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Red bell pepper strips - these are sweet, and your kids may find them a treat Smoothies - you can make smoothies with healthy ingredients
and put them in a thermos or drink bottle. Roll-ups - see recipe Fruit, vegetables or cheese kabobs - Cut up the food in chunks and skewer them on a stick. kids like the idea of kabobs Colorful fruit salad Homemade Muffins - see recipe Guacomole dip - made with mashed avocados - dip blue corn chips Quesadillas - melted cheese on a whole-wheat tortilla - add veggies Baked Beans - in a wide-mouthed thermos Homemade Soups, Stews or Chili - in a wide-mouthed thermos Make lunch fun - put in love notes, little toys, other special treats
Don’t forget about leftovers! Packing leftovers in your child’s lunch can save you time and energy, and kids love them. When you’re deciding what to cook for dinner, think about how you might incorporate leftovers into a lunch for the following day. Make a few extra servings for dinner and set them aside for the next day’s lunch. While you’re doing the after dinner kitchen clean-up, place the Laptop Lunches on the counter. As you’re putting away the food, pack some of the extras in the Laptop Lunches and refrigerate overnight. Here are a few ideas for making it work:
If you’re worried that it might seem less appealing the following day, consider packing it for lunch two days later, provided the food will remain fresh for an extra day. Sandwich fillings
Prepare your child. Talk with your child about nutrition and the importance of developing a healthy body. Together, come up with a family plan, including a list of steps the family wants to take to transition to a more healthful diet. Post the list in a place where everyone can see it. Think Positively. If your child sees you enjoying these changes, he will be more likely to join in. Involve your child. Children of all ages can help with menu planning, shopping, and preparing meals. Children who feel they have had a part preparing the meal will be more likely to eat it. Introduce a wide variety of foods. Offer a variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes. Offer a few teaspoons of each at every dinner. Even if your child eats only two bites, he will understand that these are the foods that make up a healthy diet. When he starts wanting more than two bites, expand your offerings to include more foods. As your child grows, increase serving sizes. Experiment with old favorites. Offer a new food with a familiar one. Applaud adventurous eating. Offer the same food prepared in different ways. Offer foods alone and prepared in combination with other ingredients. Cut foods in different ways. Try carrot sticks one day and carrot coins another. Don’t Give Up. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, many children will not accept a new food until it has been offered at least ten times. Continue to offer new foods until your child considers them familiar. Introduce foods one bite or several bites at a time. Some children become overwhelmed by large quantities of food on their plate. Others will feel more successful if they can finish a small quantity of food you have provided, so keep portions small. Serve vegetables and new foods as an appetizer. If vegetables and new foods are served last or with other foods, children can easily fill themselves up and leave vegetables behind. Start dinner, for example, with two green beans and two carrots or a green salad as a starter. When everyone has finished theirs, serve the rest of the meal. Consider serving fruits with the meal or saving them for dessert. Don’t become a short-order cook. Prepare only one meal for the entire family. At first your child may refuse to eat dinner. Remain calm, stand firm, and ignore tantrums. Your child will not die of hunger from skipping a meal, but will likely come to the next meal with a healthy appetite and a willingness to eat what is served. Allow each family member to plan one dinner a week. Doing so will ensure that everyone has at least one dinner to look forward to. Give your child a choice. Give your child some choices within the boundaries you establish. For example, instead of asking, “What do you want for lunch?” ask “Would you like a turkey sandwich, or a quesadilla?” Do not completely forbid certain foods. Forbidden foods can quickly become the foods of greatest desire. At school, for example, children are more likely to trade for foods that are not allowed at home. Allow your children to choose a special food from time to time and let them eat it guilt free. Teach your children the difference between everyday foods and occasional foods. In time, they will start making healthy choices on their own. Encourage children to bring home their lunch leftovers. Looking at leftover lunches is a great way to get information about your children’s lunch preferences. Find out why certain foods have come back uneaten. Did your child not like it? Was she not hungry enough to eat everything in the lunchbox? Was there a birthday celebration at school that day? Did she share someone else’s lunch instead? Maintain a dialogue without criticizing. Consider making a list of foods that your child likes to eat for lunch and update it regularly with input from your child. You may find that she prefers romaine lettuce to red leaf lettuce. By making this simple change, she might start eating salads more regularly. Providing a dip for carrot and celery sticks might make eating them more fun. Use the Star Incentive Chart (see Appendix 2 in The Laptop Lunch User's Guide that comes with the Laptop Lunch System. If your child is resisting the change to a waste-free lunch program, try using the Star Incentive Program described in Appendix 2. Younger children may respond well to stickers, especially if they can help pick them out. Use the HealthPoint System (see Appendix 3 in The Laptop Lunch User's Guide that comes with the Laptop Lunch System. If your child is resisting the change to a healthier diet,
try using the HealthPoint System. Allow your child to take
one point for each healthy food eaten, four points for each
day without junk food, and four points for each day that they
exercise. If your child has received a certain agreed-upon
number of points by the end of the week, do something special
together. Avoid food rewards. Neither dessert nor candy should be used as a punishment or enticement. Rather, you must establish and enforce rules for when and how many treats will be consumed.
Try some of these great menu ideas! (reprinted with permission from www.laptoplunches.com) #1 Double Salad Wrap Roll-up sandwich #2 See and Cee Tuna sandwich #3 Mexican Mango Madness Bean and cheese burrito #4 Hearty-Breaky Whole-wheat fruit pancakes #5 Pocket Power Almond butter and honey pocket sandwich #6 Bagel Deluxe Half bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon, and a face made
of raisin eyes, cashew nose, and an apple smile For additional menu ideas, see the Laptop Lunch User’s Guide: Fresh Ideas for Making Wholesome, Earth-friendly Lunches Your Kids Will Love, pages 56-59. (Included in the Laptop Lunch System. Here are a few suggestions for sneaking healthy ingredients into family meals. Add finely chopped vegetables and herbs to chicken, tuna, scrambled eggs, omelets, and salmon salad. Add parsley and other herbs whenever you can. Instead of discarding the water left over from steamed vegetables, use it to cook rice and other grains. After you have steamed your vegetables, pour the liquid into an airtight container and store it in the freezer. When you're ready to cook your grains, defrost and use. Add sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, or flax seeds to vegetables, casseroles, pastas, and sandwiches. Add nuts such as almonds, walnuts, pecans, pine nuts, and cashews to salads, relishes, pastas, and other foods. (Note: nuts can cause choking in children three years and younger. Use with caution.) Add lettuce, cucumbers, shredded carrots, celery, or sprouts to sandwiches. Add a teaspoon of flaxseed oil to salad dressings, yogurt, applesauce, and other foods to provide your child with the essential fatty acids necessary for healthy cell function and brain development. Blend steamed vegetables in tomato sauce and pour over pasta. See our Healthy Recipes for Kids page.
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Laptop
Lunches are American-style bento boxes designed to help families
pack nutritious, environment-friendly lunches for school,
work, and travel. These sustainable lunch containers--which
come with a book of healthy lunch ideas and lunch-making recipes--are
reusable, recyclable, and dishwasher safe. And all of the
lunchboxes are lead-free. The best part is that it's easy
to pack a variety of fun, creative lunch items in these colorful
compartments. Kids love the design, and it helps them to become
more adventurous in eating a variety of healthy foods. 
Laptop
Lunches are American-style bento boxes designed to help families
pack nutritious, environment-friendly lunches for school,
work, and travel. These sustainable lunch containers--which
come with a book of healthy lunch ideas and lunch-making recipes--are
reusable, recyclable, and dishwasher safe. And all of the
lunchboxes are lead-free. The best part is that it's easy
to pack a variety of fun, creative lunch items in these colorful
compartments. Kids love the design, and it helps them to become
more adventurous in eating a variety of healthy foods. 
Use the information provided on this site as an educational resource for determining your options and making your own informed choices. It is not intended as medical advice or to diagnose, prescribe, or treat any specific illness.