Healthier Packaged Food That You Can Throw Into Your Kids Lunch

You are busy. I am busy. We are all busy. And when our schedules get so busy, some regular duties can go by the way side. For me, sometimes I do whatever I can to survive getting through another week of packing my kid’s lunches. My goal is always to provide all fresh, organic, clean food. However, sometimes my busy schedule gets in the way. Even as a Nutritionist, I need food options in my cabinet and refrigerator that I can throw into their lunches as I’m trying to get them out the door on time. Our 7:14 bus arrival seems to come earlier and earlier as the weeks go by.

If you could use some new options or want a makeover for your kid’s school lunch that you pack day in and day out, here it is. All options are made from companies who have thought about the ingredients that they are putting in their product. All of these products contain clean ingredients.

–Jackson’s Honest Organic Potato Chips made with coconut oil. Potato chips are typically made with low quality oils such as vegetable oil and include a lengthy ingredient list of which I can’t pronounce. However, if I’m going to put potato chips in my kid’s lunch, I feel good that these chips. They only contain three ingredients, all of which I can pronounce and feel good about.

-Stretch Island Original Fruit Leather. If I allowed it, my kids would eat Fruit by The Foot for breakfast. However, those are not allowed in my house, but this fruit leather is. Next time you are at the grocery store, look at the box. They contain real ingredients that come from real fruit. You can buy them at Woodman’s, Willy St, sometimes Costco, and on Amazon.com.

-Siggi’s Yogurt Tubes. There are so many yogurt options available on the grocery store shelf and so many of them contain too much sugar with a long list of added ingredients. Siggi’s has a low amount of sugar and kids love to eat their yogurt out of a tube. I know that they sell these at Whole Foods.

-Applegate Natural and Organic Meat Hot Dogs. Yes, hot dogs! When you are in a jam and want to make sure your kid gets protein into their day, try these hot dogs. They contain higher quality ingredients and no nitrates. They are a much better choice than a standard hot dog.

-Ceaser Oaxaca or Organic Valley String Cheese. String cheese is another good protein source and these two brands are a high quality string cheese.

-Go Go Squeez Applesauce. Another great item to have on hand to toss into your child’s lunch in a pinch. Don’t get me wrong, throwing in a real apple is better, but this is a great backup. It’s also much better than many other junk food items that sit on grocery store shelves.

-Newman’s Own Organic Raisins. You have to watch out for the types of raisins you buy. Sometimes they are made with low quality oils. I like Newman’s raisins because they are just raisins. Nothing else.

-Santa Cruz Organic Chocolate Syrup. Sometimes I have mommy guilt about only sending water or milk in my kid’s lunch. I also don’t like the chocolate milk option that the school provides due to the low quality milk and even worse quality chocolate added to the milk. Therefore, I keep this chocolate syrup on hand and surprise them with chocolate milk from time to time.

-Madison Sourdough. Have you ever looked at the ingredients of a standard loaf of bread? It is amazing at how many different ingredients a company can pack into one load of bread. Eating products that are loaded with ingredients are not only hard on your digestive system, but is also depleting to a person’s overall health. If I am going to make any type of sandwich for my kids, I use sourdough bread from Madison Sourdough. It is made with only three ingredients. It’s delicious and simple.

-Amy’s Organic Soup. Sometimes we need to be able to warm something up and pour it in the thermos and that is why this soup is amazing. I warm it up in a pan as I’m serving breakfast and then minutes later it is ready to go into their thermos and right into their backpack. My kids are the biggest fan of the Pasta and 3-bean soup. If you compared Amy’s soups to Campbell’s soup, there is no comparison. Amy’s soups include a much better ingredient make up.

The most exciting thing is that new products like these are coming out all of the time. I think some companies are making progress in the right direction by providing thoughtful products like these. If you have favorites that aren’t on this list, please comment. I’d love to hear what you are buying!