How to Prepare a Healthy Lunchbox?

 For adequate and balanced nutrition, four basic food groups should be consumed at every meal every day. These four basic food groups; Dairy and products group, meat-egg – nuts group, vegetable and fruit group and bread and cereals group were determined as.

In the same way, the preparation of the lunchbox taken to school by selecting from the foods found in the four food groups is important for ensuring adequate and balanced nutrition.

It is difficult to transport juicy dishes in a lunchbox. Therefore, next to dry foods, a drink is the most suitable choice. A sandwich that provides adequate and balanced nutrition should contain boiled eggs, cheese, grilled meatballs,boiled meat-a random food selected from the chicken group foods, as well as seasonally appropriate, well-washed, fresh vegetables and fruits. (Such as tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, tangerines, apples, grapes, cherries, plums.) Besides these, the presence of nuts or walnuts in the lunchbox also supports the child's nutrition in terms of energy, protein and minerals. As for the drink, it will be a healthy choice to choose buttermilk or milk (or freshly squeezed fruit juice, if any), which will be taken from the school canteen.

As an alternative to the sandwich between bread, 1-2 slices of Decanter can be placed in the lunchbox. The prepared pastry should be consumed with milk or buttermilk taken from the school canteen. In this case, the presence of one fruit or vegetable in the lunchbox is necessary to ensure the provision of four food groups.

For a healthy lunchbox, attention should be paid to its cleanliness as well as the nutrients contained in the lunchbox, the bag should be cleaned every day.

source: Public Health Institution of Turkey - Department of Obesity, Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases