Back-to-School Meals: Keeping them Simple and Nutritious

Back-to-School Meals: Keeping them Simple and Nutritious

Sarah Caffrey, NTP Sarah Caffrey, NTP
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It’s that time of year again—when make-ahead breakfasts, school lunches, and easy weeknight meals are top of mind. To help, we’ve rounded up some tips and tricks to help make back-to-school more fun and less stressful for everyone. 

Better Breakfasts 

Let’s start with breakfast. It’s no secret that breakfast is an important part of a healthy diet and has a big impact on a child’s health. Breakfast should be simple and full of whole, nutrient-dense foods like fresh fruit, whole grains, quality eggs and proteins. What you eat (or don’t) at breakfast sets the pace for the rest of your day. It’s especially important for children to have something to eat in the morning before school, and ideally that something includes protein. Adequate protein consumption is associated with bone and muscle growth and repair, wound healing, and immune health—all important for growing kids. Quality breakfast proteins include organic eggs, sausage, bacon, ham, leftover chicken or beef, cottage cheese, and plain yogurt. 

Tip #1: Make-ahead breakfasts are a huge time saver

Foods that can be prepared in advance are ideal for breakfast, especially for busy families. Some breakfast favorites can be made with minimal cooking and clean-up like cheesy scrambled eggs, sausage, and fruit, and avocado toast with a fried egg on top. Meal-prepping, or preparing food in advance, makes it much easier to eat healthy, homemade meals more consistently, though. 

Make ahead breakfast ideas: 

 Tip #2: Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate

We all know how important hydration is, but keeping the whole family hydrated is no small task. Some people don’t care for the taste of plain water, and there are problems with clean tap water in some areas. If you can, opt for filtered water with a pinch of sea salt or electrolytes and try to get everyone in the family in the habit of having it each morning, before breakfast or coffee. This is the best way to ensure your family gets the clean water they deserve with the nutrients their bodies and brains need. The naturally occurring electrolytes in the salt add a pleasant sweetness to the water. Another option is to add a splash or two of coconut water and a squeeze of lemon juice to plain water. This is a nutritious alternative to a conventional “sports drink” like Gatorade, which is filled with artificial colors and sweeteners.

Coconut water is filled with essential minerals like electrolytes, potassium, sodium, calcium and more. It’s important to look for a brand that contains as few ingredients as possible. Harmless Harvest is a great option that contains only 1 ingredient: coconut water, which also happens to have its naturally-occurring bright pink hue to it.   

Electrolyte Drink:

  • 8 oz filtered water 
  • 2 oz coconut water
  •  Sea salt just a pinch
  • Squeeze of lemon (optional)

Tip #3: Don’t forget your protein 

Protein is always important, but especially for kids and especially at breakfast. Aim to include at least a little bit of protein in their breakfast—muffins or this banana bread baked oatmeal is a great way to sneak some eggs into kids’ food if they don’t love eggs or traditional breakfast proteins. Collagen peptides are another tasteless and nutritious way to add protein and essential amino acids to a meal. Try adding it to oatmeal, smoothies, cereals, and any other drinks your family enjoys. baked oatmeal apples cinnamon

Banana Bread Oatmeal Bake Recipe 

  • 2 cups organic oats—gluten free or not will do
  • 2-3 bananas, ripe
  • 1 medium carrot, cleaned and shredded
  • 1.5 cups organic milk of choice
  • 3-4 organic eggs, whisked
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  •  Collagen peptides 2 tablespoons 
  • Chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla bean extract or paste
  • ¼ cup grass-fed butter, melted and cooled
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • ¼ cup maple syrup

 Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9” x 12” baking dish and set aside. 
  2. In a small bowl, mash the bananas and then whisk in the milk, maple syrup, vanilla extract, eggs, and butter. 
  3. In a medium bowl, combine the oats, ground cinnamon, ginger, salt, collagen peptides, and baking powder. Whisk thoroughly and then fold in the shredded carrots and nuts if you use those.
  4. Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture and slowly add in the wet ingredients (banana, milk, maple syrup, etc.), whisking to combine until no lumps remain. 
  5. Pour the batter into the baking dish and bake for 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and firm to the tough. Serve sprinkled with dried cranberries and hemp hearts. Store refrigerated for up to 5 days. 

Lunches You'll Love

Lunch is where people seem to struggle the most. It’s easy to give in at lunch and succumb to takeout or fast food. But how does that usually make you feel? Leftovers from dinner or meal prep are a great and easy lunch option, but it’s also important to focus on including foods that your family enjoys and will want to eat. Aim to keep them nutritionally balanced by including protein, healthy fats, and carbohydrates in each meal, but don’t worry if it’s not perfect. You also don’t need expertly arranged bento boxes or dinosaur-shaped sandwich cut outs to make lunches special for your family. Although, these things can be helpful for some people! We have some other ideas to help make school lunches easier on your family. 

Tip #1: Make it something they like to eat.

The most important thing to focus on when making school lunches is what does your child like to eat? What’s their favorite vegetable? Maybe they hate everything green except for peas, then you know to add peas to their rotation. Do they hate sandwiches but love tortilla roll-ups? Then focus on different variations of that style of food. It can be helpful to make a list of lunch items that often get eaten and keep it handy when you go to pack lunches. If your kids are old enough, you can even involve them in the process by taking them shopping for ingredients and having them help prepare their own lunches. This is a great way to get older kids excited to eat nutritious meals. Children are adventurous and open-minded by nature and when given the options, are often open to a wider variety of foods than those they are used to eating.

Kid Lunch Box Ideas:

  • Chicken salad or tuna salad with celery and grapes
  • Turkey or lunch meat sandwiches on bread (can be gluten-free or whole grain)
  • Tortilla roll-ups with lunch meat and cheese or hummus, veggies and cheese (can be gluten-free or not)
  • Shredded meat, rice, and beans with avocado 
  • Raw vegetables with hummus or guacamole—carrots, peppers, broccoli—whatever your child’s favorite is!
  • Energy bites—chocolate chip, strawberry shortcake, peanut butter, etc.
  • Prepackaged cheese sticks or snacks
  • Chicken fingers 
  • Meatballs and pasta 
  • Lettuce and lunch meat roll up if gluten-free 
  •  Chomps or similar quality beef sticks (they now make Chomplings for kids too! 

Wellness Mama has some great healthy lunch ideas she shared in a post on her blog.

Ali Mufacci of Inspiralized and Inspiralized Kids shares her easy and nut-free ideas for camp or school lunches here.  

Tip #2: Get your child their own reusable lunch box

A sturdy, leak-proof, ideally plastic-free lunch box is definitely a plus when packing school lunches.  Lunch boxes come in every size, shape, and material you can think of.  Glass containers are prohibited by many schools, and it’s a good idea to try and limit the use of plastic food storage containers when you can, so that’s where a lunch box comes in handy.

Stainless steel, bento-style lunch boxes have gained popularity recently, and with good reason. They are easy to organize a variety of foods in a fun and exciting way. Kids can pick and choose what they want to eat and foods don’t leak all over each other, ideally. Lunch Bots and Planet Box are two popular stainless-steel bento-style lunch box brands that also offer other stainless steel thermos and other containers. You can also find similar products on Amazon. 

Tip #3: Make it unexpected

This is especially fun if the kids are involved in making their own lunches, but it is fun and exciting to add a special treat the kids don’t know about or wouldn’t expect into their lunch. This could be healthy homemade blueberry muffins (mini muffins would be good too), fresh fruit, dark chocolate, homemade gummies, homemade healthy twix bars, cookies, or whatever your family’s favorite treat is. woman chopping savoy cabbage

What's For Dinner?

You can spend as much or as little effort on dinner as you’d like, but if you’re a busy parent, our best advice is to keep it simple. That means aim to spend no more than 30 minutes in the kitchen prepping and cooking each night. It can help to prep veggies or starches early in the week to make it easier to achieve this goal. For dinner, try to include a protein—chicken, beef, fish, shellfish, and pork are all good options, a cooked or raw vegetable, and a starch. Easy family-friendly side dish options include things like sauteed zucchini, onions and bell peppers or other vegetables, green salads, roasted or baked potatoes, organic regular or brown rice pasta, organic rice and other grains make great side dishes for meat and veggies. Filling your plate with variety also ensures you’re getting the wide variety of nutrients your body needs. 

The Defined Dish shares lots of delicious and wholesome recipes, including many that are whole30, dairy-free, and grain-free. She also has amazing meal plans and meal prep guides with recipes ranging from breakfast egg cups to whole roasted chicken to homemade mayo.  

We hope that you find some of these tips and tricks useful for your family. Check out our blog for more recipe ideas and inspiration. And don’t forget that while eating well and nourishing your body is a big piece of the puzzle, it’s happy thoughts, social interaction, outdoor adventures, and sleep that really recharges our bodies and minds.


About the Author

Sarah Caffrey, NTP—Sarah is a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, writer, and designer. She is passionate about all things nutrition and design. She believes that the key to lasting health is to find a balance that feels good to you. One of her favorite phrases is, “everything in moderation, including moderation.” She has a special interest in gut health, mental health, hormone health, and the gut-brain connection. Sarah is passionate about helping others improve their health through simple and sustainable nutrition and lifestyle adjustments. Learn more about Sarah.


The information presented on this website is intended for educational purposes only. Statements within this site have not been evaluated or approved by the Food and Drug Administration. This content is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any specific condition or disease, nor is it medical advice and should not be considered a substitute for professional medical expertise. Readers of this content are advised to consult their doctors or qualified health professionals regarding specific health conditions or concerns. One should always consult a qualified medical professional before engaging in any dietary and/or lifestyle change or new health program. Curated Wellness does not take responsibility for any health consequences of any person or persons following the information in this educational content. 

References:

Masento, N., Golightly, M., Field, D., Butler, L., & Van Reekum, C. (2014). Effects of hydration status on cognitive performance and mood. British Journal of Nutrition, 111(10), 1841-1852. doi:10.1017/S0007114513004455 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/effects-of-hydration-status-on-cognitive-performance-and-mood/1210B6BE585E03C71A299C52B51B22F7



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