Ideas for Healthier Lunches, Picnics, and School

Ideas for healthier lunches is always on the agenda year-round.

The time we take for lunch is often hurried and goes by in a blink of an eye.  There are ideas for healthier lunches that you may have forgotten to try in your busyness.

We learn to speed through lunch when we’re old enough to learn. Lunches can be an afterthought when we’re hungry, running in between activities.

I would encourage the idea that lunch is the most important meal of the day (one I don’t recommend skipping or skimping on) when you need the extra energy to carry out your day!

If you like and can eat carbs or pasta, this is a meal where you can get the most efficiency out of your carbs.

You need and burn the energy in a working or working out afternoon. If you focus on carbs for your dinner meal, as you age, this can slow you down.

That’s why I like the idea of the plant-based dinner. But that doesn’t always fill you up during the day when you need the energy boost to keep you going like carbs can.

Growing up you have a memory about your overall childhood lunches.

My public-school lunches were both memorable… and not.

They were a special time that I could sit and spend time with my friends, and that probably helped me appreciate just sitting around with others socializing and chatting.

The cafeteria food I ate though was a different story… I wish we had ideas for healthier lunches.

My mom sent me off to school with the exact change for a school lunch that was around a buck and some change (I’m old 😉) when I started school, and then raised to about two dollars when I graduated.

The school had different days, and then when I entered high school there were several different cafeterias to choose from each of the sub-schools. None offered better options except some had shorter lines and one had a semi-healthy taco salad bar.

I would have preferred a prepared brown bag lunch but without refrigeration, options were limited. I’d heard of students who left their lunch in their locker. As you can probably imagine, if unattended that could become a growing science project beyond a plant-based one.

School-bought lunches were for the most part served warm even if it was like a cardboard piece of cheese and sauce called pizza or mystery meat chicken nuggets. This still blows my mind what is allowed to be fed in public schools.

Going through the public school system and ones in the U.S. county that ranked in #1 test scores at the time, you would think there would be higher standards. I’m still miffed by the school lunches offered.

Taking a McDonald’s field trip and getting a Happy Meal would’ve been healthier (and a treat!).

I vaguely remember seeing big posters of FDA food charts plastered up on school walls and somehow the food served in cafeterias passed county board approval.

From my recollection, if no one choked or ended up in the school clinic then that was a good day. Of course, I’m exaggerating here, but something was definitely lost in translation.

There seems to be a huge disconnect and probably why obesity in the U.S. starts at such a young age.

I know in high school, I often opted for a soft, warm pretzel with yellow mustard for lunch over a “real meal.” It was at least warm (where sometimes the other cafeteria line food fries or tater tots were still a bit frozen). In my teenage mind, a pretzel was a step up in gourmet junk food. And adding mustard was the vegetable, lol.

Comparatively, if you had the privilege to examine what non-profit mission-based soup kitchens serve as I have, you know many serve hearty meals daily 365 days a year at no cost.

As an eyewitness volunteer in soup kitchens I can attest to this. The food served in the soup kitchens I worked in is nutritional compared to school meals, but nobody talks about this. The food is also free (and often served with a lot of love).

In public schools, there are cases where cafeterias have denied children from food if they haven’t paid for the half-hearted cooked meal.

I’ve also worked in abundantly fine dining establishments and catered upscale events, so I’ve experienced the gamut and feel compassion for those who don’t get a decent meal (like the children).

I know not everyone can make an antipasto appetizer plate. But good food comes from the good ingredients, not from the roof it’s made under or the fancy garnishing process.

Plus, you probably are aware like I am that world-renowned Chef Jose Andres goes around the world serving the hungry and he’ll zhugh up the meal and whip up gazpacho from tomato sauce…shazam!

(By the way, you should check him out on the first episode of Waffles + Mochi on Netflix to educate little ones and adults about basic foods.)

…but back to the question and I believe a dilemma… why not replicate nutrition in school cafeterias? Not a Chef issue but a nationwide one.

Is it a funding issue or more of a cafeteria management care issue? In all my positive candor, I still wonder: Are they run by the same people who joke that they don’t care if their children eat bags of Cheetos all day?

Anyway, my hope is this will improve for the upcoming generations so healthy eating is learned at a young age.

Changing The Past For a Better Lunch Future

Many parents don’t know what their kids were or are eating at school (I know mine didn’t) and they would probably rather not know.

Some sent their school-age kids to school daily with brown bag lunches.

I wasn’t one of those kids. We had cereal for breakfast and my mom made hearty home-cooked dinners every night. My mom left lunch money on the kitchen table, counting out the exact dollar and change I needed daily for lunch. Bless her heart for doing that.

For households that did similarly, over the past year with distance learning, it makes sense that parents would wonder how their growing kids survived in school without eating all the snacks they do now…

So, I was inspired to write some tips and ideas for healthier lunches and snacks (no matter what age!). Carrying out creating these meals is no more complicated than making macaroni and cheese, and you can tell your friends about your exciting chef-ette meals.

Ideas for Healthier Lunches:

Chickpeas, rice (good with slivered almonds), and cumin

Chicken, curry, and cucumbers

Chickpea, red lentil, spinach, veggie or whole-grain pasta

Tofu or chickpeas, spinach, and quinoa

Baked potato with tomato salsa

Sprouted Bread Gourmet Sandwich:

Salmon, avocado, and cayenne pepper

Smoky tuna melt with  a slice of cheese, and turmeric

Prosciutto and brie

Tomato, mozzarella, basil with a drizzle of balsamic

Instead of accompanying lunch with fries or chips, how about a healthy side?…

Hummus.

Olives – green and black.

Pickles (or cornichons if you want to get fancy!)

Edamame.

You can also make up a tray or board full of these snack ideas. When I worked in catering, for meetings, we offered an afternoon break that had fun-associated themes.

The Ballgame and Sweet & Salty Breaks were popular with Cracker Jacks, Babe Ruth bars, and soft pretzels. They were loaded with sugar and salt, but at home, you can find a healthier re-make twist or a happy-medium.

Then you can decorate your board with whatever creative, fun food decorations you have. That’s what we used to do in catering and never have to answer the question, “is that edible?”

I love rainbow sprinkles and those are edible so you can confetti throw them on top of your board.

Here are a few other A-B-C snack ideas you can include on your board.

Almonds.

Apples. Choose a variety.

Bell peppers.

Carrots.

Cheese and crackers.

Cherry Tomatoes.

Cucumbers.

Currants or raisins.

Beverage Ideas:

Lemon juice water (lemonade without sugar)

Sun or homemade iced tea

Sparkling water (check sugar content as they range)

A fun way to zhugh up a drink is to add some orange, lemon, or lime zest. You can make a batch, store in a cup with a lid in your refrigerator, and that way you have some available when you need to add a final touch.

Another catering hack we would use to spruce up the appearance appeal of beverages is adding 2″square ice cubes that look elegant (like mini-ice carvings). I still use this idea today, as you can find square silicone ice cube trays in most house good stores.

You can serve lemonade with your fancy ice cubes and chicken nuggets (that’s popular at any age!)

Chicken nuggets are a good filler and can keep you from obsessive snacking.  I’m going to prove to you that going from junk food lunches to healthier lunches takes as much effort with this simple recipe below…

You can incorporate ideas for healthier lunches even if you’re feeling lazy or aren’t sure you want to try something new (as we’re all creatures of habit).

 Easy Chicken Nuggets Recipe

This is how you can make simple chicken nuggets.

If you’re at home, rinse off a few raw chicken breasts with cool water. Pat dry. Add a little EVOO, salt, and pepper ontop the chicken. Add Panko bread crumbs ontop if you want to make breaded chicken nuggets.

Then bake your chicken breasts on 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for no less than 30 minutes on a glass baking pan (I’d suggest). Make sure you cook the chicken all the way through (no pink inside).

Cut up chicken into strips or cube chunks. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, and then when it’s time for a meal, heat up (medium heat) a portion on a stove-top with a skillet. Sautee or brown the chicken to your liking. Great with a salad, rice, or pasta.

Delish and simple… and then you have several meals for you and those you feed!

And more ideas for healthier lunches includes pairing with a veggie pizza like this spinach pie to get in bread, cheese, tomato, and vegetable. This always puts a smile on adult faces. 😊