30 / matters magazine / school 2017 We parents already have enough on our plates. Putting together healthy lunches our kids will eat shouldn’t take a master’s in nutrition and two hours to prepare. Use this study guide to beef up on your lunch-making skills and get some passing marks from the toughest graders of them all: your kids. Affordable:Bagged chips, yogurt sticks and fruit snacks aren’t just loaded with preservatives and sugar, they’re dang expensive. Make lunches lighter on the wallet by trading individually packaged food for bulk purchases. Yes, it will require a bit more dishing and prepping, but the result will be wholesome, fresh and cost-effective boxed lunches. Bulk it up:Veer on the side of overpacking lunches. Give them more than they’ll actually eat and trick them into thinking they get a choice. Reuse what comes back, cycle it into another kid’s lunch or chop it up and add it to your side salad for dinner. Compromise: If your kid is unhappy getting a lunch brimming with fruits and veggies, it’s time to negotiate. Yes, she can have the same bagged chips Tommy gets from his parents but she has to eat her melon and avocado. If she doesn’t, no chips tomorrow. A few tantrums later, you’ll be on your way to an international peace treaty. Dip it: My kids won’t eat a single carrot for lunch, unless I include hum- mus. Then, POOF! It’s gone. Strawberries and yogurt, cucumbers and cream cheese, orange peppers and guacamole, celery and salsa. Let them tell you what combinations their little hearts desire. Experiment: Every child is different. Are bento-style lunches coming back mostly uneaten? Try sending leftovers from a dinner the child de- voured. Or soup or pasta or oatmeal or hard boiled eggs. Experiment! Fruit: There’s more in the fruit aisle than just apples and clementines. Up your fruit game with mango, pineapple, strawberries, pears, blueberries, grapes, honeydew and cherries. Your child won’t even remember what fruit snacks are. Give yourself a break: In my house, we let our kids buy lunch once a week. (Spoiler alert: It’ll probably be Pizza Friday.) This helps curb the whining and gives us a night off. Halve it, slice it, cut it: Little kids don’t eat a full sandwich. And when they do, they neglect the rest of their lunch. Send half a sandwich, then load up on the sides. And while you’ve got that knife out, I find my kids eat more of their apple when it’s sliced than when it’s whole. Finger foods reign supreme. Insulated: Don’t go crazy with over-engineered, keep-it-cold lunch container systems that cost a fortune and have to be frozen overnight to work. For generations, kids have managed not to get sick eating bagged lunches that come out of the fridge in the morning and go into their bellies at noon. Buy an inexpensive insulated lunch bag and call it a day. Jarred & canned: The fridge isn’t the only place to find inspiration for lunch; raid the pan- try! Black beans, applesauce, pickles, olives…even artichoke hearts, baby corn, roasted red peppers. Really, anything pickled if your kid will eat it! Kill the sandwich: Well, not exactly, but there are so many ways to get grains into your child beyond the classic ham sandwich. Bagels, English muffins, waffles, crack- ers, pita, naan and muffins all a good lunch make. List it: How many times have you stared blankly at your child’s empty lunch box with no idea what to put in it? Make notes of foods that work and fit them into a casual rotation. This will vastly reduce your stress and need for constant decision-making. Plus, it’ll prove super handy at the grocery store. Meat & protein: Just because you have cold cuts or tuna salad doesn’t mean you have to serve it between two slices of bread. Meat rollups with mayo or mustard gets them protein without filling them with grains. Serve other proteins in a small, separate container with a fork. Not in the morning!: You’ll drive your- self nuts trying to throw together lunches first thing in the a.m. with all the teeth-brushing and breakfast-making. Evenings are less hectic. When I can, I combine lunch prep with dinner- making. Slice a cucumber while the meatloaf bakes or cut up a mango while the kids set the table (allow me to dream!). Plus, when you use the same knife and cutting board for lunches and dinner, you have fewer dishes to wash before you collapse on the sofa. Score! How to pack easy, healthy meals that your kids will eat BY BEN SALMON The ABCs of