Is it just me who worries all the time that their child isn’t eating the right foods? I mean, I think we’re doing OK – she eats fruit and vegetables (even if it is in small quantities) but if we ever ask her what she’d like for lunch, her reply is “Chicken nuggets, chips and ice cream”.
What is it with kids and chicken nuggets!
So to balance out the nuggets, we take a packed lunch box on days out, and fill it with a mix of food:
- A wholemeal bread sandwich (usually ham or cheese)
- Cherry tomatoes
- Yogurt
- Grapes / apple / raisins
- Water or Vita Coco Kids drink
Left to her own devices, the four-year-old would eat the yogurt and fruit, but leave everything else. So we have a little tactic where we ask her to take a bite of each thing, in turn. A bite of sandwich, a tomato, a drink of water, a grape and so on. She thinks it’s a game, and we feel relieved that she’s getting a mix of nutrients.
Tombola recently asked me to write about our packed lunches over on their website – take a look and read about some other mums’ packed lunch tips too.
What do you put in your child’s packed lunch and how to you coax them into eating the healthy stuff?
Thanks to Tombola for commissioning this post. For details on how I work with brands, see my Work With Me page.