5 simple food choices to simplify lunch packing

Teuko meets Cecile Cottus, French Registered Dietitian.

#NationalNutritionMonth is a wonderful opportunity for us to celebrate all the mums and dads who pack lunches every day for their kids despite their busy schedules! Because we want to help you make lunch packing a better experience, we asked Cecile Cottus, Registered Dietitian in France, to share some tips to make things easier for you on a daily basis. Cecile is bringing us her expertise after years validating menus for French Schools in Paris.

Why is lunch so important for school aged kids?

Did you know that lunch is actually the real most important meal of the day for a school aged kid? Breakfast sets us up with energy for the day ahead, after the body has had time to recover during the night. But when it comes to fill up the body and power our kids through their intense school day, then lunch definitely holds the place of the most important meal of the day.

In other words, if you are packing lunch for your kid, make time to pack a healthy lunch and take this as an opportunity to provide your kids with all the resources they need to stay active, grow healthfully, and learn successfully throughout the day.

How to make it easy, tasty… but healthy?

Lunch packing doesn’t have to be complicated. There are small food choices that you can make to simplify lunch packing while covering your kids nutritional needs and helping them to develop healthy eating habits.

Here are simple food habits that will help you cover your kids nutritional needs while making your lunch packing routine simple*:

*Complementary tips:
1) Grains: prefer whole grain if possible.
2) Dairy: less than 10 grams sugars per serving is ideal.
4) Proteins: fish fingers and “charcuterie” (deli meat) are not recommended: prefer non-fat proteins like poultry, 5% fat proteins.
5) Treats: don’t mix bad fat treat with sweet treat.

Your a Mum of 3: what does the lunchbox routine look like in your family?

Lunch Packing is a team work in our family.
On Sundays, I “take orders”. We have a board where my 6 years old daughter makes her choices for every day: one grain first (rice? pasta? semolina?…), then one veggie (veggies : tomatoes, beans, cucumbers…). Friday is Sandwich Day.
My 3 years old daughter currently only wants pasta and olives. It’s fine, I know this phase won’t last. I am fine with giving her the same thing every day to make sure she is eating.
My husband is the one who packs the lunches every evening. Lunch packing is his way to participate in their school life since he doesn’t get to pick them up at school or help with the homework. He is proud to do this for his daughters and finds it rewarding to know that they will get to think about him every day when opening their box!

Check out Cecile’s Lunchbox Ideas on Teuko.com