Back To School? Drop The Lousy Lunch For Some Healthier Alternatives

Written by Jared Grafman.

Lunch, recess and the end of the school day. These are the three top things my friends looked forward to in school.

Two of the three are scheduled with no flexibility, but people can pick and choose what they eat. A lot of kids might choose junk food — I did when I was a kid, and still do on occasion — but bad foods are bad for a reason, and I've no doubt I'll be paying the price sometime in the future for all the sugary junk food I ate in school. 

If you're a parent looking to keep your child eating healthy, or just interested in eating well for yourself, check out some of these cool snacks that you can make, whether it's for school or work or just because you're hungry.

• The Center for Science in the Public Interest has a whole webpage dedicated to healthy school snacks. One of my favorite vegetable snacks now is celery and fat-free ranch dressing, a snack I'd picked up from my parents, and listed on the CSPI webpage.
• Parenting.com offers ideas for healthy kids snacks, and among the recipes is one for orange cranberry muffins.
• Family Circle chose some of the healthiest snacks for after school — or work — which includes yogurt in the middle of the 14-item list. My favorite flavor is strawberry banana, but there are always plenty of varieties to choose from.
• The Food Network posted a list of 50 after-school snacks that you can pick and choose from and make at home. 
• Spoonful also has a list of 48 bring-to-school lunches that you can make. I wish I had known about one of the ideas —a Toy Story Alien Bento Box — when I was in school.