Cool Lunch Ideas for the Balanced School Day

Examples - How to Organize Meals for Breaks
Easy Tips
Cool and Nutritious Menu Ideas
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Packing meals for the balanced school day can be an easy and fun task. Meals can be balanced in a variety of ways.

Examples - How to Organize Meals for Nutrition Breaks

Each child has their own unique eating habits, likes, dislikes and appetite. Talk with your child to see what approach they would prefer when planning their meals for school. If your child does not eat breakfast before school, this can be a time to add breakfast into their daily routine.

Try to include foods from at least 3 of 4 food groups from Canada's Food Guide for each break.

	Example One	Example Two	Example Three
Break One	Snacks	½ of lunch + snack	Breakfast
Break Two	Lunch	½ of lunch + snack	Lunch

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Easy Tips to Pack School Meals Your Child Will Eat

Label and Separate

Label each bag: Break One, Break Two OR
Put dividers in the lunch bag so the child eats everything above the cardboard in the first break and then lifts the card and eats the rest at the second break.

Planning and Preparing Lunch

Send leftovers, like cold pizza, stew, macaroni and cheese or soup, for one lunch break in a thermos. Use other break for snacks
When making weekend meals, make extra and freeze leftovers in individual portion sizes
Bake muffins, banana bread or cookies on the weekend to use during the week.

Keeping Foods Hot and Cold

To keep foods hot use an insulated bottle or thermos. First, fill the bottle with boiling water and let it stand for a few minutes. Then empty the bottle and fill it with steaming hot food.
To keep food cold, use an insulated lunch bag and pack a frozen drink that will thaw by lunch, or use a freezer pack
Great food items to freeze are bottled water, drink boxes, reusable beverage containers or yogurt.

Healthy Drinks for a Healthier Lunch

Add 2 beverages. Choose from the following beverages most of the time: 100% unsweetened fruit juices, white or chocolate milk, fortified soy beverage or water.
On pizza and sub days, make sure your child has either milk or juice to drink along with his/her sub or pizza. Send healthy snacks for the other break.

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Cool and Nutritious Menu Ideas

Below are cool and nutritious menu ideas for your child’s breaks. Mix and match menus or substitute with food items your child prefers. Also you can add more food or reduce portions depending on how much they eat. Use Canada’s Food Guide for examples of serving sizes. Enjoy!

MONDAY
Break One		Break Two
Oatmeal Raisin Muffin	Grain Products: 1	Sliced turkey on whole wheat bread or bagel	Grain Products: 2 Meat & Alternatives: 1
Banana	Vegetable & Fruit:1	100% fruit juice Baby carrots	Vegetable & Fruit: 2
Milk	Milk & Alternatives: 1	Milk pudding cup	Milk & Alternatives: 1

TUESDAY
Break One		Break Two
Container with whole grain cereal	Grain Product: 1	One whole wheat tortilla or pita with salsa & cheese	Grain Products: 2 Milk & Alternatives: 1
Milk	Milk & Alternatives: 1	Water
Banana	Vegetable & Fruit: 1	Cucumber slices	Vegetable & Fruit: 1
Handful of nuts/ seeds*	Meat & Alternatives: ½	Chickpeas	Meat & Alternatives: ½- 1

* Always check with your children’s school before sending any nuts or nut products to school. There may be restrictions on their use.

WEDNESDAY
Break One		Break Two
Cheese	Milk & Alternatives: 1	Chicken fingers & plum sauce	Meat & Alternatives: 1
Whole wheat crackers	Grain Products: 1	Breadsticks Low fat fruit cereal bar	Grain Products: 2
Grapes 100% fruit juice	Vegetables & Fruit: 2	Salad with dressing	Vegetables & Fruit: 1
		Fortified soy beverage	Milk & Alternatives: 1

THURSDAY
Break One		Break Two
1-2 Cold waffles Applesauce	Grain Products: 1-2 Vegetables & Fruit: 1	Homemade soup (with lean meat, vegetables) Applesauce	Meat & Alternatives: 1 Vegetable & Fruit: 2
Vanilla Yogurt	Milk & Alternatives: 1	Whole wheat crackers	Grain Products: 1
Water		Chocolate Milk	Milk & Alternatives: 1

FRIDAY
Break One		Break Two
One rolled roti or chapatti filled with vegetables and hummus; cut in half	Grain products: 1 Vegetable & Fruit: ½ Meat & Alternatives: ½	Other half of roti or chapatti Fig Bars Strawberries	Grain Products: 2 Meat & Alternatives: ½ Vegetable & Fruit: 1 ½
100% fruit juice	Vegetables & Fruit: 1	Yogurt drink	Milk & Alternatives: 1
Yogurt	Milk & Alternatives: 1

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