Stress-free lunchbox options
By Cara Rosenbloom, RD

By this time of year, you’ve been packing school lunches for eight months and you (and your children!) may be getting bored of the standard fare. Or, perhaps the stressful time-crunch of making lunch every day needs a solution. Shake up the usual lunch rotation by adding these unique, quick and healthy meal options.

Frozen sandwiches
Here’s a scenario that may be familiar to you: Your child needs to catch the school bus in seven minutes and reminds you that his lunchbox remains empty. You rush to the breadbox – only to find the last scraps of a loaf, which won’t be enough to make a sandwich. You panic.

Enter the frozen sandwich, an excellent solution for frenzied mornings.

While the ingredients are the same as with other sandwiches, the beauty of the frozen variety is that you can make several sandwiches at once when you have time, freeze them, and use them as needed. Plus, if they are made with very fresh ingredients, they’ll remain fresh when they are defrosted. This means you’ll no longer have to worry about running out of bread or other sandwich staples.

Here are some tips for making perfect frozen sandwiches:

• Choose ingredients that freeze well such as canned tuna or salmon, roast beef, chicken, turkey or grated cheese.
• Avoid ingredients that don’t freeze well such as hard-boiled eggs, lettuce and tomato (add vegetables to thawed sandwiches).
• To prevent soggy bread, spread it with a thin layer of non-hydrogenated margarine before adding sandwich fillings.
• To freeze, use resealable sandwich bags, removing as much air as possible. Mark each bag with the date and type of sandwich, and place in the freezer for one hour. Once sandwiches are firm, put four of them into a large freezer-quality bag (thin sandwich bags are not good for long-term storage). Note: Sandwiches can remain frozen for up to three months.

Try this delicious recipe for Frozen chicken and pineapple salad sandwich.

Cereal and milk
Kids love it for breakfast, so why not offer it at lunch? Whole-grain breakfast cereals are high in fibre, iron and B-vitamins, and milk is a great source of protein, calcium and vitamin D. Add some fruit, and you have a well-balanced and fun lunchtime meal.

Here are some tips for buying and packing cereal and milk:

• Look for breakfast cereals that list whole grains as the first ingredient.
• Choose cereals with less than 6 grams of sugar and more than 2 grams of fibre per 30 gram serving.
• Mix several cereals together for an ever-changing variety of crunchy goodness.
• Keep bowl-shaped resealable containers handy. Fill them with cereal and tote the milk separately.
• Pack cold milk in a thermos, or buy tetra-packs of milk or fortified soy beverage (which don’t need to be refrigerated).
• Add fresh or dried fruit or any nuts that your child enjoys.
• Don’t forget to pack a spoon!

Dessert delights
Punching up a lunch can be easy by simply adding a yummy dessert. Freeze a fruit-flavoured yogurt drink or pack a single-serve applesauce. Another healthy dessert idea is oatmeal bites trail mix, which is a healthy blend of homemade mini oatmeal cookies, dried fruit and sunflower seeds.  

Look for the Heart&Stroke Health Check™ symbol on food products when shopping and on menus when dining out.  Every item in the Health Check food information program has been reviewed by the Foundation’s registered dietitians to ensure it meets specific nutrient criteria based on the recommendations in Canada’s Food Guide. Health Check is one important way the Foundation is helping Canadians eat well.  

Cara Rosenbloom, RD, is filling in for Alyssa Rolnick while she is on maternity leave. Alyssa will return in 2010.

Posted: April 2009