It’s Easy To Send Kids Off To School With Healthier Lunches

School has started again, and you’re determined to get your kids off on the right foot this year.

No more bags of Doritos for lunch. No more stopping at McDonald’s after school for a quick snack of fries. This year, you vow, everyone’s eating healthy.

But how do you do it - especially when Lunchables and other packaged lunches, high in fat and sodium, are so popular with kids? And can you swear off those bags of snacks in the junk-food aisle?

We asked several dietitians to help parents come up with healthful and interesting options for packing lunches and snacks.

“If you’re going to be successful in getting your kids to eat healthier, then you need to let them have some input,” says dietitian Susan Mitchell, author of “I’d Kill For a Cookie” (Dutton). “Bargain with them, and give them room to occasionally enjoy the good stuff. Let them buy pizza two days a week at school if that’s what they want, but the other three days you pack their lunch with healthier choices. Then they don’t feel deprived.”

Parents should follow three basic rules, says Paulette Fehlen, a registered dietitian at the Winter Park (Fla.) Health Foundation. First, increase fiber. Second, increase the number of fruits and vegetables. And third, choose low-fat snacks over higher-fat snacks.

How much fiber should your kids get each day? Take the child’s age and add 5, Fehlen says. If your child is 7 years old, then he or she should be eating 12 grams of fiber a day. That rule applies until kids are about 16, when they should begin eating the recommended adult dose of 25 to 30 grams.

So how do you increase their fiber intake? Start with the bread you choose for sandwiches. Buy bread that contains at least 2 grams of fiber per slice. If your kids balk at regular wheat bread, try Wonder’s White Wheat bread, which has 3 grams of fiber per slice.

Other good sources of fiber for the lunch box set are raw vegetables and fruits - which also pack a good supply of vitamins and nutrients.

Consider such easy-to-pack fruits as grapes, apples and bananas. In addition, many supermarket produce sections now offer chopped pineapple, cantaloupe and melons. And Del Monte is now packing small cans of diced fruit in pop-top cans. They’re just as convenient as the packaged pudding snacks, but better for your kids.

Don’t forget the easy-to-pack vegetables. Baby carrots and cherry tomatoes are terrific for kids’ lunches, especially if you add a small container of dip, Mitchell says. “Kids love dip,” she says, “and it’s a good way to get them to eat vegetables.”

Juice is another kid-friendly source of nutrients. But check juice labels carefully to make sure you’re buying 100 percent juice. Many juice-based drinks feature only 10 percent juice - which doesn’t give your child much benefit nutritionally.

And while you’re reading labels, watch the fat. After age 2, children don’t need whole milk - nor do they need all the fat that most Americans pack into their regular diets.

That’s why dietitians frown on Lunchables and many ready-made lunches now offered by luncheon-meat companies. “We’re talking mega-fat,” Mitchell says. “Some of these lunches have almost 30 grams of fat.”

If your kids like the assembly aspect of products like Lunchables, pack lean ham or lean turkey, along with cheese and some type of bread. If they don’t want to make sandwiches, try substituting a bagel, crackers or bread sticks.

Here’s another idea: Stuff pita pockets with chicken nuggets. “Instead of frying the chicken nuggets, broil them with honey sesame dressing,” Mitchell says. “You can make a batch of them way ahead. Put them in Tupperware and then quickly assemble lunches in the morning.”

Of course, don’t rule out leftover pizza. Opt for Canadian bacon as your meat topping and order more vegetable toppings.

When assembling lunch, remember that peanut butter and cheese are high in fat. That’s why dietitians suggest reduced-fat peanut butter and cheeses.

A low-fat cheese, combined with crackers, makes a good after-school snack. That’s because the cheese is a good source of protein and kids can get some carbohydrates from whole-grain crackers, such as Triscuits. Other sources of protein? Peanut butter, nuts, milk, yogurt or meat.

Snacks are almost as important as a kid’s meals. Trail mix - a combination of raisins and roasted, unsalted peanuts - makes a great snack because it combines protein and carbohydrates from dried fruit, Mitchell says. And if you make your own trail mix at home, you can jazz it up with M&Ms or a variety of dried fruits.

Low-fat cookies are another good snack idea. Instead of Oreos or chocolate-chip cookies, try fig bars, graham crackers, animal crackers and ginger snaps.