SEATTLE — Students are back in the classroom and that also means parents are back in the kitchen preparing school lunches.
It's easy to fall into a routine of making the same thing day after day, but experts say variety is key to a child's diet.
Judy Simon, a dietician with UW Medicine, stopped by the KING 5 newsroom to provide some tips on preparing healthy, balanced lunches that your kids will actually eat!
Here are some of the tips to boost your school lunch game:
Variety is key: giving kids a balanced meal with portions of fruits, veggies, and grains is crucial to creating healthy meals.
Get the kids involved: having a say in what goes into their lunch boxes makes kids more likely to eat everything in the lunchbox.
Introduce new foods at home: to overcome pickiness, try implementing new foods into meals they eat at home first.
Simon also said Bento Boxes are a great way to go because they offer different kinds of variety in each box.
She also said it's okay to for kids to have a treat in their lunch box, like gummy bears or something else that they like, because that helps give them energy.
When you're preparing lunch for your child, maybe you're also making your own adult lunch for the next day. Simon said that is a great opportunity to show your kids what you're taking to eat and get them interested in other foods.