Keeping school meals interesting

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Children are back in school, parents are getting used to the new schedule and lunches are already getting boring! The quest to make healthy and interesting meals for children can seem to be never ending. KXAN Austin News asked registered dieticians at Dell Children's Medical Center in Austin to give parents ideas.

Breakfast

Registered Dietician Jennifer Reeves tells parents to think in threes when preparing breakfast. She said to try to serve fruit, protein and whole grain fiber. She suggested a whole grain waffle found in the frozen section of the grocery store or made ahead of time from scratch and frozen. Other whole grains Reeves suggested are oatmeal served with honey, nut butter or ricotta cheese, and fruit and brown rice drizzled with honey and chopped fruit and almonds.

Reeves reminded parents to serve milk with breakfast if the child's diet calls for it and keep juice to a minimum. 

Lunch

When packing a lunch for your child, registered dietician Lauren Parker reminded parents to use the plate method even though the food is going in a lunch box. Half of the plate or lunch box should be full of fruits and vegetables, a quarter should be full of protein and the other quarter should be a healthy starch.

Parker also said try to get children involved in making the lunches. Give them items they can put together as they eat it also. She suggested packing small pieces of lean ham and cheese with crackers and letting the children build their own mini-sandwiches. Also, pack vegetables like small carrot pieces they can dip in ranch dressing or hummus.

Parker said parents should always remember leftovers from the night before may make perfect and different lunches the next day. She uses pasta as an example of something for dinner that can be served cold the next day.

Frozen water bottles make good ice packs to keep lunches cold, and frozen yogurt tubes offer extra calcium at lunch time.