There is something inspiring about a new year and two weeks away from school that encouraged my daughter and I to get serious about smart nutrition when sending her back to school. The one mistake I have made in the past was that I didn’t prepare ahead of time and I often found myself scrambling around in the mornings to pack her snacks… which of course led to poor snack choices and overall not the healthiest of lunches. I am sure many of you can relate to this. So I have put together a few great tips for sending your kids back to school with better nutrition… I hope you enjoy!

Organization is key to better nutrition in the new year: Create a strict grocery list and stick to it. Plan out which snacks and lunch foods your child will eat on each day of the week. Offer a balanced diet which includes nutritional items, a light treat, a healthy beverage (preferably a water bottle) and a special desert like treat (this doesn’t have to be an actual desert food, my kids actually consider muffins a special treat!)

Separate school lunch food from home food: Something that we had an issue with at home was that the kids were always sneaking all of the snacks that were intended for school. This was partially my fault because I was just sticking them right in the pantry along with everything else and just saying “hey kids, those are school snacks.” Creating a separate space for the snacks that will just be going in school lunches has eliminated this issue completely. We have created a special drawer where my daughter can actually choose the snacks she wants for the day and the best part is that they aren’t being consumed as quickly.

Only provide healthy options: I have always been a firm believer that providing your children with only healthy options is the key to keeping them from eating too much junk food. Your kids can’t fill up on junk if it isn’t an option in the home… am I right? So purchase those healthy treats and keep encourage them to eat their fruits and veggies. I know many parent’s struggle getting their kids to eat fresh fruit and veggies, but there are so many other snack foods out there that contain fruit and veggies (a sneaky way to get them to eat them!)

Get creative with snacks and lunches: OK… so I am not suggesting that you spend hours on Pinterest trying to recreate those amazing bento lunches. I am simply saying is… make lunch time fun! Instead of packing a bag of popcorn and a bag of raisins, why not combine them? How about investing in some fun tupperware containers? There are so many simple and effective ways to make your child’s lunch more fun and appealing to them. You could toss in a special note occasionally, sneak in a cute little toy to brighten their day… just anything to cheer them up and get them excited about eating lunch each day!