Farmer’s Market Inspired Healthy Lunches may sound overwhelming at first but it’s actually easy and definitely worth it. The following are great ways to start taking the stress and junk food out of packing lunches for you and your children.

Below we’ve broken down 3 Top Tools to quick-start your fresh farmer’s market meals with picky eaters (adult and children) in mind! Do not forget one great benefit is that you’re also supporting local farmers, buying local and it’s the freshest & inexpensive ingredients available!

Why? Some of the easiest examples of why you should pack your lunch include:

• Saving money on fast food or local convenience store for junk food. Due to the fact that you didn’t bring anything to eat, now you’re starving and can easily give in to the temptations of unhealthy eating options on your way home.
• You’ll also have more control in making more nutritious choices by controlling your portion size, amount of fat, calories, quality of ingredients… overall management of what you and your family are putting into your body.

2.Boost Your Lunch Packing Knowledge –

To help put together a better balanced lunch bag for your entire family we’ve listed the best ratio to a successful healthy lunch!! You can really reduce your stress level by checking out all the examples of which so you can build a better shopping list based on your family’s favorites to mix and match!

• 1/2 fruits and vegetables – Fruit – orange slices, apples, grapes, dried fruits like raisins, cranberries, diced melon, straw rasp and blueberries, Banana, applesauce cup. Vegetables – celery sticks, salsa, sugar snap peas, baby carrots, cucumber slices, Broccoli, cauliflower, small salad

• 1/4 of the bag whole grains – whole wheat pita, popcorn, baked tortilla chips, granola bars, whole grain crackers, brown rice

• 1/4 of the bag lean proteins – peanut butter, hummus, canned tuna, hard boiled eggs, a handful of almonds, beans, lean lunch meat turkey or chicken breast best bet.

• 1 serving of low-fat dairy – slice of low fat cheese (swiss), low fat yogurt, low fat cottage cheese, part skim string cheese,

3. Tips for easy Farmer’s Market inspired Lunch Examples to pack

• Make extra dinner time food to eat as leftovers on your lunch break. Store it in microwaveable, containers. Put it together in a bag so it’s ready to grab and go in the morning
• Take favorite lean sandwich fillings, vegetables and add them salad at work with low fat salad dressing!
• Switch up plain bread with pita or tortillas for sandwich wraps.
• Have breakfast for lunch with your own take on a parfait using a slice of your favorite fruit, yogurt and granola in separate ziploc bag.