Pack A Brown Bag Lunch That Won't Be Traded (cont'd)

If you make your own snack mixes, you can include healthy additions like dried fruits, unsalted nuts, pretzels, and baked crackers. Kids love to munch on something crunchy and sweet or savory.

Instead of making sandwiches, consider packing individual sandwich ingredients to let your child make their own sandwich at lunch, or eat the ingredients separately. Many children don't like to eat more than one food at a time, since their sense of taste is very intense.

Cereal bars can pack a lot of nutrition into a food kids love to eat. Include raisins, currants, or other dried fruits in the recipe for additional flavor, color and nutrition.

Make sure to include something fun - a sticker, cookies wrapped in plastic wrap with a ribbon tie, sandwiches cut into playful shapes, or meats and cheeses or fruits threaded on a caramel apple stick (which is safer than a traditional kabob stick).

These recipes can certainly be packed in brown bags, but there are such wonderful and high tech insulated lunch boxes and sacks on the market that have built in food safety features: thermoses, a space to slip a pre frozen gel pack, even pockets for wet wipes and utensils. Take some time to browse through the selection at your store or online and your child will be well equipped all year.

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