Ask a Dietitian

BACK TO SCHOOL ROUTINE

After a lazy summer with no set routine, flexible meal times and later bed times, it is now time for a return to routine. Although they won’t admit it, kids thrive on routine. Getting back to earlier rising means earlier bedtimes and this naturally leads to betting timing for meals.

Breakfast – the most important meal of the day just can’t be skipped. If you find you are still sleeping in and rushing in the morning, consider setting out the breakfast foods before you go to bed. Set the table with cereal bowls, spoons, glasses, cereal boxes and bananas. In the morning add the milk and juice and you are ready to eat.
Other quick breakfasts include porridge (which only take 5 minutes on the stove top if you use quick rolled oats), add walnuts and raisins for a balanced meal.

Lunch – The easiest thing to do is pack it the night before. If your kids are older they should be making their own but you can arrange a day or two a week where they make lunch for the whole family. Organize a snack cupboard containing whole grain crackers and cereal bars, sesame snaps, healthy energy bars such as Elev8 Me, dried fruit and nuts, canned fruit in juice, water bottles, juice boxes, raisins, homemade muffins and trail mix and portions of dry cereal like Cheerios or Shreddies for easy packing. In the fridge do the same with pre-cut vegetable sticks, yogurts, fresh fruit, deli meats, cheese strings, hummus etc. Consider making whole loaves of sandwiches to wrap individually and keep in the freezer. Try chicken and cheese, peanut or almond butter and jam, tuna and celery, salmon, turkey or ham and mustard. These sandwiches will be thawed by lunch and ready to add fresh vegetables to. Keep a stock of frozen bread items in the freezer to keep them fresh. Don’t forget to stock up on new reusable containers, thermoses for hot soup or pasta or cold smoothies or milk. Get proper lunch bags that won’t rip and will keep foods cold through the day.

Dinner – Plan ahead! Write your meal plan with your 5 dinners for the week and post it on the fridge. Write a grocery list and shop once a week. Be sure to add your breakfast, lunch and snack items to the list too. Take inventory of what you have in your cupboards and make sure you have the staples such as rice, pasta, pasta sauce, tinned tomatoes, condiments etc. Cook once and eat twice. Do extra salmon tonight so you have salmon for sandwiches or in a wrap for tomorrow. Cook extra roast beef or chicken breasts to use for another meal like beef dips or chicken pizza.

Snacks – Have foods ready to eat in the fridge for the kids to snack on when they get home from school. Leave a list of snack foods they can eat when they get home such fruit smoothies, cereal and milk, turkey sandwich or apple with peanut butter. Give them the ideas and let them do the prep. For younger kids there will be a caregiver with them if it is not you so leave instructions and get the kids involved both in the choices and the preparation.

Lead by example and get the tempting high sugar and high fat foods out of the house. If you have pop and chips or chocolate cookies around, the kids will want to eat them.