Top tips for going back to school

It’s that time of year again, where the children are going back to school, the uniforms, school bags and books are getting organised, but many parents are left wondering how to manage meals including healthy snacks and lunches.
We can often underestimate the importance of healthy eating and balanced meals for school aged children or simply not understand what foods to include to meet their nutritional needs.
Bord Bia discusses how “a lot of growth happens in these years and children need the right balance of nutrients to help them reach their full potential”.
They also state that “having a healthy daily eating routine is key in both the health of parents but also children as the habits we develop as a child stay with us for life”. Here, nutritionist Laurann O’Reilly and owner of Nutrition by Laurann, explains everything you need to know about going back to school and healthy eating, including some useful tips and meal ideas.

1) Start The Day With a Good Breakfast: One of the most important meals of the day for both adults and children. It can help to encourage children to eat their breakfast by sitting and eating alongside them as this sets a good example. To make your morning easier, why not plan your breakfast the night before to save preparation time.

Healthy Breakfast Ideas
- Cereals: Porridge oats or unsweetened/low sugar wholegrain cereal such as Weetabix topped with cinnamon & fruit such as blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, mango and apricots

- Eggs: Eggs are so versatile whether you like them poached, boiled or scrambled along with wholegrain bread or toast.

- Yogurt & Fruit: Try yoghurt with some chopped fruit, or some toast with a chopped banana

- Fruit & Oat Smoothie: This is a great way to fit in your five-a-day as well as packing in your vitamins and minerals.

Tip 1: Why not prepare some chopped fruit such as banana/apple/pear/pineapple and some berries such as strawberries/raspberries/
cranberries/blueberries pop into Ziplock bags and store in the freezer as a ready to go smoothie mix.

Tip 2: To increase the fibre content and make your smoothies more nutritious add some oats or flax seed (this is better for stabilising your blood sugar levels too).

2) Lunch & Learn: To keep the energy and concentration levels up in the classroom it’s important to pack a nutritious lunch and include

- A Good Quality Protein: Such as chicken, turkey, tuna, lean beef (animal based) or beans, lentils and chickpeas (plant based)

- Healthy Carbohydrates: Such as wholegrain bread, bagels, pitta, wraps, crackers and pasta salads

- Vegetables: Such as chopped carrots, celery, cucumber, peppers, tomatoes and sweet potato wedges

Tip: It can also be helpful to pack school lunches the night before if your mornings are busy.

3) Child Friendly Drinks: Avoid fizzy or high sugar drinks, as they can damage your children’s teeth. Milk and water are the best drinks for children and children under two should have full-fat milk.
4) After School Snacks: Children of all ages will burn energy moving and learning in school so it’s always good to have some after school snacks on standby.
If they say they’re hungry between meals, offer something nutritious. These are particularly important if you don’t eat your dinners until later in the evening or if there is a long distance between meals.

Healthy Snack Ideas (Suggested SafeFood)

For a Light Snack:
- A piece of fruit
- Vegetable sticks
- A small pot of yoghurt
- A glass of milk
- 2-3 crackers / 1-2 oatcakes / 2 rice cakes /1-2 breadsticks
- A small handful of nuts and seeds

For a More Filling Snack:
- One slice of wholemeal toast with some mashed /chopped banana
- A cheese, meat or fish sandwich using one slice of bread. You could add some sliced tomato and make a toasty sandwich
- Cheese with 2 or 3 crackers or breadsticks.
- Small bowl of breakfast cereal and milk
- Small bowl of homemade soup
- Sliced apple with a teaspoon of peanut butter for smaller children, and 1-2 teaspoons for children under 12
- Small wholemeal scone and low-fat spread
- 2 or 3 breadsticks with cream cheese for dipping
- Hummus with vegetable sticks
- One rice cake topped with cream cheese and a sliced tomato
- 1-2 crackers topped with a teaspoon of peanut butter for children up to 4, or 2-4 crackers with 1-2 teaspoons for children under 12

5) Plan For On The Go: Along with busy work and school schedules, if children are involved in additional hobbies or activities such as sports training it’s always a good idea to pack a snack bag. This prevents us from buying unhealthy convenience foods such as chocolate, sweets, biscuits or crisps

Healthy On The Go Snack Pack Ideas
- Premade wholegrain mini sandwiches/wraps
- Wholemeal crackers with cheese
- Fruit – you can never go wrong with fruit whether their whole or chopped
- A small bag of popcorn (for older children)
- Single portion cheese packs
- A small portion of raisins
- Rice Cakes

6) Quick & Easy Family Dinners: After a long day for both parents and kids, it’s important to fit in a nutritious dinner. However, it can often be hard to find the energy to cook complicated family meals.

Healthy family Meal Ideas:
- Chicken & veggie casserole
- Beef/chicken & veggie fajitas
- Fish & veggie pie (potato topping)
- Lasagne & veggies
- Turkey burgers & sweet potato wedges
- Spaghetti & meatballs
- Beef Stew
- Fishcakes & veggies
- Cottage (beef) or shepherd’s (lamb) & veggies
- Mild chilli con carne

7) Provide Variety: As children are learning about foods and healthy eating, it’s important to explore different foods. Bord Bia discusses how “variety is extremely important as primary school children should be exposed to new flavours, textures and recipes to encourage them to be more adventurous with their food choices”.
As a parent you can also lead by example, through eating a variety of healthy food, as your child will be more likely to do the same.

8) Know Your Portion Sizes: It can often be hard to determine what the correct portion sizes are for both ourselves and our children.
According to SafeFood “as a rule of thumb a five year old should eat about half the amount that an adult does.
“ You can move up or down from this, depending on the age of your child”.
Also last year, The Department of Health, and a team of nutrition experts created the first ever collection of National Healthy Eating Guidelines for 1 to 4 year olds which includes a food pyramid and portion size guide which you can access here:
https://link.nutritionbylaurann
.ie/childrensfood
pyramidvisualguide_healthy
ireland

9) Avoid Eating Meals in Front of the TV/Laptop/Tablet: As eating is a sensory experience involving smell, taste, touch and texture, it’s important to avoid the use of technology whilst eating as it can be distracting to the eating process, a term known as ‘passive eating’.
Instead eating at a table can help improve your digestion as you tend to eat more slowly. It also improves your satiety (fullness feeling) as the ‘I’m full’ message can clearly get sent to the brain, this is known as ‘mindful eating’. Take your time, taste your food, avoid the distraction and why not use it as an opportunity to catch up on the day with your family.

10) Time Savers: Finding the time to balance family, work, life and healthy eating can often be a challenge so finding ways to manage time in the kitchen is key.

- Meal Planning: Pick a day when there’s time to plan and cook your healthy meals for the week, this helps to make your week more seamless.
You can download my free Meal Planning Guide here: https://nutritionbylaurann.ie/
your-meal-planning-guide/

- Prepare Raw Fruit & Vegetables: Preparation is key, these can be used as side dishes, in salads and as snacks for all the family.
Having them pre-prepared helps to avoid the temptation of unhealthy snacks.

- Frozen Vegetables: Not only are they super versatile, but good quality frozen veggies have been proven to have the same nutritional value as fresh versions as they have been preserved by freezing. They also prevent food waste too.

11) Money Savers:
- Check Your Cupboards: It’s always a good idea to do a cupboard stock take before going grocery shopping, to make sure that you don’t double up on ingredients that you already have.
Not only does this save money but it also helps to prevent food waste.

- Make a Shopping List & Stick To It: When doing your meal planning, writing your shopping list is key.
This helps to ensure that you have the ingredients you need to compose your family meals and snacks for the week ahead.
It also helps to avoid impulsive buying of food that you don’t need.

12) Getting The Children Involved
- Get Them Involved In Menu Planning: When children feel involved in the meal planning process, they may be more likely to finish those plates. Tip: Rotate who gets to pick the menu

- Involve Them In The Food Prep: Children are more likely to eat foods that they’ve been involved in the preparation of, they’re more likely to try new foods and it also helps to teach them important cooking skills.

13) Routine: Not only does the body love routine from an eating and sleeping perspective but setting up a morning and evening routine with children before school starts also helps the flow of the day, from getting the kids dressed, breakfast, homework, playtime/hobbies, mealtime, downtime and bedtime.
For further information see www.nutritionbylaurann.ie or contact Laurann at info@nutritionby.laurann.ie