When your child comes home from school complaining about the school lunches, it is probably safe to assume that they didn't eat a lot. When you send your child to school you want to make sure that they are getting enough to eat. How do you do that? You pack their lunch.

School is required to provide children with a nutritious breakfast and lunch but children don't always like what the school has or how they prepare their food. Instead of arguing with your child to eat their breakfast and lunch at school start packing them a lunch. You can make lunch healthy, delicious and fun with a little planning. Spend one day a week preparing your child’s lunches for the entire week using a simple process that will allow you to assemble food that stay fresh during the day until your child can eat.

Lunch boxes are nice to have but your child soon outgrows them and wants something that is more grown up. Most will keep your child's lunch cool until they can eat but as your child gets older they prefer brown-bagging their lunch. The only bad thing about brown bags is that you can't put anything cold in the bag it will sweat onto the bag as it cools down which will cause it to tear. But there is a trick to getting your child's lunch in a brown bag without it tearing before they eat. Here are some handy tips to try.

You need to make something that will help your child make it through the rest of the day without getting hungry. You want to pack them a sandwich that will offer them everything they need to boost their energy naturally. To save you time, make up the sandwiches ahead of time and store them in the freezer. Don't use mayonnaise when preparing the sandwiches up. Maybe add the morning of. When you freeze the sandwiches you can take them out of the freezer that morning. During the day the sandwich will unfreeze and will be ready by lunch time. The frozen sandwich in the lunchbox also serves another purpose by keeping the rest of the lunch cold.

Pack your child a salad that offers a little bit of everything in it. Add some ham chopped up and also add some lettuce, a tomato, and sprinkle some cheese on top. Add a cup of salad dressing in a small container so your child can enjoy fresh dressing on their dressing at lunch.

Make a fruit salad with a few slices of each; cantaloupe, grapes and honeydew melon. Then put a small cup of strawberry yogurt in a cup so they can dip their fresh fruit in their yogurt. This is a great way to get your child to eat good while they are away from home.

To keep things cold you can also buy the cooler packs at any store but if you need something fast, add ice in a baggie and by the time your child eats their lunch it will still be cold. You can also buy drinks in a bottle that can be frozen. Add one to their lunch box in the morning and it will keep their food cold during the day and the drink will have melted down enough to drink.

If your child has snack time you want to provide a snack that will boost their energy naturally to help them finish out the day. Try a box of raisins, peanut butter and celery, or fruit such as oranges, nectarines, and apples. They will look forward to eating their lunch and you will feel better knowing that they ate great.

As a treat you can't go past cupcakes. And home made are the best. They are easy to freeze and because of there small size ideal as a snack. Try a plain chocolate cupcake recipe first with a simple chocolate frosting recipe.