The break-box
Years back, woe unto you if the contents of your tin were ‘unsightly’. That would set a string of giggles and sometimes providing a story for siblings back at home. So if your mum had forced you to carry a banana, bread, ugali, beans, sukuma wiki-as opposed to cake, crisps, bacon, synthetic juice and the like-you would have a long day trying to keep the contents of your tin under lock and key. How wrong we were!
Now that your child is going to school and that history has another interesting habit of repeating itself, it is important that you have a hawk’s eye over their feeding to keep malnutrition at bay. This brings us back to the break-box. To see to it that your child relishes the food you have packed for them and that they get each and every nutritive value they need to, consider the following:
Balance
For your child’s well being, the food in their lunch pack should be balanced. Include at least one vegetable, a protein, a grain, and a fruit. Note that a lot of crisps, cake, meat, synthetic juice and other junk, mainly make your child both obese and nutrient deficient.
Variety
Be creative to keep your child’s appetite on the high. Variety ensures your child enjoys eating. If your child loves pasta, cook it in as the different shapes available in the market so that they present as different meals. Invent different interesting forms and shapes with various main meals and fruits-if they can be shaped.
Planning together
If he has a liking for a particular meal and you happen to have made it for supper, set aside some of it for his next day’s break. Refrigerate then warm it in the morning. Allow him to suggest what he would like for break. You could make the menu together before the week starts ‘for easy preparation.
Packing
Never pack heated food in a plastic or non-insulated container. It produces moisture and causes food to be soggy, which may be yucky to the child. The insulated containers such as a hot- pot or a thermos are better as they maintain the temperature of the food for more than six hours.
Presentation matters a lot too. Everyday, colour the contents. You could include the green lettuce and the red tomato slices alongside the egg sandwich. Avoid putting fresh vegetables such as the tomatoes lettuce together on the sandwich bread. The juice in them is likely to make the bread sodden. Put them in the separate compartments of the tin.
Picky eater
Dispel the picky eater’s notion by packing that which he doesn’t like with something he likes. If you notice the resistance continuing, do not insist on having it in his snack- box. Instead, give it a break then re-introduce it from time to time- each time prepared differently. Cut bite-sized pieces of the food which are easier to pick while eating to encourage him to eat. Eventually, he may just include it in his preferred food.
Box handling
Ask your child to avoid putting their snack-box in a hot place, for example, the windowsill, as the heat is likely to make the food go bad before they take it. This exposes them to food poisoning. If possible, ask the daycare instructor to keep the boxes for them.
Ask the teacher or the daycare attendant to help the child unpack food and open lids which may have been tightened to avoid spillage. You can as well test your child on the usage of the break-box before he leaves in the morning.
Beverage
Maintain the temperature of the food. Pack a beverage that will not only hydrate him, but also provide nutrients. These include yoghurt, milkshake, plain milk or fresh fruit juice. Clean safe water would also do if the rest is unavailable. Avoid beverages that only add calories such as soda.
END: BL 28 / 12