The formula for a healthy back-to-school lunch is…

Parents, do you struggle to come up with healthy school lunch ideas? On top of that, storing them and keeping them the right temperature can be a head-scratcher.

Fortunately, Meijer has all the supplies and tools need to make sure the kids are sent to school with a hearty, healthy lunch.

The key to a healthy lunch is to have at least one of each item in their lunchbox: protein, grain, fruit, vegetable, and something fun. Here are some examples:

• Proteins: Hard boiled eggs, hummus, turkey, ham, chicken, pepperoni, salami, yogurt, nuts, almond butter, and beans.
• Grain: Pretzels, sweet potato chips, crackers, bagels, bread, English muffin, tortilla, waffles, pancakes, muffins, sweet potatoes, rice, pasta, and granola.
• Fruit: Applesauce, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, watermelon, clementines, pineapple, mango, mandarin, oranges, and raisins.
• Vegetables: Carrots, bell peppers, snow or snap peas, cucumber, jicama, celery sticks.
• Fun: Energy bites, fruit leather, cookie, trail mix, granola bar, chocolate, fruit snacks.

After deciding what to put in their lunch, the next step is to make sure all the food is stored properly. This not only ensures that the kids have everything in one place, but it's also key for food safety.

• • Lunchboxes
    • Lunch bags with freezable gel
  • Dividers – Bento Boxes, muffin tin liners
  • Thermoses
    • Preheat thermos
  • Ice packs
    • Freeze wet sponges and put in a zip-top baggie

Lastly, to make sure your child's lunch is at its optimal taste-level, follow these lunch-making tips:

• Strategic sandwich making
  • • Smear both pieces of bread with a fat (PB, almond butter, butter, cheese)
    • Any “wet” ingredients, don’t put next to the bread, layer in between meat or cheese
• Freeze PB&J Sandwiches
• Freeze juice boxes, water bottles
• Soak apple slices in OJ
• Slice apple with an apple slicer and then put back together with a rubber band
• Send halved kiwi with a spoon

Find supplies to make healthy lunches at a local Meijer. See what they have in store at meijer.com.