Costco Connection - September 2010

creative cooking

A+schoolunches

Healthier options for
those brown-bag meals

By Georgia Orcutt

SCHOOL LUNCHES HAVE become a hot topic. First lady Michelle Obama has added the “Chefs Move to Schools” initiative to her ambitious “Let’s Move” anti-obesity campaign by pairing chefs nationwide with their local schools to create healthier meals and teach kids about nutrition.

Dietitians and doctors from coast to coast are urging us to pay attention to what we feed our kids at school, as well as at home, to give them enough energy to get through the academic day and participate in after-school activities. We must also protect them from the consequences of obesity: According to the federal “2010 Dietary Guidelines for

42 ;e Costco Connection SEPTEMBER 2010 The Costco Connection Costco offers everything you need for healthy school lunches—including fresh and frozen foods and containers for storage—as well as a wide selection of other back-to-school needs in all warehouses.

Americans” report, “Since the early 1970s,
the prevalence of overweight and obesity has
approximately doubled among children ages 2
to 11 years, and tripled among adolescents ages
12 to 19 years.”
What can you, as a parent, do?

Get involved. Stop by the school at noon and take a look at the food being served. If your child eats a lunch the school provides, find out what the school and others in the community are doing to promote nutritious meals. If you pack your child’s lunch each day, buy minimally processed foods that contain healthy fats and fiber. This is a good lesson: It will help your child be well and develop sound eating habits for life.

Here are a few other ways to think outside the traditional lunchbox:

• Kids find it easier to eat fruit and vegetables that are cut into bite-size pieces. Make a fruit salad, using chopped apples, melon chunks and berries and add a few cubes of cheese. Blend cottage cheese with pineapple chunks.

MEDIA BAKERY

Stir a few fresh or frozen berries into yogurt. Try to include a variety of colorful, fresh foods.

• Make sandwiches with lean meats such as turkey and chicken, whole wheat bread, pita bread, wraps, tortillas or flatbreads. Spread the bread with hummus and add lettuce and cheese. (You can use frozen bread; it will thaw by lunchtime.)

• Think beyond sandwiches: Pack strips of cold chicken with honey mustard dressing or salsa for dipping; make kebabs with fruit and diced chicken or turkey; pair a container of hummus with whole-grain crackers or baby carrots for dipping; spread rice cakes with peanut butter or hummus; pack cold pasta with fresh veggies; or heat up last night’s stew and put it in a thermos.