How to jazz up a boring school lunch

You want to pack a healthy, appealing lunch for your children every day. Problem is, it’s easy to fall into a lunch rut. Who hasn’t eaten the same turkey sandwich every day for a week?

Rachel Brandeis, an Atlanta registered dietitian, works with several families seeking healthy lunches that will also entice their children to eat. She is also mom to two teenage children who are always asking her to mix up what goes in their lunchbox. Brandeis recommends that parents talk to their children about what they want.

“There is a lot of food waste because of the monotony,” she said. “Ask your children: What did you eat? What did you throw away?”

She recommends giving children choices and, as a general rule, aiming for at least three food groups in the lunchbox, i.e. protein, vegetables and whole grains.

Some of the lunches she prepares for her children include the following: hummus and guacamole single-serving packs with baby carrots and Triscuit thin crisps to dip along with pressed fruit and vegetable bars; cheese stick or cubes, turkey pepperoni, grape tomatoes along with Triscuit thins and fresh fruit such as an apple or grapes; banana or apple slices with a peanut butter cup for dipping, Greek flavored yogurt and side of granola; a hummus wrap with a whole-grain tortilla with

sliced cucumbers, tomatoes and spinach leaves, Greek flavored yogurt and berries.

Joy Goetz, a dietitian at the Atlanta Community Food Bank, offers the following five tips for making a healthy lunch.

■ Plan ahead. Whether you are sending a sandwich or leftovers from dinner the night before, make a plan for the week so you can streamline the process and save time during the week.

If you go grocery shopping on the weekend, take a few minutes when you get home to rinse fruits and veggies and pack them into containers or baggies, so you can grab and go during the week.

■ Involve children in the process. Let them decide between several healthy options.

Parents can ask questions like “Would you like to have oranges, grapes or bananas in your lunch this week?” and “Which flavors of yogurt would you like?” This lets children have a say in what goes into their lunches, and you get to curate what those options are. (P.S. This works for any meal, not just lunch.)

■ Rethink the drink. Healthy beverages. Although juice boxes are very popular, fruit juice can contain as much sugar as regular soda. Water and milk are still the best beverages for children. If your child really enjoys flavored drinks, try infusing water with fruit such as oranges, strawberries, pineapple or watermelon.

■ Non-sandwich lunch ideas. Aiming for including at least three out of the five food groups, ideally, you would include a protein, whole grain, fruit or veggie, and low-fat dairy or dairy substitute.

Here are four ideas: Whole-grain tortilla with sliced chicken, low-fat (2 percent) cheese and lettuce, grapes.

Low-sodium chicken noodle soup, whole-grain crackers, baby carrots, milk.

Hummus with veggie slices and whole-grain pretzels, low-fat (2 percent) string cheese.

Salad with various vegetables such as lettuce, carrots, grape tomatoes, along with boiled eggs; yogurt and granola.

■ Safety first. If the lunch contains meat, dairy, sliced fruit or veggies, or anything you would keep in the refrigerator, be sure to include an ice pack so that food stays cold until lunchtime.

You can also freeze a water bottle or use a freezable lunchbox to keep foods at a safe temperature.