all right folks back-to-school is upon
us so how about changing up your child's
lunch routine oh I definitely have to do
this here with ideas for healthy and
delicious lunch options your kids will
love registered dietician Mary Ellen
that's great to see you this is visually
stimulating for me because I get in the
mom rut of you get the same thing every
single day I'm sorry I'm admitting it it
happens okay parents don't mean to be
bad parents we I think you have to also
keep in mind like if your kid likes the
same thing every day it's okay problem
we can go with it so you have not only
healthy and delicious food ideas but
also the way that you're organizing and
packing them this seems high-tech very
advanced right so there's there's a lot
of things to think about I mean every
kid whether they're a preschooler or a
high schooler we want to think about fat
and protein and whole grains and
different quality snack-type foods and
something they're gonna want to eat and
so we want to make sure we're getting a
balanced diet in there with all of these
things and specifically like with these
lunch containers we think about
preschoolers I have preschoolers they
they're visually oriented and write fun
colors can kind of help make them a
little bit more comfortable or things
like that and it also gives them an idea
of kind of snacking when it's in little
containers and they're kind of bite-size
ready to go right right so little kids
especially can get really overwhelmed
with big serving sizes and so I think a
lot of times as moms we're like we don't
want them to get hungry we don't want we
don't want to like have them you know be
crying at the end of the day because
they want a snack but in reality like
especially this these are called bent go
containers and I like the little
containers because it makes kids more
comfortable and they can just kind of
pick and choose from what they want it's
a cool idea in the bench go comes from
the bento box which is like an Asian a
little like parent hack is you can pop
this out and it goes in the dishwasher
so you don't have to worry about like
scrubbing the whole thing down or
anything that's even better
I'm usually a morning of that I'm
packing lunches so do you say like
prepping yeah you can there's certain
things you can do like the weekend
before the night before a lot of kids to
like to be involved in making their
lunch so it's like it works for your
morning routine to have them be involved
in that or the afternoon routine
whatever you want to do dry goods
beverages you can stick those in the
night before and then perishables do
like morning or something all right so
it looks like today Mary Ellen
you have a little Pizza style scenario
going on over as a kid we were not
allowed to eat those your mom was wiser
than others but they I think there's a
lot healthier ways we can do a lunchable
concept there are some better options
out there right now but they tend to be
a little expensive and so we can we've
got a little setup here for a homemade
pizza lunchable we've got a whole-grain
little bread rounds those are just those
little like sandwich rounds there you've
just cut these up yeah and some quality
tomato sauce some uncured pepperoni and
then some mozzarella cheese so do you
want to assemble it or that's where
these go and let them assembly right so
it's the idea of a lunchable letting
them assemble it and so you can kind of
put things in different compartments
okay we can throw some pepperoni in
there for them and let them and you can
kind of experiment with this too if your
kid is one that likes a veggie pizza you
can do that as well where did you find
Mary Ellen V's compartment containers
these are called easy lunch boxes and
this is their snack version and then
this is their like lunch meal version
and you can get them on Amazon you can
get them at Target I think a couple
other retailers have them as well
compartments are a great idea too
especially if you have bread or crackers
because it helps keep things dry and not
soggy right no okay all right so we kind
of did preschool let's talk about
elementary school so servings getting a
little bit bigger right and so the pizza
lunchable would work for elementary
school these are some of my favorite
lunch boxes right here for bigger kids
Oh me life is what it's called and this
is the only lunchbox I've found with
like a hot container inside right so
here's the lid for that on this one you
could do something like mac and cheese
but then if they don't want something
hot you could also pop that out and then
just use it like a normal lunch wait how
long would this actually stay hot it
stays hot about 4 to 5 hours that's
great that's perfect I know just self
contained so you don't have to worry
about packing another bag basically idea
from experience with my own children
dropping them on the ground all the time
they stand up so perfect I love it ok so
getting into the older kids here right
right so middle schoolers high schoolers
you want to think about we want to fuel
it more we want to get a little bit more
nutrient dense so thinking about healthy
fats and proteins getting
their fruits and vegetables bigger
servings but also the after-school snack
because they might have an
extracurricular activity yeah I need to
make sure that you know what I'm running
down to fast food before they have
soccer practice or absolutely and it
looks like some of these items would be
great breakfast items as well the fresh
fruit and the nuts and a lot of I mean I
remember when I was in high school I'd
swear he hit that mid-morning slump
where I would be starving before lunch
and this would work for that too yeah
you could pack like a little extra snack
box for them or at this age they can do
it themselves they can do it yeah make
their own decisions so what do you have
here on the end and so this is we also
wouldn't need to think about breakfast
because there's more than just lunch
when it comes to nutrition for kids and
so we've got like a classic little
yogurt bolt here yogurt bowl here and my
main thing with a yogurt bowl is we want
to think about minimizing added sugar
and we actually want to get our kids to
eat fat in the morning fat is not this
thing to be feared the reason being that
fat is good for brain development and it
also keeps them full so you're saying
get hungry quicker fat takes the longest
for us to get out of our stomach to
digest doesn't it also jumpstart your
metabolism it gets you going
anything you eat really will get it
going but the key thing with fat is to
really just kind of sticks to the walls
of your stomach if you will so we can
make a little make a little yogurt bowl
here we've got some like fresh fruit to
put on top we've got some pecans for a
little bit more protein and fat and
while Courtney is assembling this I want
to remind viewers that you do have an
e-book available people can just visit
your website right so I just released a
new e-book called freezer snacks and so
again avoiding the processed snack thing
it's a full book full of recipes and
tips of how to stock your freezer with
quality snacks that's some of them
they're on that plate and you can use
the code Houston life to get half off
that's perfect in a little peanut butter
drizzle Mary Ellen you always have
fantastic ideas they look right they
taste great and for all of you out there
if you would like more of her ideas you
can check out milk and honey nutrition
com you're gonna also find her on
Instagram thanks my lunches have been
kicked up not