit with mini carrots-a sandwich and water
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I’m definitely going to start sending my son more often with boxes of raisins and cups of yogurt. Those are a few of the nutritious things he actually does like.
I like to pack carrot sticks, yogurt and fruit to lunch to make it healthier.
Thanks for the giveaway!
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I’d like the fat out of the school menus, like when they serve cheeseburgers and pizzas on certain days
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The biggest problem I have is the healthier options seem to be harder to find in my rural town. There are lots of chips, cookies, etc. But not a wide variety of other, easy to grab options. Thank you
Making the food ahead of time would be great for me. suelee1998 @ gmail.com
I wish the shools offered more variety of foods.
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I’d love to see less processed food in school lunches. There aren’t ever any fresh fruits or vegetables.
I make my kids lunches, I wouldn’t want them eating the garbage they call food that they serve there. I pack soups, sandwiches, salads, fruit and homemade cookies.
I pack my daughters lunch with fruits and veggis she likes. A banana, orange slices, or carrots are quick healthy lunch snacks.
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I am to pack a healthier lunch by packing a balanced meal including fruit and whole wheat bread.
I aim to pack a healthier lunch for my child with fresh ingredients.
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What I wanted to pack daily is something that nutritious and good for health like veggies sticks, fruits, cheese, yogurt, sandwiches and cookies. I love making them for my nephews so that they won’t get hungry when they are at school. Moreover, these nutritious snacks/meals will be stack on a eco friendly stainless steel tiffin container. This container helps them eat with bliss as they’re not having any difficulty in bringing back and forth to school and home. =)