Reprinted from the Health District's quarterly publication mailed to district residents (fall 2000)

Here are some tips for packing a healthy lunch:

• Start with a lunch box or bag that your child likes. An insulated lunch bag is the best choice because it helps keep food at the proper temperature. 
• Pack the lunch the night before to help avoid the morning rush.
• Refrigerate the packed lunch for several hours or overnight to prevent spoilage. Packing a frozen juice box (make sure it's 100% juice) or a frozen low-fat yogurt will also keep the bag cool. 
• Ready-made lunch packs might be easier than making lunches at home, but most skimp on nutrition. See the box below for a comparison of Lunchables TM to a homemade brown bag lunch.
• Vary the contents from day-to-day to keep lunch interesting. Get your kids involved in packing— and shopping for—their own lunches so they’ll be more likely to eat it.
• Include at least one serving of fruit in every lunch:

  Try fruit that comes in bite-sized pieces such as grapes, strawberries, kiwis, plums, cherries, apricots or oranges, or cut larger fruits into manageable pieces. Buy snack-sized raisins or pack dried fruit into snack-sized baggies. Snack-sized applesauce or canned fruit, if packed in its own juice, is another good fruit option.

• Combine small servings of several food groups so kids are less likely to toss or trade away an entire food group. A good sample lunch: mini- bagel peanut butter sandwich, a piece of low-fat string cheese, apple slices, raisins, pretzels, baby carrots and a snack-sized yogurt.
• Make a tortilla roll-up with low-fat cream cheese, veggies and lean meats.
• Instead of potato chips, pack pretzels, popcorn or bread sticks.
• Sneak vegetables such as lettuce, tomato, roasted red pepper, cucumber, green pepper, zucchini or sweet onion into sandwiches, pitas or roll-ups.

• Kids love to dip! Pack raw veggies with low-fat ranch dressing. Try chicken or tuna salad or hummus and whole-wheat crackers. Send slices of fruit with a yogurt or peanut butter dip.
• Opt for low-fat cheese.
• Trail mix is a great lunchbox item. Mix nuts, seeds, soy nuts, raisins, dried cranberries or other dried fruits with a few chocolate chips.
• Make "Ants on a Log" (celery stuffed with peanut butter and raisins), or put low-fat cream cheese, dried fruit and nuts into a pita. Pack a peach or pear half stuffed with low-fat cottage cheese.
• Send whole-wheat Fig Newtons, TM vanilla wafers or animal or graham crackers spread with peanut butter.
• For lunch meats, use low-fat turkey breast, chick- en breast, or roast beef instead of fatty lunch meats like ham, bologna and salami.
• Include a calcium source: encourage your child to buy 1% milk at school or pack boxes of calcium- fortified soymilk, orange juice, V-8TM juice, yogurt, or low-fat string cheese in their lunch.
• Don't overlook leftovers: pasta salads, bean salads, pita pizzas, etc. are great the next day.