Healthy Meals for Kids: Preparing Perfectly Fun & Nutritious Lunch

What portion should be your kid’s lunch, how can you encourage picky eaters to enjoy their nutritious, in the middle of the day meals? You can find out in the following guide to prepare healthy meals for kids, fun and nutritious-packed lunchboxes….

With more than half of kids taking a stuffed lunch to class, it is reasonable what a key role lunchboxes play. Anyway, considering stimulating thoughts can be an ordeal. It is enticing to fall into the trap of making packaged, instant choices. Despite the fact that these appear like a simple answer, they are inclined to be high in fat, saturated fat, salt, and sugar.

Healthy Meals for Kids: Managing a Picky Eater

If you are getting over into the channel of school timetables and activities, find a few inspirations to consider and use your time wisely, there is so much to complete in those couple of hours when the kids are at school!

There are a million ways or more to pack lunch for your kids. Let us be realistic however, you may have no time to garnish the Cartoon characters out of veggies and other side dishes every morning. The focus is in the kind of healthy meals for kids you are packing. You just do not want that lunch box to return as full as it put away before. Try not to get stucked in the early morning frenzies without specific plan. Here are some ways to make your school lunch easier.

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a) Get Kids Involved

Whether they are helping to consider lunch ideas and actually preparing the lunch together, having your child involved in the planning and preparing their lunchbox is essential so that they will want to eat whatever he brings to school. Ask your child for healthy meals so that you two can think of school lunch menus together. By chatting, you might discover what they want to have for their lunchboxes.

b) Plan ahead

With lunch ideas that you and your child have arranged together, plan a short shopping trip to have school lunch items available for the week. You might love to organize healthy meals for kids a week or two at once, and it will not make any difference as long as it gets done. It regularly bodes well to do your planning around when you will be shopping for groceries. After planning your lunches, make a shopping list to run with it. Half-serving plate of fruits and veggies, half-serving of grains like whole grains, low fat or fat free milk/dairy, and varied sources of protein is a perfect way to envision healthy meals for kids plus a healthy lunch box.

c) Vary your choices

While stuffing a packed lunch offers countless choices for essential lunch box foods, it could be tiresome having the same old raw veggies frequently. Modify your choices of healthy meals for kids in fresh and savory, high in protein, veggies, fruit, and fibre, but low in fat, salt, and sugar. Lunch is a vital moment in the school day and should supply no less than 33% of your child’s daily needs–without it, your kids will be struggling to focus in the afternoon. You can stuff in plenty of nutritious choices to make your kids’ school day more dynamic.

d) Prepare in advance

When you already had a plan and aware of what you are making, you can prepare in advance! Having a couple pre-packed foods on the rack can trully reduce the stress out of stuffing a lunch when you did not have as much time to plan and shop. Over the weekend get the children together and let them help prepare things like fruits and veggies. When things are all set, every morning will set off much smoother.

e) Internet Source

Internet had changed the world one pin at once. There are various countless recipes at a time. You can tap into the resources at many other recipes of healthy meals for kids. How fun is that? After you plan, print off a month’s worth of notes then add a little notes extra daily, depending on what is going on in their lives. How simple is that? Your kids will be getting something personal in their boxes each day, a little piece of take away from home.

Healthy Meals for Kids: Smart Counting Portions

School lunch or packed lunch? Which do your children ask for? While lunch must meet the nutrition standards, when your child decides on school lunch, take notice of what he eats and what he tosses into the garbage. So, if your kids are choosing a packed lunch, what is the answer of how to pack a lunch with high nutritional quality?

Since research has indicated that eating habits and food preferences during preschool years have a major impact on diet quality in later life, it is very essential to provide healthy meals for kids. Whether the nutritious foods are a school lunch or packed lunch is not the case. The most important thing is your kids receiving all they need for good health.

Beverages

  • Ideal options should include purified water, 100% pure fruit juice, milk, or yogurt-based drinks (with low-sugar or sweetener).

Dairy Products

  • Yogurt/fromage frais
  • Hard cheese
  • Soft cheese
  • Low-fat milk

Calcium

  • Your kids need much calcium, as it is vital for bone-building. Good sources are mostly dairy products, as well as green leafy veggies and fish.

Protein

  • Your kids require essential protein for helping them to grow. It will also keep them longer stuffed. Good options include fat-reduced chicken, oily fish, eggs, and dairy foods, as well as beans and pulses for veggie lovers. Give your kids as much amount they can fit in handful.

Veggies 

  • Plan mixed serving of fruit and veggies with at least one type of veggies or salad. You can go for fresh, frozen, dried, canned, or even juice.

Starchy carbs

  • Including breads, noodles, pasta, rice, or starcy veggies like potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and so forth. As vital sources of energy, you should make up a third of their lunch to meet the need.

Fruits

  • You can serve some amount your child can fit in handful, normally one small apple, or banana, or four or five strawberry.

Healthy Meals for Kids: Fun & Appealing Lunch Ideas for Your Kids

  • Make fruits more inspiring with a fruit skewer. Slice apple, blueberry, mango, grapes, peaches, and kiwi in chunk, toss together with a splash of limejuice. Serve into skewers.
  • Spread tuna mayonnaise in sandwiches and tuna or salmon mixed with mayonnaise. This combo platter will provide higher amount of essential omega-3 fatty acids.
  • Freeze up blueberries, banana slices, or grapes before packing into containers. They will thaw out by lunchtime, yet keep the lunchbox remain cool.
  • Aside from sandwich, you can offer them steamed broccoli, raw baby carrot, red pepper, or celery sticks and a spoonful houmous with for dipping.
  • You might want to be more creative with your cooking, simply write a message or your kid’s name onto a boiled egg or a fruits’ skin. Or else, you can make fun and cool characters like bento style for the lunchbox. Be fun, inspiring, and creative!

Here are some healthy meals for kids to prepare healthy lunch ideas for your kids. You can also try it and modify as you like.

Taco-Salad Wraps

For veggie lovers, this healthy meal for kids is worth to try. Made with a flour tortilla, you can eat directly by your hands. Grab fast and pack it for a lunch on the go.

taco-salad-wraps

Ingredients

1 can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 tsp ground cumin to taste

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

5 large green-leaf lettuce leaves

5 flour tortillas

3 small tomatoes, diced

2 tsp olive oil

½ tsp salt

1 avocado, diced, for serving

1 mango, diced, for serving

Directions

  1. Mash together beans, olive oil, cumin, chili powder, and salt in a medium bowl using a fork or food masher.
  2. Apply bean mixture at the center on each tortilla. Top with diced tomato, and cheese. Cover up with a lettuce leaf.
  3. Fold sides of tortilla over filling to form a cylinder. Serve with diced avocado and mango, if desired.

Veggie Pad Thai Pasta

This healthy meal for kids is genuinely packed with veggies, but with the magical spirilizer or julienne veggie peeler, those veggies feel just like favourably inclined noodles! Since zucchini has a neutral flavor, it really just takes on the amazing punch of the sauce.

You can make the dish completely for veggie lover using meaty mushrooms and crushed nuts as written below. Or else, you can include whatever animal protein you like with your Pad Thai from chicken to shrimp to shredded beef.

veggie-pad-thai-pasta

Ingredients

¼ tsp vinegar

3 tbsp ketchup

3 tbsp worcestershire sauce

2 cloves garlic

¼ tsp cayenne or red pepper

¼ tsp Red Pepper Chili Flakes

5 small zucchini

2 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp plain butter

½ cup, mushrooms pieces or slices

3 cloves garlic

1/2 medium red bell pepper

5 stalks green onion, chopped

2 medium carrot

2 large eggs

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1 stalk green onion

Directions

  1. Whisk in vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, garlic, cayenne pepper, and red pepper flakes in a bowl to prepare the sauce. Put it aside.
  2. Heat up sesame oil or butter in a skillet. Spiralize zucchini and cook zucchini noodles for just about 2 mins or until half-wilted with a small pinch of sea salt. After a couple minutes, set aside in a filter to drain.
  3. Heat up sesame oil and butter in the skillet. Stir in mushrooms, garlic, and red bell pepper. Drizzle with sea salt and cook over medium heat around 2 mins.
  4. Fold in green onions and carrots and cook for a few minutes.
  5. Crack in eggs and stir frequently until the eggs are cooked through.
  6. Add in sauce, and then stir in the cooked zucchini noodles. Simmer for a moment. Serve it by garnishing with chopped nuts and scallions.

Creamy Pumpkin Cashew Pasta Recipe

Though it is not a genuine pasta recipe, this healthy meal for kids is mildly sweet, superbly creamy, brimming with healthy ingredients for kids, very stuffing and obviously seasonal at this point. Anyway, this meal is super easy to make if you pre-cook pumpkin the night before, then it will take no longer than 20 mins. As it calls for seasonal pumpkin, you can also swap it with squash or even sweet potatoes. It will be awesome!

creamy-pumpkin-cashew-pasta-recipe

Ingredients

1 cup pasta

1 cup raw pumpkin for sauce

¼ cup raw pumpkin, small cubed

1 ½ cup cashews

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp nutmeg

½ tbsp salt

½ cup pumpkin seed kernels (optional)

1 tbsp fresh cilantro

Directions

  1. Add in pumpkin into a pot with boiling water, and bring to boil until soft enough to mash. This should take around 20 mins. It will be much quicker if you pre-cook it the night before.
  2. Add cashews in a bowl with hot boiled water and soak for a few minutes until tender.
  3. Once pumpkin has softened enough, discharge it from water and combine with the drained cashews, nutmeg, and salt in a blender. Blend into smooth and creamy texture.
  4. Cook pasta according to manufacturer instructions on the box. While cooking pasta, heat up olive oil and sesame oil in a large skillet. Add in pumpkin sauce, chunky pumpkin slice and mix well, then drain pasta and add it to the pan. Mix to ensure all pieces coated well with pumpkin sauce. Serve it warm, sprinkle with some pumpkin seeds and cilantro leaves on top as optional.

Asian Shrimp Noodle Salad

This Asian shrimp noodle mixed salad will make a perfect lunch, packed with nutrient and protein. Toss together soba noodles, mixed veggies, stir-fried shrimp, and silken tofu in a kid-friendly dressing of limejuice, soy sauce, and sesame oil to make this healthy meal for kids complete.

asian-shrimp-noodle-salad

Ingredients

1 cup soba noodles

½ cup green beans, cut diagonally into pieces

½ cup silken tofu, small cubed

½ cup carrot, coarsely shredded

100gr shrimp, stir-fried

1 medium tomato, sliced

3 tbsp fresh limejuice

2 tsp soysauce

2 tbsp sesame oil

2 stalks cilantro, minced

2 scallions, minced

Directions

  1. Cook trimmed green beans in a large pot of boiling salted water, until crisp-tender. Remove it to a bowl and let it cool. In the same pot, cook soba noodles according to package instructions; drain well.
  2. Whisk together fresh limejuice, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Pour half dressing over tofu; toss gently to mix well.
  3. Toss remaining dressing with noodles, shredded carrot, stir-fried shrimp, tomato slices, green beans, and scallions in a large bowl. Sprinkle tofu on top. Serve it with cilantro on top.

Creamy Pork and Cauliflower Potato Soup

Creamy Pork Cauliflower Potato Soup is one of those superfast healthy meal for kids! Well, this soup is best to make with leftovers. Whenever we eat pork chops, you can store up a couple for soup. When you cook an entire chicken, use the bones to make a stock. Prepare veggies for a couple days and then chop those for soup. We can use up leftovers we have in the house, or you could just use all fresh ingredients.

We can also add smoked paprika to give it more smokey flavor. In order to make our soup to be nice and creamy, mix cauliflower, potatoes, and whole milk in a blender. You can add whatever veggies you want or have on hand. This recipe includes sliced carrots, celery, and onions. Easy to grab and need only short-time cooking!

creamy-pork-and-cauliflower-potato-soup

Ingredients

1 pork chop, boneless, chopped

1 large potato, chopped in chunks

1 head medium cauliflower, chopped

1 stalk celery, minced

1 medium carrot, sliced

½ medium onion, chopped

½ tsp dried thyme

2 cup low-sodium chicken broth

¼ tsp paprika

1/8 tsp salt to taste

1/8 tsp ground black pepper to taste

2 cup skim milk

Directions

  1. Mix all ingredients except for milk, in a saucepan. Bring it to boil for a few minutes.
  2. Once veggies are cooked, discharge most of cauliflower.
  3. Add cauliflower into a blender with milk. Blend into smooth juicy texture.
  4. Put cauliflower mixture back into the soup and stir well. Serve it warm with dried thyme on top and enjoy!

Pineapple Fried Rice

This healthy meal for kids is one of those express dinners that is great when you are running short on time but do not want to be short on flavor. It is brimming with color and easy to modify with anything available at the kitchen.

Pineapple Fried Rice is brimming with fresh veggies and fruits, thus you can whip up in a few minutes. Add in any veggies of your kids’ favourite. Snow peas, broccoli, spinach, zucchini, bell peppers, carrots, and green onions are simply best suggestions among others.

pineapple-fried-rice

Ingredients

2 cup pre-cooked brown rice

2 link chicken sausage, diced

1 medium red bell pepper, cubed

2 medium carrot, diced

2 stalks green onion

1 medium onion, minced

1 cup pineapple, diced

3 tbsp cilantro, minced

4 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

1 tbsp coconut oil

Directions

  1. Heat up coconut oil over medium-high heat in a large saute pan.
  2. Stir in onion and then diced sausage. Cook until turning to light brown, around 3-4 mins.
  3. Add in chopped bell pepper and carrots. Cook just about 2-3 mins.
  4. Fold in diced green onions and cook another 1 minute.
  5. Stir in pre-cooked rice, chopped pineapple, and soy sauce to mix well. Drizzle with soy sauce, as you like. Serve it with sliced fresh zucchini or cucumber.

 

Fried Cauliflower Rice

This healthy meal for kids, Fried Cauliflower Rice is very rich in flavors, textures, and colors, and packed with healthy ingredients. Rather than white or brown rice, the key for this recipe is cauliflower crumbled to have resemblance and texture of rice. Therefore, you can also mix veggie-loaded dish to the table in a creative, unexpected way.

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Ingredients

1 medium cauliflower, cut into florets

4 large egg

½ cup onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic

3 medium carrot

1 cup frozen corn

¾ cup green peas, frozen

5 tsp plain soy sauce

2 tsp coconut oil

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

 

 

 

Directions

  1. Crush cauliflower into crumble to be similar to rice with a food processor. Put it aside.
  2. Heat up coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add in garlic and onions. Cook until tender.
  3. Stir in peas, carrots, and corn and cook until carrots start to soften.
  4. Add in riced cauliflower to the pan. Cover and cook until cauliflower is tender.
  5. Stir in whisked eggs and soy sauce, mix together until all veggies evenly coated with egg. Cook it until cooked through.
  6. Serve it warm. Freeze up leftovers for a couple of days.

 

Vegetable Sushi

There is nothing tricky about rolling sushi, but you will need to be crafty in making this healthy meal for kids. Sushi rice is rolled around carrot, red bell pepper, celery, and scallion to make this colorful yummy veggie sushi. You can swap them with any veggies of your kids’ favourite to make their perfect day.

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Ingredients

2 cups sushi rice, rinsed

½ cup mirin

6 sheets nori

1 ½ tsp wasabi paste

1 medium carrot, peeled and cut

1 red bell pepper, cut

2 stalks celery, cut

1 scallion, cut

1 tbsp pickled ginger

Sushi Dipping Sauce

Directions

  1. Heat up 3 cups water in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add in rice and cover, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and cook until tender. Sprinkle rice with ¼ cup mirin. Cover, and allow rice to sit for a few mins. Remove rice to a medium bowl, and let it cool to room temperature.
  2. Making the rolls, spread nori sheet on a bamboo sushi roller, sprinkle with mirin. Arrange 1 cup cooked rice on nori, sparing an inch border on each long side. Apply ¼ tsp wasabi paste in a horizontal strip across middle of the rice. Place carrot, red pepper, celery, and scallion matchsticks on top of wasabi paste. Top with a layer of ginger. Roll in sushi rice with bamboo roller. Press the roll firmly inside bamboo roller. Remove roll to a plate, store up in the fridge. Continue to roll all the rest of ingredients.
  3. Remove rolls from fridge; trim the ends and cut rolls into a few equal pieces using a sharp knife. Serve with pickled ginger and dipping sauce.

 

Salmon patties

These healthy meals for kids, salmon patties are stuffing switch to sandwiches in school lunch-box. Your kids can also have it for mid-morning snack on the go. You can swap salmon for other fishes of your kids’ favourite to make this most-loved perfect meal.

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Ingredients

1 cup mashed potato

400gr salmon, drained, bones removed

2 tbsp green onion, finely chopped

1 egg, lightly beaten

½ cup dried breadcrumbs

Directions

  1. Mix mashed potato, salmon, finely chopped green onion, lightly beaten egg, and dried breadcrumbs in a bowl until just combined. Shape into a few patties.
  2. Heat up olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook patties in few batches until lightly golden. Blot on paper towel. Serve it or you can freeze up for a couple of days for later use.

 

Express Veggie Pizza

If your kids ask for more veggies, now you can try to make this healthy meal for kids. Keep in mind since this was a clean type of meal, we put no mozzarella or any marinara sauce, so we used olive oil and feta cheese! You can also add some parmesan cheese as substitute of feta cheese.

healthy meals for kids 10

Ingredients

3 red cherry tomatoes

½ cup yellow bell peppers

½ cup broccoli

3 tbsp shredded cheese

2 cloves red onion, minced

French bread

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375. Halve French bread in lengthwise. Grease with olive oil. Sprinkle with minced red onion, cherry tomatoes, yellow bell pepper, and broccoli or any veggies of your favourite.
  2. Drizzle with some olive oil over your veggies. Add in sprinkle of shredded cheese. Arrange pizzas on a baking sheet, and put them in the oven.
  3. Set temperature to 425, broil until turning brown and perfect crispy. Serve it with dash of salt, pepper, and dried oregano, as desired.

 

Veggies Roll-Up Pizza

This easy healthy meal for kids, veggie roll-up pizza will be surely the kids’ favorite. Make crunchy veggies more enticing by picking colorful types like yellow for bell pepper, orange for tomato, green for broccoli, and purple for red lettuce, and keep in mind the dip!

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Ingredients

1 whole-wheat flour tortilla

2 tbsp prepared pizza sauce

3 tbsp shredded part-skim mozzarella

1 medium tomato, thinly sliced

½ cup red lettuce, coarsely chopped

½ cup broccoli florets

½ cup yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced

2 tbsp low-fat creamy dressing

Direction

  1. Prepare tortilla on a plate and smear pizza sauce over it.
  2. Top with an even layer of mixed tomato, red lettuce, broccoli, and yellow bell pepper, and sprinkle cheese on top.
  3. Heat up in microwave over High until cheese melted. Carefully roll up tortilla. Let it cool for a few minutes before slicing into pieces, if you like. Serve with low-fat creamy dressing or your kids’ favourite ones.

 

Homemade Fish Stick

You can find all this ingredients at the local store, without added chemicals and additives to make your own fish sticks at home. These quick healthy meals for kids will be surely your kids’ favourite!

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Ingredients

1 ½ cup plain bread crumbs

½ cup Parmesan cheese

1 tbsp fresh chives, chopped

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 large egg

1 tbsp water

1 dash of salt

2 fillet fish

2 tbsp canola oil

Directions

  1. Put in breadcrumbs, cheese, and chives in a food processor and whisk to combine. Spread the bread crumbs mixture on one plate and flour on another plate. Beat egg with water and salt in a shallow dish.
  2. Cut fish fillet into pieces. Smear the fish fillets with flour, plunge in egg mixture, and then coat in breadcrumbs. Set aside on a cutting board or baking sheet.
  3. Heat up oil in a frying pan. Fry the fillets for around 3 mins, each side, until lightly golden and cooked through. You will probably need to do this in three to four batches. Blot with paper towels before serving. Serve it with mixed veggie salad and French fries with your favourite dips. The choice is yours!

 

Are you stuck in a lunch ideas or have a fussy eater? No big deal! Super Hhealthy Kids has loads of sophisticated ideas for lunches. Need other ideas? Rock the lunch box is incredibly great resource for healthy meals for kids.

Happy healthy cooking!