What to Pack for Lunch for Your Preschooler

While many preschools and day care centres in Buckinghamshire offer lunch for the students, it is best for the parents to pack the lunch from home. Parents are the best people to decide what to allow the children to eat based on finances, allergies, culture, medical and religious concerns. Moreover, parents understand what their children will eat and what they won't.

When your child starts attending preschool, you should pay special attention to their nutrition. A lot of parents complain that their children do not eat lunch and bring back the lunch boxes unfinished. No matter what your child eats before going to school, eating a healthy lunch at school is very important. This is because a healthy meal would give your child the energy to concentrate, learn and play at school.

Ideally, the lunch should include:

• Fresh and colourful vegetables
• Fresh fruits
• grain foods such as bread, pasta, breakfast cereals, rice, corn
• Reduced-fat dairy such as milk, cheese, yoghurt
• Proteins such as Meat, fish, chicken, eggs and legumes, including peas, beans, lentils, etc.

No matter how tasty and healthy the lunch is, children often get attracted towards junk foods. To make sure your child eats the lunch here are some quick and easy lunch packing ideas:

• Make a tasty sandwich with wholegrain bread. Make the filling using cheese, meats, boiled vegetables or falafel.
• Peanut butter is considered healthy for children. So you can use different types of bread and put peanut butter inside it. To make the food a bit more interesting, you can cut the bread in different shaped.
• Make home-made pizza and top it with healthy vegetables. Use a lot of cheese (if you child loves eating cheese).
• Fruit salads make a healthy lunch as well. If your child loves eating fruits you can make some yummy fruit salads.
• You can also pack leftover pizzas, noodles and other dishes that can be eaten cold.

Make sure you give something new and interesting every day. This will keep your child motivated to eat the lunch every day. Create a routine for the entire week and follow it regularly. This makes things easier for you, since you do not have to think what to pack for lunch every day in the morning.

Some preschools, nursery schools and day care centres in Buckinghamshire provide lunch for the children. But if you allow your child to eat at school, make sure you look at what they offer the children to eat. Reputed schools appoint nutritionists who plan the meals on a regular basis, so that the children get a balanced diet. If you allow your child to eat at school, make sure you communicate about your child's allergies and preferences.

Eating a healthy lunch is very important to stay healthy and cope with the competition. No matter whether you pack the lunch from home or your child eats at school, make sure he/she gets proper nutrition every day.